Pastor Jan Frederickson’s journey to the pulpit as Senior Pastor of El Shaddai Christian Fellowship is a testimony to the unfailing love, faithfulness and patience of God the Father, our Creator and Master Craftsman. It will inspire you to, ‘Trust the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all of your ways, and He will direct your path…”

Pastor Jan grew up on a farm in rural Wisconsin with 9 siblings. Along with her family, she attended church every Sunday but never connected with God, and never got an understanding of the scriptures or how the sermons related to her and to her everyday life. At the age of 16, her family bought a bar and she was raised in an environment of alcoholism throughout the remainder of her teenage years. By her mid twenties Pastor Jan found herself with three young children, a heavy smoking and drinking habit, and suffering from recurrent nervous breakdowns.

The thematic recurring emotions she felt throughout this time of her life included shame, confusion, and powerlessness. At the age of 34 Pastor Jan was invited to a Christian Womens’ Luncheon, where the speaker said that, ‘God Is Wonderful’. This revelation caught Pastor Jan’s attention because she had always known God as a harsh and hurtful God. However, the message at the luncheon witnessed the love of Christ to her spirit, and not knowing what she was doing, Pastor Jan was moved to pray the salvation prayer and asked Jesus Christ into her heart. Pastor Jan continued to attend church and bible study for 20 years searching for this supposedly interactive God to answer her questions and explain the scriptures to her, but failed to find any understanding or connection to the spiritual things of God. The way in which the Word was presented to her in church made it seem like it was for times past, inaccessible in the here and now, and not applicable to situations and circumstances in her life.

Not giving up hope, and keeping her ears open for someone to guide her to the truth she knew in her heart was out there, she heard something that moved her. It was during a presidential election, in which Pastor Jan had prayed about who to vote for before going to the polls. She voted for the candidate she felt was the godly choice, and prayed that he would then be the next president to take office. To her dismay, the president that she voted for lost the election. She nonchalantly commented that the outcome of the election must have been God’s Will because she had prayed about the candidate that she voted for and it seemed as though her prayer was not effective, and assumed that it was because it was not in agreement to the will of God. A brother in Christ corrected her by saying that the outcome was in fact not God’s Will, because the candidate that won the election did not line up with the Word of God. Her mentor-to-be pulled out the Word and showed Pastor Jan the scriptures that applied to her situation. Having an inner witness in her spirit, she just knew that the answer she was given was correct – according to the scriptures detailing the characteristics of godly leaders, the candidate that won was indeed NOT God’s will. Pastor Jan and Pastor Ken were ministered to by this Word of Faith couple for 1 ½ years, and she took to the Word like a dehydrated sponge does to water. Once she had a taste, she couldn’t go back. She was beginning to find what she had searched so many years for.