Rev. Carol Rittenhouse is originally from Huntington, Indiana. She grew up in the Church of the Nazarene. She attended Olivet Nazarene University, graduating in 1987 with a B.A. in Romance Languages Secondary Education. After her final year of teaching high school French and Spanish, she went to Russia as a volunteer teacher to four junior high and high school missionary children. Returning to the USA eight months later, she entered Nazarene Theological Seminary, graduating with an MDiv (Master of Divinity) degree in 2006. She served as administrative staff and associate pastor at Shawnee Church of the Nazarene in Kansas, and associate pastor at Central Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, Kansas. She was ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene in 2010 while working at the Global Ministry Center in Lenexa, Kansas. It was there she received the invitation to join the team of Seminario Nazareno de las Américas (SENDAS) as a Nazarene missionary. Since her arrival in Costa Rica in 2015, she has assisted in theological education on the Mesoamerica Region as an administrator and professor.  She oversees a small Spanish language program known as CALL (Christian Academy of Language and Learning) through which she mentors various individuals in the English language.

Rev. Rittenhouse has been a contributor to the Nazarene devotional “Reflecting God” and various other short publications for the Church of the Nazarene. She enjoys reading, writing, watching sports, and spending time with her family including her soon-to-be 15 great nieces and nephews whenever possible.