Fekadu Amanu came to Christ in Ethiopia under the military socialist Derg regime, at the height of its persecution of the evangelical church. Coming from a traditional religious background, he counted the cost of faith from the start, and that conviction has shaped everything since.

Fekadu is an evangelist at heart: apostolic and mission-minded, drawn to people of other faiths, and always looking to break new ground where the church has not yet taken root. He planted churches in some of Ethiopia’s least-reached regions, and those congregations have since multiplied into many more in the remotest places. Later, he planted a congregation among the Ethiopian diaspora in North America. He has built an extensive network among Ethiopian diaspora communities worldwide, including Ethiopian workers across the Gulf. Closer to home, he continues to support the rural school his father once mobilized their community to rebuild for four decades the only middle school in the village.

In Ethiopia and in the United States, Fekadu’s ministry has always run alongside a career in health. He began as a professional registered nurse and head nurse in eastern Ethiopia, serving with a Ministry of Health hospital and with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), where he directed outbreak response in low-resource settings. He then led integrated community-based public health programs with international NGOs such as the Lutheran World Federation and CARE International in Ethiopia. After relocating to the United States, he spent nearly two decades in acute and critical care nursing, as a clinician, in hospital administration, and as a mentor to nurses new to the profession.

Fekadu’s partnership with the Francis Asbury Society began with an invitation. He brought the FAS team to Ethiopia, where together they held conferences in many parts of the country. He later joined the Society as staff.

Fekadu holds a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a Master of Public Health in International Health from Boston University. He is completing a PhD in Leadership at Taylor University.

An ordained minister, Fekadu serves as an elder at Great Commission Fellowship, a Vineyard church. He and his wife, Mimi, have been married for more than two decades and live in Wilmore, Kentucky, with their three children: Sifaan, Naatol, and Simalee.