Ryan O'Leary - Saturday December 7th, 2024 - Beltrami Electric

 Dr. Ryan O'Leary is a member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe in northern MN. Ryan has also been married to his wife Kristen for over 21 years and has four children. Ryan grew up playing hockey and eventually played collegiately at the University of Denver and was drafted to play professionally by the Calgary Flames in the 4th round back in his draft year.  Along with Ryan's hockey background, he also has an extensive ministry background having served as a lead pastor for two congregations for a total of about 13 years. Ryan currently works for a global missions organization and leads two ministries while he is based out of Bemidji where he and his family reside. First, Ryan leads a ministry called the, "First Peoples Initiative",  which involves developing a ministry to all of the First Peoples groups in North America with there being around 9.5 million tribal members in the U.S. and about another 2 million First Nations people in Canada. Ryan also serves as President of the National Association of Native Evangelicals here in the United States and serves on the National Association of Evangelicals board of directors based out of Washington D.C.