Evan Bever
Evan was born in Oklahoma and lived in Kansas, North Dakota, South Carolina and Indiana as he was growing up. Evan attended Purdue University (B.A. English Literature ’09) and Princeton Theological Seminary (M. Div. 2012) before returning to Indiana to join the staff of First Baptist Church of Indianapolis, where he now serves as Senior Pastor.
The first congregation founded in the new city of Indianapolis, First Baptist Church is an almost two hundred-year old American Baptist congregation located on the north side of Indianapolis. The congregation has long been active in the community, offering both a values-based recreational sports program and full-time preschool and childcare program in which hundreds of neighborhood families participate each year, as well as a monthly food pantry.
In recent years, the congregation of FBC Indianapolis has grown increasingly diverse, welcoming people who have come as refugees from southeast Asia and Africa, and currently shares space with three other congregations of people who worship in languages other than English. In addition to administrative duties, Evan has responsibilities in worship leadership, pastoral care, Christian education, and mission and outreach.
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Evan currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, an advocacy and enforcement organization that exists to eliminate housing discrimination. He is an active participant in the Northside Partners Network, and has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Baptist Student Foundation at Purdue, an American Baptist campus ministry in West Lafayette, IN. He is an experienced group facilitator with skills in Conflict Transformation and experiential education, and has completed the Training for Social Action Trainers (Training for Change.)
Evan and his wife Breanna live on the north side of Indianapolis with their son Isaiah.