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Newsletters Share Activities of Covenanters
CHICAGO, IL (September 17, 2002) - Following are highlights gleaned from more
than 200 local Evangelical Covenant Church newsletters received by the
Department of Communication, grouped by conference:
CENTRAL
- Mount Prospect, Illinois: Northwest Covenant Church pastor Herb
Jacobsen placed first in his division in a recent five kilometer road race
in Mount Prospect.
- Rockford, Illinois: Broadway Covenant Church parishioner Tate Lockett
scored a hole in one this summer on a par-3, 191-yard hole at an area golf
course.
- Stillman Valley, Illinois: Valley Covenant Church parishioner Craig
Deets recently completed requirements to become a Registered Piano
Technician (RPT) member of the Piano Technicians Guild. Deets has been a
technician for six years. He is one of only 2,200 RPTs in North America.
Deets took three exhaustive examinations as part of the process.
- Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: Anchor Evangelical Covenant Church hosted its
initial Sunday morning worship service at a local grade school and had an
attendance of 44, according to parishioner Karen Hinz. Pete Hawkinson,
associate pastor at Winnetka Covenant Church in Wilmette, Illinois, was the
guest preacher for the service. The Central Conference is looking for a
church planter for the congregation, which has been
meeting in small group Bible studies for more than two years. For more
information about the church and upcoming events, email Hinz at
hinz57@elknet.net.
GREAT LAKES
- Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church's senior pastor Norm Bagaas
and wife Gwen were given a surprise party last month to celebrate the
family's 10th year at the church.
- Jamestown, New York: Zion Covenant Church pastor Brad Bergfalk traveled
to Africa this summer with wife Roxi as he taught at Daystar University in
Nairobi, Kenya.
MIDWEST
- Essex, Iowa: Faith Evangelical Covenant Church parishioner Martin
Johnson was recently featured by KETV television in Omaha, Nebraska, as the
oldest man in Iowa. He is 107 years old. Martin's son, Wayne, and
daughter-in-law, Ruth Marie, also attend the church. Martin lives in an
apartment complex near his son. He will celebrate his 108th birthday on
December 16. Johnson co-owned a grand and feed business in two locations.
He and his wife, Irene, raised two children. Several of Johnson's
grandchildren have attended North Park University. More about Johnson can
be found at the KETV web site
www.theomahachannel.com/sh/news/iowa.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Olympia, Washington: Grace Community Covenant Church parishioners
Armand
Osterberg and Drew Stevick each won age group competitions in the javelin
event at the 2002 Washington State Senior Olympics meet recently. Stevick
eventually qualified for the Senior Olympics by winning a national event in
Florida.
- Sammamish, Washington: Pine Lake Covenant Church's Holly and Emilie
Barlow represented the church in Romania at a youth camp for 44 children in
Balesti. Pine Lake Covenant has sponsored the camp financially in assisting
pastors Adi and Lavinia Dreana in the southern Romanian community. A year
ago, the church sent a youth music team to aid the camp. The church in
Romania was recently blessed by an evangelistic event that drew more than
1,000 people. The pastors reported that the event was a way for God to
"rain down a blessing" on the church. A rain storm occurred just hours
before the event began - the area had suffered from a drought that dried up
80 percent of the wells in the
region.
NORTHWEST
- Cottage Grove, Minnesota: CrossRoads Church members participated in the
300-mile, five-day TRAM (The Ride Across Minnesota) bike ride that benefits
the Multiple Sclerosis Society. They included: (Bike riders) Mark, Laura,
Lisa and Brenda Bonney, Bob Larsen, Warren Lund and Peggy and Aaron Sime
and volunteer helpers Blair and Adam Sime.
- Dawson, Minnesota: Dawson Covenant Church parishioner Dr. Ralph Gerbig
biked in the TRAM event to raise money for multiple sclerosis and his wife,
Sue, assisted the group while riding part of the way.
- Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethlehem Covenant Church parishioner Linda
Lundin Overstreet, a certified search dog handler, helped to rescue an
18-month old child who had been lost for 12 hours in a local national
forest. Linda's dog is named Alie.
- Minneapolis, Minnesota: Trinity Covenant Church disbanded its ministry
after 112 years of ministry. The church, which was founded in 1890, had a
final commemorative service at 5:30 p.m. Sunday night, September 8. Paul H.
Erickson, superintendent of the Northwest Conference, spoke at the service.
- Moose Lake, Minnesota: The ECC of Moose Lake has been a training ground
for area churches in its town of 2,000. It led Alpha seminars and seminars
on prayer ministries in recent months and Melanie Spencer, minister of
discipleship for the church, is leading a women's community Bible study of
30 to 40. A mom's support group has gained the interest of community
congregations as well and the ECC of Moose Lake runs that program every
other week. Three others lead Bible studies at a pair of local prisons. The
church also leads a monthly community youth event with about 250 - all
without a full-time youth pastor. "The goal was to bring youth together and
help them realize that they're not alone in the community," said pastor
Todd Van Zee, who has been the church's pastor for seven years. "We have
done youth worship events and brought in speakers for worship, prayer,
games and activities. A result of all of the stuff we've done is that
schools will call us in case of emergencies to help with the student body
and teachers. We get called by social services in the county and have been
called by a Women's advocacy group to see if we could provide housing for
abused women. We're finding many doors open."
- New Brighton, Minnesota: Salem Covenant Church's bowling team of Al
Tengvall, Elroy Honl, Dennis Johnson, Tony Kordus, Jerry Samuelson, Mike
Schwartz and Gary and Scott Tillman won the team championship for the
second half of a local league's season.
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
- Los Altos, California: At Foothills Covenant Church, pastor Jim
Gaderlund and wife Pam celebrated 10 years of service to the church as the
congregation honored the couple at the annual meeting of the church.
To hear more about what is happening in the denomination, check the church
web site at www.covchurch.org or subscribe to the Covenant's daily newswire
service.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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