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Busy Ministry Time for Local Covenant Churches
MOOSE LAKE, MN (March 8, 2003) - Moose Lake Evangelical Covenant Church has
discovered a unique way to reach newcomers for Christ, using volunteers
called "Covenant Movers" to help families unload furniture into their
homes.
More than 50 people have been involved in at least one move, said
parishioner Mark Carlson, who helps coordinate the ministry. Originally,
Covenant Movers was begun as a way to help parishioners. Since then, the
"movement" has spread to newcomers in the community - some are now
attending the church. One parishioner has donated the use of his enclosed
trailer to help the ministry, which usually provides about a dozen helpers
per move.
"People were moving to different houses within the community and some of us
volunteered to help," said Carlson. "Then we knew of some folks that were
moving back into the community and we helped them, too. And elderly people
moving to a local manor (retirement center) have asked us for help. It
connects people to the congregation and people like doing this. We have
signup sheets and when we don't have enough, we phone our core group of
people."
Pastor Todd Van Zee said that many newcomers who are assisted offer to help
when others move into the area. "We figure that we can move a whole family
in about three hours," said Van Zee. "We have an inside crew, outside crew,
packing crew and loading crews. We only ask that a vast majority of your
stuff be already packed. We've noticed that the greatest desire (for
newcomers) is friends. This gives a family an automatic connection." For
more information, contact pastor Todd Van Zee at 218-485-4800.
Moose Lake Covenant is one of many Covenant congregations whose members are
doing great things in and outside of their communities. The following
roundup of ministry activities was gleaned from the more than 200 local
church newsletters reviewed each month by the Department of Communication,
grouped by conference and region:
CANADA
- Strathmore, Alberta: Hope Community Covenant Church's Ben Josephson was
named a Canada West First-Team All-Star setter in men's volleyball, a first
in the history of Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley, British
Columbia. Josephson finished the year averaging 9.82 assists per game -
good enough for seco
nd place in the conference. Head coach Ron Pike said of Josephson, "In his
five years at TWU Ben has epitomized what it means to compete and strive to
be better every day. His loyalty and commitment to the TWU Men's Volleyball
program have been evidenced in his tireless pursuit of bringing TWU into
the CIS elite."
CENTRAL
- DeKalb, Illinois: Hillcrest Covenant Church has been using "Outreach
Bags" as a way to welcome friends and newcomers to the church. The bags are
filled with a cookie mix jar, brochure and a small scripture frame. The
bags are available in the narthex and are maintained by the Outreach
committee. Another way to educate the community about the church and its
faith story is through Hillcrest's Internet website. Parishioner Carol
Hegberg, who writes a weekly article for the DeKalb Daily Chronicle,
is using her skills to write about "Christians You Should Know." A host of
personalities are
documented on the site, including some of the key figures in the
Evangelical Covenant Church's early history. The archive is being updated
on a biweekly basis. Hegberg has also written a Christmas play for the
church, edited devotional materials and recently wrote a novel, Pen
Pals. For more details about the church and its ministry innovations,
call pastor Todd Anderson at 815-756-5508 or visit the church website at
www.hillcovch.org.
- Naperville, Illinois: Naperville Evangelical Covenant Church youth
Sarah Specht placed seventh last month in a Level 10 gymnastics all-around
competition in Ohio. The all-around is a combination of scores from four
individual events. Competing for the Midwest Academy of Gymnastics based in
Warrenville, Specht won the parallel bars individual event with a score of
9.375 (of a possible 10). In January, she placed second in
the all-around in an event in Lansing, Illinois. Last year, Specht
qualified for the Region 5 championships in Dimondale, Michigan, under the
auspices of USA Gymnastics.
EAST COAST
- West Peabody, Massachusetts: Barbara Osterfield of Community Covenant
Church was honored as Teacher of the Month recently at Peabody High School.
Osterfield is a social studies teacher and was nominated by a student at
the school.
- Riverside, Rhode Island: The Evangelical Covenant Church of Riverside
has made mission work to Africa a team effort, with a number of members in
that area recently. John Wright and his daughter Melissa signed up for a
five-week mission to Kenya at Tenwek Hospital. Julie McMurry recently
returned from Mali where she was doing AIDS research. Dr. Bob and Carol
Wenninger have spent many years at Mukinge Hospital in
Kasempa, Zambia, and will soon retire from that ministry. Sara Cowan spent
a semester in Uganda, working at a nutrition clinic as part of her
education at Brown University. And Terri King led a short-term mission trip
to Mozambique last summer.
ECCAK
- Joel Caldwell, son of Mat-Su Covenant Church's interim pastor Ray
Caldwell, was featured by the Anchorage Daily News for his work with
Arctic Barnabas, a nondenominational organization that provides support to
various church missionaries and pastors and their families throughout the
state. Arctic Barnabas Ministries has assisted those working in the Alaska
Bush and rural areas of the Canadian Yukon and Russia. It is
based in the Kenai Peninsula, which is near Anchorage, and includes 10
staff members. The organization serves in ways ranging from repairing
machines for pastors at local churches to fetching a pastor's family's
favorite foods for a home-cooked meal, according to a recent Associated
Press article. Caldwell (who founded Arctic Barnabas in May 2000)
previously served with Missionary Aviation Repair Center in Soldotna, which
has assisted ECCAK in numerous functions. He also helped get his father
interested in Covenant ministry, according to ECCAK representatives.
GREAT LAKES
- Allegan, Michigan: Christ Community Church hosted an All-Community
rally February 16 as townspeople in Allegan protested a proposed casino in
nearby Wayland. About 250 people from 25 churches participated. Pete
Hoekstra, the area's congressman, state Sen. Patty Birkholtz and state Rep.
Fulton Sheen were also in attendance and spoke about the issue. All have
opposed the proposed casino, which is currently on land designated for a
Native American tribe. The rally received regional television and newspaper
coverage. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has not yet decided to sign the
compact to approve the casino. The Allegan Chamber of Commerce approves the
casino while the neighboring Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is against
the casino. Currently, there are 19 casinos in Michigan and another 17 are
being proposed.
MIDWEST
- Decorah, Iowa: Kelley Johnson, youth ministry intern at Decorah
Covenant Church, was named a recipient of a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Scholarship for the 2002-03 academic year. Johnson, a student at Luther
College in Decorah, is one of 79 undergraduate college students in 37
states and Washington D.C. selected for the scholarship. The Cooke
Scholarship identifies idealistic, intelligent and involved students and
helps them carry out their dreams to build a better world. Johnson is
pursuing French and is studying in Senegal this spring. She is scheduled to
graduate from Luther College in spring 2004 and hopes to promote justice
and peace issues in the field of international relations.
- Savonburg, Kansas: The Evangelical Covenant Church of Savonburg hopes
to use chicken pens to assist ministry all over the world, according to
pastor Jack Kyle in a recent email. Kyle and others were in a brainstorming
session one Sunday night during a worship service. "I had been raising
chickens in larger pens and so I brought up the idea about making a smaller
pen that might be able to feed a family in a poor country," he said. "From
there, we started designing a new chicken pen on the overhead and the youth
began construction. We have had letters of interest from various
missionaries and World Missions and we have corresponded with them." The
chicken pens are two to three feet high and five to seven feet in diameter,
depending on space restrictions. Each side has
adjustable castor wheels for easy movement and the shelters have nesting
boxes and roosting bars, along with a ventilation visor. The prototype can
house six to 10 chickens, although ideas for smaller pens are being
considered. For more information about the chicken pen project, call the
Midwest Conference office at 402-334-3020 and request a recent newsletter
that profiles the ministry. Kyle can be reached by email at
jkyle@savonburg.org and the project is also on the church's web site at
www.savonburg.org/pen/chickens.html.
- Shawnee, Kansas: Community Covenant Church began a capital campaign
drive on February 2 for a new facility located about four miles from its
current site. The capital campaign concluded with a banquet March 9. The
church hopes to raise $3 million and begin building on a 12.2-acre site
this fall. Community Covenant Church has a membership of 605 under pastor
Tom Anderson. For more information on the project, call 913-631-0215.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Portland, Oregon: First Covenant Church parishioner Leonard Hallock
received the Louise Frederickson Award from the church for his many years
of service and his efforts to cross over generational boundaries in the
name of Jesus. The 85-year-old Hallock has had an association with First
Covenant since 1943. Leonard and his wife, Esther, were Covenant
missionaries for two years in Congo and Leonard helped the Covenant mission
by building the Zulu Dam and building a hydroelectric project in Africa. He
and his wife also were integral in managing a retreat center in the village
of Molalla. Hallock's skills in teaching Sunday school - both in Africa and
in Portland - were noted by the church. In Africa, he was known as Paka Na
Zulu (Old Man from Zulu) and
they called him "Uncle Leonard" as well. He also taught French to
secondary students in Africa. While he worked in construction after
returning to the United States, he taught junior high Sunday school at
First Covenant. He often used African fables and artifacts to communicate
God's love.
- Bellingham, Washington: On March 2, Bellingham Covenant Church
celebrated a prayer and scripture writing event at the site of its new
building, which now has framing for the facility. Parishioners prayed for
the new building and wrote scripture verses on the frame as a way to
consecrate the building for God's future ministry. Roofing is nearly
complete and water, sewer and natural gas lines have been installed. Doors
and windows were to be installed on the building's exterior. Groundbreaking
for the new facility occurred last August. A work party was conducted on
March 1 to further complete the construction effort, which the church hopes
to complete next summer. The one-floor,
30,000-square-foot building includes a sanctuary that seats 400, a
gymnasium, a youth center and an administrative area.
- Lakebay, Washington: Lakebay Community Church recently received $80,000
from the North Pacific Conference to build a new facility. Pastor Chuck
Wahlstrom said an architect has been hired to begin designing the facility.
The church hopes to begin the process of building the first phase of the
10,000-square-foot project by the end of the year. Lakebay Community Church
was founded in 1929 and became a Covenant church in 1994. Wahlstrom has
been the pastor of the congregation of 140 since it became a Covenant
church. For more information about the church and its future building
project vision, visit the church website at
www.integrity.com/homes/LCCC/index.htm.
- Selah, Washington: Selah Covenant Church has made a bid on a 7.8-acre
piece of property for a new facility, said pastor Marc Strobel. Preliminary
designs are being prepared and the congregation has provided feedback on
what aspects of the facility are important to the congregation. The church
hosted an October capital campaign, "Second
Century," including a banquet. Pledges of $188,000 have been committed as
the congregation continues to move forward following an August 2001 fire
that destroyed the church's annex building next to the sanctuary. Because
the fire destroyed the church's education facilities, the congregation
decided to move to an area school in order to have both worship and
Christian education classes at the same site. The congregation has
re-settled back into its sanctuary. It conducts three worship services
during the week for 270 in combined attendance. "There isn't a lot of land
available in town and we want to stay in this area, so this is a blessing,"
Strobel said of the nearby property, which the church hopes to purchase
before Easter.
NORTHWEST
- Dawson, Minnesota: The congregation of Dawson Covenant Church
celebrated the next stage of construction of its new facility on January 26
with a tour of the new church building following the morning worship
service. Pastor John Norland said that his congregation hopes to move into
a new building in July. "This was a great time for us to be here together
again, to see what's been done and to praise God for the progress," he
said of the tour. Construction began on the new facility last fall and the
building is framed, shingled and insulated. Crews are working on interior
finishing with sheetrock and electrical and plumbing work. Building
committee chairman Duane Haugen acknowledged the cooperative work of the
building committee and the tremendous number of volunteer hours contributed
to the project by members and friends of the church. In addition, women and
families have donated meals to the work crew. "We're truly blessed by God's
hand in this work," said Luanne Fondell, who served as chair of the
congregation while the building project got started.
- New Richland, Minnesota: Vista Evangelical Covenant Church parishioner
Ken Eaton was recently featured in a local newspaper for his work teaching
area children about farming corn. Eaton, who has written books about
farming, lectures students about "The Miracle of Corn" at the grade school
level and hands out kernels and ears of corn as part of his presentation.
Eaton lives in Waseca, Minnesota, with his wife, Harriet. The 78-year-old
has been farming for 57 years.
- Worthington, Minnesota: First Covenant Church is in the midst of a
construction project for a 5,000-square-foot addition to its building with
hopes of being able to move into its new offices in the spring. The
$690,000 project, which had a groundbreaking last September, will also
include new Sunday school classroom space and space for its preschool. That
part of the construction isn't finished yet, according to church staff.
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
- San Leandro, California: Creekside Covenant Church is planning on its
first worship service later this month for a 23,000-square-foot facility
that includes a sanctuary and community center. A dedication service will
be held later this spring, said office manager and facility manager Sharon
Wallace. The $5 million project planning began five years ago after the
church decided to purchase a well-known restaurant where the facility now
stands. Creekside Covenant, under pastor John Bruce, has more than 300 in
average worship attendance in the East Bay of Northern California. For more
information, call Wallace at 510-430-0607 or visit the church website at
www.creeksidecommunity.org.
For more information about local church ministries throughout the ECC,
regularly visit this news report at www.covchurch.org. To submit newsletter
notes for publication, send them by email to newsdesk@covchurch.org or send
them by regular mail to the Department of Communication at 5101 N.
Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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