|
Home
Four Seminary Graduates Receive The Quentin 'Dusty' Larson Fund
CHICAGO, IL (October 23, 2003) - Four recent graduates of North Park
Theological Seminary (NPTS) are headed to Town and Country pastorates
within the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) and a fund named for a late
Town and Country pastor is helping them pay off expenses from their
education.
Dan Olson, Darrell Cooper, Gavin Ellis, and Mike Poindexter have
received a combined total of $22,000 in assistance from the Quentin
'Dusty' Larson Fund for seminary debt relief. The monies (which are sent
directly to NPTS to pay off accumulated educational bills) will help
defray living expenses as they follow their call into rural ministry.
Olson is at Faith Evangelical Covenant Church in Breton, Alberta; Cooper
is an associate pastor at the Evangelical Covenant Church of Lindsborg,
Kansas; Ellis recently took a call as pastor of the Evangelical Covenant
Church of Albert City, Iowa, and Poindexter is in Warren, Pennsylvania,
as pastor of Bethlehem Covenant Church.
"Compensation packages for rural churches continue to lag behind the
average for all Covenant churches," said Rob Hall, associate director of
technical and legal services for the Evangelical Covenant Church's
Department of Church Growth and Evangelism and liaison for the Town and
Country Commission. "Without the Quentin 'Dusty' Larson Fund for
seminary debt relief many seminarians would not be able to consider a
rural call due to financial reasons. Because of the Dusty Fund, five
individuals have been able to pursue their call to rural ministry,
without having to be overly concerned about the financial impact that it
will have on their families."
One pastor who has already benefited from the Dusty Fund is Craig
Duffield, pastor at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Ridgway,
Pennsylvania. Duffield has been pastor of his congregation of 50 for
nearly seven years. He grew up in the farming community of Malta,
Illinois, and said he first felt God was calling him into ministry in
high school. He was living in Malta and working as a truck driver before
heading to NPTS from 1994 until 1997 for his seminary education.
"I knew I would go back into a town and country setting," said Duffield,
who received debt relief of $10,000 over four years. "God had prepared
me for that all of my life. And I knew there were some opportunities
there (in Town and Country ministry). Knowing that there was going to be
some help paying seminary debt helped us not to worry so much about what
the salary package was going to be. Duffield is still paying off his
education but he has been blessed by how the Dusty Fund has aided his
ministry in Ridgway, adding, "It allowed us to get into a small, rural
church and work towards revitalization and growth. We're excited about
some of the things happening right now and we're looking forward to what
God's going to do in the future."
The Dusty Larson Memorial Fund assists pastors who graduate from NPTS
and accept a call to a town and country church. The award dates back to
1997. The accompanying photo shows Virginia Larson, the wife of the late
Dusty Larson, accepting a Town and Country ministries citation from
commission chair Rob Satterberg for the efforts of Grace Covenant Church
in Iron River, Michigan, in supporting the Dusty Fund.
For more information about the Dusty Larson Memorial Fund and Town and
Country ministries in the denomination, call Hall at 773-907-3341.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
|
|
|
