Meet The Pastor
Dr. Manikanta Sai Ankem
Dr. Manikanta Sai Ankem was born and raised in a Hindu family in Vijayawada, India, where he experienced a transformative event of God’s intervention, saving his father’s life. This event led his family to embrace Christianity over 25 years ago. With over a decade of dedicated full-time ministry experience, Dr. Ankem has served in various leadership roles within church ministries, notably as the Senior Pastor of a Telugu Church in Chicago. Additionally, he has contributed to theological education as a faculty member at an accredited Bible College affiliated with the Asian Theological Association (ATA) in India.
Dr. Ankem holds four master’s degrees: Master of Science in Psychology, Master of Divinity, Master of Theology in Pastoral Counseling, all earned in India, and a Master of Arts in New Testament from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). He also earned his Doctor of Ministry in Strategic Leadership from TEDS.
Driven by his mission to serve the Lord and His people fervently, Dr. Ankem is committed to passionately sharing the Word of God and nurturing spiritual growth. He is happily married to Kamala, and they have two children Alethya (girl) and Atseel (boy). The Ankem family are very excited for the new phase of their life at ICEFC.