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Churches Begin Busy Fall Season of Ministry
DEKALB, IL (September 4, 2003) - Hillcrest Covenant Church is partnering with
five other area congregations in hosting "Acquire the Fire," a Teen
Mania Ministries youth event that will bring thousands of teens to De
Kalb October 3-4.
Herb Kuryliw, a youth worker at Hillcrest, is part of Power of One
Ministries, which organizes the ecumenical youth event. He stated that
nearly 400 youth pastors gathered for a youth pastors connection to plan
the weekend. He expects that more than 100 volunteers from his church
will be needed to help with logistics for the weekend - the church's
outreach committee has taken on the task of organizing volunteers. The
majority of the event will be held at Northern Illinois University,
although the church will help provide food at a large potluck dinner
sponsored by area churches.
To find out more about the church and its involvement with Acquire the
Fire, call 815-756-5508 or email CovChHill@juno.com. The church's
website is www.hillcovch.org. More about Acquire the Fire can be found
at www.acquirethefire.com.
Other churches and individuals throughout the Evangelical Covenant
Church are busy this fall. Here are some of those activities, taken from
church newsletters and divided by conference and region.
CENTRAL
- Chicago, Illinois: Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant Church's
Parenting PROGRESS received a grant from Polk Brothers to help fund
staffing for its supplementary program to a daycare center that is being
run at the church. Alice Westlind has been the coordinator for Parenting
PROGRESS for the past year. For more information about the program, call
773-784-7091.
- Evanston, Illinois: David Dolan, coordinator for Chinese ministries
for Covenant World Mission, reported that three people are being
baptized on September 14 from the Chinese Cross-cultural Fellowship
meeting at Evanston Covenant Church. Significant efforts have been made
to reach out to Chinese students at Northwestern University, said Dolan.
- Glen Ellyn, Illinois: Greg Asimakoupoulos, a Covenant minister and
writer who attends Glen Ellyn Evangelical Covenant Church, has authored
a new book of Advent devotions called "The Amazing Emmanuel." The
five-week devotional contains daily meditations written against the
backdrop of the current superhero phenomenon. The advent devotional book
can be ordered through Mainstay Publishers at www.teamsundays.org or by
calling 1-800-224-2735.
- Davenport, Iowa: Riversong Covenant Church, with Darin Youngs as the
pastor, had 21 adults and 13 children at a gathering event in late
August as the congregation begins a church plant in the Quad Cities
area. Youngs reported that the church's goal is to have 30 adults in the
next few months. Central Conference congregations in western Illinois
have provided some assistance with the church plant.
- Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: Anchor Covenant Church, a new church plant,
secured space at a local YMCA and began worship there on September 7
under pastor Ryan Eikenbary-Barber. The congregation had hosted morning
summer worship services at nearby Covenant Harbor Bible Camp.
EAST COAST
- New London, Connecticut: New London Evangelical Covenant Church's
vacation Bible school (VBS) program raised $500 to buy school uniforms
for 26 children living in an orphanage in northwest Thailand. Covenant
missionaries Randy and Cheryl Bevis helped make the connection for the
church in order to assist the children.
- Lexington, Massachusetts: Ben Handlogten of Trinity Covenant Church
has been making his mark in professional basketball overseas, playing
most recently in Greece for Makedonikos. The 6-foot-10 center/forward
averaged 16.8 points, ninth in the league, and led all players with a
12.8 per game rebounding average. He was rated the 19th best American
player in Europe, according to the French publication Basket News.
Handlogten played collegiate basketball for Western Michigan University
in Kalamazoo and averaged 15.7 points and 8.8 rebounds his senior year
(1995-96). After being released by the Detroit Pistons, he played in
Japan, Turkey and Italy before performing in Greece last season.
ECCAK
- Nome, Alaska: KICY Radio received substantial repair help from Terry
Reynolds of Community Covenant Church, Eagle River, Alaska, and a group
of volunteers a they fixed transmission line damage to the station.
Reynolds also rewired the transmitter building, installed an antenna
monitor and rewired the station's remote control functions during a
month of volunteer effort. Another Community Covenant parishioner, Roy
Daws, assisted with engineering issues and put plumbing into the
station's office suite, along with remodeling the studio. The work of
Reynolds and Daws was documented in the radio station's newsletter
recently. More about KICY can be found on the station's web page,
www.kicy.org.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Portland, Oregon: First Covenant Church's Dr. Paul Metzger recently
wrote "The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular
through the Theology of Karl Barth," which is published by Wm. B
Eerdmans Publishing Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It focuses on
theologian Karl Barth and his willingness to engage culture with his
view of the Bible. Dr. Metzger, who is on staff at First Covenant,
serves as assistant professor of Christian theology and theology of
culture for Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary in Portland.
He has been awarded a 2004 membership at the Center of Theological
Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, where he will be on sabbatical to do
research on a project, "Principalities and Powers: On Structural Evil
and Systemic Change."
- Seattle, Washington: Luke Seidel of First Covenant Church is headed
to California Baptist University (CBU) of Riverside, California, to play
men's basketball this winter after a standout year at the junior college
level. Seidel finished his eligibility at Big Bend Community College in
Moses Lake, Washington, after playing prep basketball at Nathan Hale
High School in Seattle. A 6-foot-4 inch wing player, the left-handed
Seidel made the All-East Region first team last year at Big Bend. He
averaged 16.9 points and 5.9 rebounds and made the region's community
college All-Star Game. CBU, coached by Tim Collins, had a 17-15 overall
record in 2002-03, the Lancers' third straight winning season.
- Wenatchee, Washington: Columbia Grove Covenant Church, a new church
plant under pastor Andrew Thompson, is hosting a prayer rally and sneak
preview service during the weekend of October 17-19. The prayer rally
begins on October 17 and ends at noon the following day. Dave Rasmussen,
prayer associate for the North Pacific Conference and pastor of Covenant
Fellowship, Port Orchard, will lead the prayer sessions. The sneak
preview worship service will be held at 10 a.m. October 19 at Eastmont
Junior High. For information on the prayer sessions and worship service
locations please visit www.columbiagrove.org or call the church at
509-860-4001.
NORTHWEST
- Minneapolis, Minnesota: The Sanctuary Covenant Church, a new
multiethnic church plant under pastor Efrem Smith, will host a grand
opening service on October 5 after starting weekly services on August 24
in a local school. The church began preview services in April with 300
in its initial effort and had 340 at a May 18 worship service, both in
North Minneapolis. It is a collaborative effort through the Northwest
Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) and the ECC's
Department of Church Growth and Evangelism. Mark Stromberg, director of
church development for the Northwest Conference, and Don Davenport,
associate director of church planting for Church Growth and Evangelism,
have provided administrative assistance for the congregation. Several
Twin cities Covenant congregations, along with several non-Covenant
churches, have also given aid to the church planting effort, said
Stromberg. For more about the church, call 612-520-9160 or email Smith
at esmith@sanctuarycovenant.org.
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
- Hilmar, California: Hilmar Covenant Church's Lawlis and Onetia Pace
will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on October 5 at the
Covenant Care Center Dining Room.
- Pasadena, California: Abundant Life Covenant Bible Church, under
pastor Camille Russell Wooden, began preview services on July 13 at
Jackson Elementary School in nearby Altadena. The church hopes to begin
weekly services on October 5.
SOUTHEAST
- St. Petersburg, Florida: Faith Covenant Church's vacation Bible
school, led by Jan Osburn, the church's director of children's ministry,
recently had 220 kids and 90 volunteers for its programming. According
to the recent church newsletter, 40 accepted Christ as personal savior
during the sessions.
Check www.covchurch.org for more about some of the happenings going on
throughout the Covenant. To send information or church newsletters, mail
them to Covenant Communications, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago IL
60625 or email the department at newsdesk@covchurch.org. For news items
call 773-907-8333.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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