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Jim Lundeen Chairs Nobel Neighbors Organization
CHICAGO, IL (August 18, 2002) - Jim Lundeen, the original director of Compassion,
Mercy and Justice for the Evangelical Covenant Church, is the new chair of
the board for Nobel Neighbors, a community organization located in the West
Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Lundeen served the Evangelical Covenant Church from July 1995 until this
past July, working under Covenant Ministries of Benevolence (CMB). He was
the executive director for Uptown's Habitat for Humanity from 1984 until
coming to CMB and was dean of admissions of North Park University (then
College) for more than two decades, helping found North Park's nationally
renowned Urban Outreach Program and even serving as dean of students for a
time.
Rob Hall, who works with the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism,
served with Lundeen in both Urban Outreach and Habitat for Humanity. He
appreciated the passion Lundeen brought to Urban Outreach during its early
years and his continuing desire to care for those often uncared for in
society.
"I think Jim (Lundeen) helped provide the vehicle for students who were
tired of sitting around talking about ministry; he gave us a chance to
actually do it," said Hall. "College students are primed for this kind of
opportunity and since many of us grew up in the suburbs and in rural areas,
the opportunity to interact with people with another kind of
experience was a way to live out the gospel.
"I always thought Jim respected us as students," Hall continued. "He was
willing to give you a lot of room to do a project, to succeed or fail based
on your own merits. And you could clearly see that he felt passionate about
these ministries. He was old enough to be our father, but he didn't treat
us like kids. It was a peer relationship."
Advocacy for the underserved has consistently been a hallmark of Lundeen's
ministry. The denomination recognized those traits, too. Jim and his wife,
Janice, were given the Irving J. Lambert Award for significant
contributions to urban ministry during the 2000 Annual Meeting of the
Evangelical Covenant Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
"We and the denomination are thankful for Jim (Lundeen) and his work," said
Harold Spooner, executive vice president of outreach ministries for CMB.
"The recent Sankofa journeys that are taking place and continue to take
place at North Park and with the denomination were started by him; the
whole development of Compassion, Mercy and Justice was pioneered by him;
and he has been a significant contributor to how the denomination continues
to move in efforts for compassion justice and mercy."
Nobel Neighbors was founded in 1985 and has grown into an association of
block clubs with a focus on housing and public safety. At one point, the
group identified 140 abandoned buildings in the area and helped win a major
community investment commitment from Bank One. The organization recently
was awarded funds to help rehab the final abandoned building in the area.
Nobel Neighbors also assists residents victimized by predatory mortgage
lenders and is working with state regulators to
enforce new regulations against predatory lending.
For more information about Nobel Neighbors, email the organization at
nobelneighbors@aol.com.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
