|
Home
October Newsletters Reflect Lots of Covenant Activity
CHICAGO, IL (October 1, 2003) - Covenant pastor Janet Lundblad has been named
coordinator for the Spiritual Services Department at West Lake Hospital in
Melrose Park, Illinois.
Lundblad, who has been involved with the Association of Covenant Clergy
Women (ACCW) of the Evangelical Covenant Church, works for one of eight
hospitals that comprise the Resurrection Health Care System. Lundblad was
an associate pastor for
Christian education at North Park Covenant Church in Chicago before taking
two years for chaplaincy training at Elmhurst Hospital and Lutheran General
Hospital in Chicago's suburbs. She is now a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC)
by the Association of Professional Chaplains.
Along with her chaplaincy and pastoral work, Lundblad was a member of the
Covenant hymnal revision commission and served on the former Covenant Board
of Publications. Born in the Congo as the child of Covenant missionaries
Arthur and Florence Lundblad, Janet served in Congo for four years as a
short-term missionary (1972-76) before attending North Park Theological
Seminary in Chicago. She is currently in the midst of a two-year program at
the Institute of Spiritual Companionship (based in Evanston) that will
allow her to serve as a spiritual director.
Lundblad is one of many Covenanters involved in various ministries inside
and outside the church. The following news items were gleaned from the more
than 250 local church newsletters received each month by the Department of
Communication. The information is listed by conference and region.
CENTRAL
- Chicago, Illinois: Edgebrook Covenant Church is honoring two faithful
servants of the congregation during the fall. Randall Nelson has been the
church's music director for 20 years while Michael Doucette has been a
sexton for
15 years. Nelson will be honored at a coffee hour on October 12
following the morning worship service and Doucette will be recognized on
November 9.
- Iron River, Michigan: The recent 19th annual Dusty Larson golf
tournament raised a record $3,054 to benefit Covenant Point Bible Camp and
Town and Country Ministries in the Covenant. The foursome of Dan Colman,
Anders and Ed Lindwall and Nathan Troost totaled a score of 63 for 18
holes, besting the 64 posted by the foursome of Bob Wirzer, Len Bietila,
Tim Smith and Rich Henrion. The Dusty Larson tournament honors longtime
Covenant pastor Quentin "Dusty" Larson, who advocated for town and country
churches while serving in those congregations during his years of ministry.
The Dusty Larson Memorial Fund assists North Park Theological Seminary
pastors who graduate and accept a call to a town and country church. The
award dates back to 1997. For more information about the Larson Memorial
Fund and Town and Country Ministries in the
denomination, call Rob Hall, Town and Country Commission liaison for the
Department of Church Growth and Evangelism at 773-907-3341.
ECCAK
- Soldotna, Alaska: Alaska Christian College (ACC) has begun New Hope
Counseling Center on campus, thanks to a $200,000 grant from U.S.
Government appropriations. The seed grant money has been used for startup
costs in the center, an alcohol and drug treatment center run by licensed
professional counselor Debbie Hamilton. The center also offers general
counseling. The one-year Bible college has also received a grant to help
build a dormitory and another grant may become available to
extend the construction project in the near future, according to ACC
president Keith Hamilton.
GREAT LAKES
- Saranac, Michigan: Saranac Community Church parishioner Claire
Vogelzang
ran a 50-mile race in the Manistee National Forest on September 20,
finishing the event in 9 hours, 59.28 minutes, said pastor John Madvig.
Vogelzang raised $520 for church mission work. In the past, Vogelzang has
run in other distance races and raised money for various causes. She has
qualified for the Boston Marathon and has finished six marathons
despite never running for a high school or collegiate team.
- Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church parishioner Scott Kindberg
received a first place award from Associated Press in New York for a
recent article he wrote for the Jamestown Post-Journal where he is
the assistant sports editor.
MIDWEST
- Omaha, Nebraska: Pastor John Peterson of Bensonvale Covenant Church
recently had a book published about the Kansas Athletics (now in Oakland)
professional baseball team. The 346-page book is expected to be out in
stores this month. Peterson grew up watching the Kansas City A's before the
franchise moved to Oakland in 1955. He began writing the book in the
mid-1980s and while it was rejected by many publishers, he
re-considered submitting the manuscript again a few years ago and McFarland
Publishing in Jefferson, North Carolina, (which primarily publishes sports
books) accepted the idea.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Olympia, Washington: Grace Community Covenant Church sent a mission
team
to Mongolia from August 31 through September 16 as the group helped run
medical and dental clinics, medical ethics seminars and children's
leadership training events in two cities. Team members included pastor
Randy Thyberg, George Gundersen, Drew and Autumn Stevick, Ray Lance, Jack
Berdstedt, Ronda Watson and Liz and Jim Sedore.
NORTHWEST
- Edina, Minnesota: Pastor Nelson Anderson of Edina Covenant Church has
captured the attention of the art world in the Twin Cities as his works
were featured in the September edition of Minneapolis/St. Paul
Magazine (pages
88-89). Anderson stated that he uses oil paints on canvas as his primary
artistic medium. He added that his artistic passions were piqued while he
was a student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago during the mid
1990s.
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
- Santa Barbara, California: Montecito Covenant Church's Das Williams is
a
candidate for the Santa Barbara City Council this fall as Election Day is
November 4. According to his church, Williams is known for his
environmental work, including procuring funds for creek restoration and
ocean pollution mitigation, writing a law that requires pipelining of oil
and substantial efforts to preserve open space.
- Spring Valley, California: David Boldt, a resident of Mount Miguel
Covenant Village, recently finished a "walk around the world," a journey he
began May 16, 1987. After suffering from asthma and hay fever for years and
after taking numerous medications, his wife, Darlene, suggested he try
walking to better his health. He was walking seven miles per day within six
months of starting his new regimen and decided to walk the distance of the
world in his lifetime. As it turns out, he has walked even further than
that because when he began his trip he was under the assumption that the
world was 26,280 miles in circumference - it is actually 24,901 miles. For
the record, he has worn out 26 pairs of shoes on the journey.
SOUTHEAST
- Atlanta, Georgia: New Life Covenant Church, an inner city mission
church in Atlanta, recently sent 11 men and women on a mission trip to
Guatemala tomorrow. The team assisted in the construction of an orphanage
for street children during their week in Latin America.
- Greensboro, North Carolina: Retired Covenant missionary Donna Larson is
still passionate about service ministries as her upcoming venture will
attest. She's headed to Honduras in mid October with a group of people that
will help with everything from bread making and canning vegetables, to
sewing, teaching Bible studies and offering a variety of medical helps. The
trip is the third annual "Celebration Maria/Marta" and money raised to pay
for this endeavor began with a 57-cent donation from a pastor. Larson also
reported in a rece
nt newsletter to friends and family that she has been
working with several African immigrants since moving to North Carolina in
April.
To learn more about Covenant ministry worldwide, regularly visit this
Covenant news site at www.covchurch.org. Send information for
consideration in this report to Covenant Communications at 5101 N.
Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625. Information also may be sent by
email to newsdesk@covchurch.org or by telephone at
773-907-8333.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
|
|
|
