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Crossroads Covenant (MN) Marks 100 Years of Ministry
FOREST LAKE, MN (May 18, 2004) - Glenn R. Palmberg, president of the
Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), preached at worship services last
Sunday as Crossroads Evangelical Covenant Church continued celebrating
100 years of ministry.
The church is commemorating 100 years under the theme "Appreciate the
Past, Acknowledge the Present and Anticipate the Future," using the
theme verse, 1 Corinthians 3:11, which states, "For no other foundation
can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
The recent celebration Sunday is only part of the church's centennial
festivities. On October 17 all former choir members will join in a
combined choir to sing during worship services with former choir
directors and previous pastors as special guests. Crossroads Covenant
began highlighting its centennial last December 7 and had monthly
updates on the church history during worship services to give
parishioners a better understanding of its heritage.
Church records state that "on the 10th day of December, 1904, a group of
17 people of Scandinavian heritage assembled east of Coon Lake, Anoka
County, Minnesota, and created an association known as The Scandinavian
Mission Association of Coon Lake. The objective of this group was (1) to
maintain the teaching of the gospel and (2) to maintain a Sunday school
for the purpose of teaching the children the Holy Scriptures . . ."
Although the congregation - known for many years as Coon Lake Covenant
Church - didn't have a full-time senior pastor for a long time, Oscar
Gardeen and Andrew Dahlberg are two names that appear in record books as
primary lay leaders. Dahlberg was named a lay pastor from 1918-29 in
records and the lay leadership of the congregation continued thereafter.
From 1935 to 1945, two men primarily shared the services at the church,
neither one were ordained pastors at the time but were gifted lay
leaders and later went on to seminary. Allen Wickman and Albert Sandberg
were both employed in Minneapolis in other ways but came to Coon Lake to
share the services. They provided more stability for the small
congregation and youth work and attendance grew while the church became
a member of the Covenant in 1945. Finally, in 1946, Crossroads Covenant
was able to support a full time pastor as Carl G. Wellman was called to
be the first resident pastor of the church.
In later years, Leonard Anderson, Richard Haferman, Robert Atkins and
Bill Orris were integral senior pastors in the life of the church.
Anderson began his work at Coon Lake in December of 1965 and served as
senior pastor until 1978, the longest term of any pastor that has served
the church. It was during that time that the church took on the name
Crossroads Covenant Church. Orris led the church as the congregation had
more than 1,000 in average worship attendance in the late 1990s.
To learn more about the church's history, call the centennial committee
chair, Lorraine Wellman, at 763-434-5768. For more about centennial
events, call Peterson at 651-464-2195 or visit the church website at
www.crossroadscovenant.com. Crossroads Covenant is located in a suburb
of the Twin Cities and had an average worship attendance of 535 in 2002,
according to Covenant Yearbook statistics. The senior pastor of
the church is Marc Peterson.
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