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Nebraska Church Teens Highlight Newsletter Update
OMAHA, NE (February 9, 2004) - Like many Covenant congregations, Community Covenant Church recently used the Alpha evangelism/discipleship program to bolster its spiritual growth.
Unlike most churches, however, Community Covenant incorporated high school students into each of the small groups participating in the program. A dozen teens were among the group of 45 people involved in Alpha from September through December. Laverne Holderman, the church's associate pastor, coordinated the program.
"Because we (the church) divides the church groups up by age, there's often an 'us against them' mentality," observed youth pastor Garry Elam. "It's nice to be part of a system where everyone is working together. A couple of adults were apprehensive, but there were no problems.
"For our youth to be in the presence of mature Christians was great," Elam continued. "To have people who are leaders in the church telling kids that they can make it to the end of the tunnel (spiritually) is tremendous. And it was great for the adults to hear about how the kids were dealing with their spiritual struggles and what they're trying to accomplish through it. It was a win-win situation from a spiritual growth standpoint. Anything we can do to structure and deepen faith is great, and Alpha is a great program for new young believers of any age."
Community Covenant has done more to help teens' spiritual growth than just Alpha and its regular youth programming. Last year, teens at the church helped coordinate CONNECT, a Saturday night alternative worship service. Mike Harvat, now a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, was a catalyst of the new ministry. He has received consistent musical assistance from Ben Richmond (guitar/vocals), Ben Eberly (drums) and Mike Freeman (bass). The service uses contemporary music and Power Point presentations as ways to reach the intergenerational audience.
Other Covenant churches and their youth also are actively engaged in ministry to their communities. Following are highlights of those activities gleaned from the more than 250 local church newsletters received each month by the Department of Communication, organized by conference and region.
ECCAK
- Eagle River, Alaska: Community Covenant Church youth Jack Pappas and Alex Craven and Jack Pappas have been busy lately at their school. Pappas won the Geography Bee at Alpenglow Elementary School and Craven sang a solo at the Alpenglow Choir concert recently.
GREAT LAKES
- Traverse City, Michigan: West Bay Covenant Church's Jessica Vanderlay began one year of mission work in Haiti as a teacher in Les Cayes. Vanderlay left in early January. Meanwhile, another Vanderlay, Evie, is a student at Bethany College of Missions in Minneapolis and is headed to Brazil for three weeks of cross-cultural ministry as part of her class work.
- Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church's Alex Peterson recently made the Honor Roll at Southwestern Middle School.
MIDWEST
- Frasier, Colorado: The Midwest Conference's Front Range youth ministry team sponsored Powerburn from January 16-18 as more than 500 high school students from Colorado congregations headed to an event held annually at Crooked Creek Young Life Camp. The speaker for the event was Barry Martinez, a pastor working with Fellowship of Christian Athletes in southern California. A band coordinated by Matt Lundgren of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, provided music for worship sessions. Joining the high school students were North Park staff members Kara Hendrickson, Mindi McCreless, and Paul Johnson. During the weekend, students attended four worship sessions and spent Saturday skiing in Winter Park. As if skiing weren't enough, during Powderburn, North Park sponsored several activities including a snack time, a raffle of North Park merchandise and "Find the Viking" - a game where students hunted for the North Park staff member dressed in the Viking cos
tume. Sean Cherry, student ministries pastor at Crossroads Covenant Church, Loveland, Colorado, said that the Front Range youth ministries coalition includes nearly a dozen churches and 25-30 staff leaders of all kinds. The group meets monthly and supports each other while preparing and planning big events in Colorado. For more information, call Cherry at 970-203-9201, extension 105.
- Oakland, Nebraska: Salem Evangelical Covenant Church's Jacque Pearson was one of 16 contestants at the Nebraska Junior Miss Pageant held at Brownell-Talbot High School recently. Pearson, who attends Oakland-Craig High School and is a member of the school's dance team, is a noted 4-H junior leader in her community. She is also a veteran of major horse shows at the local, state and national level.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Olympia, Washington: Grace Covenant Church's Nathanael Hicks recently won the 140-pound division at the Subregional 2A Wrestling Tournament at Hoquiam Square Garden as he attempted to make the Washington state tournament for the third consecutive year. A senior at Tenino High School, he won the event by beating Chris Farmer of Hoquiam High in the finals. In 2003, Hicks was fourth in the 140-pound weight class at the state meet in Tacoma. He was fifth in the 125-pound weight class during his sophomore year.
NORTHWEST
- New Brighton, Minnesota: Salem Covenant Church's Heather Koski and Eric and Scott Jensen have found ways to serve the world recently with Koski headed to Nicaragua with the Peace Corps. Koski, a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is serving as a community health educator for two years in Nicaragua after taking three months of training elsewhere. She earned her undergraduate degree in Spanish and International Studies. The Jensens, now students at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, participated in a mission work in Costa Rica. They left on January 15 for three weeks with others from a Bible study group. They're building an infrastructure for a camp that ministers to children ages 7-12.
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
- San Jose, California: First Covenant Church has found a niche with the neighborhood through a youth volleyball league in the spring and fall for those ages 8-16, said assistant pastor and volleyball league director Jeff Budd. About 80 percent of the participants are from non-churched families. To find out more about the volleyball league and the church's Sports and Rec. ministries, check the church web site at www.fccyvl.com or email Budd at jeffbudd@firstcovenant.com.
- Tucson, Arizona: Joshua Johnson of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Tucson is a member of the Arizona Jazz Academy, which provides educational and performance opportunities in jazz with big band, combo and vocal ensembles. He has been accepted to attend Covenant Bible College in LaMerced, Ecuador for the fall of 2004.
SOUTHEAST
- St. Patersburg, Florida: Faith Covenant Church's Christian Osburn is involved in Vision Paris, a ministry in France that is also being coordinated with help from the church's previous youth pastor, Frank Wilder, and his wife, Dawn. Osburn is finishing a semester of classes in French and is assisting with a small house Bible study group of international students on Wednesday nights. Weekly worship gatherings have begun and Osburn stated in a recent letter to the church that monthly public worship gatherings would begin in March.
ELSEWHERE
- Japan: Dave Husby, Covenant World Mission regional coordinator for Asia, is preparing to travel with a team of youth from Japan that will be going to Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand from March 25 - April 3. This will be the first mission team that has been sent out by the Japan Covenant Church. The Husby children are also busy these days. Jenni Husby is on the girl's basketball team at her school and sister, Erika, is participating in her middle school's drama, "The Princess and the Pea."
To keep abreast of what Covenant youth, teens and young adults are doing throughout the world, regularly visit this online Covenant news report at www.covchurch.org. To have information about your church, its youth or its ministries considered for publication, email that information to newsdesk@covchurch.org or call 773-478-4631.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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