|
Home
Midwest Conference Celebrates "Better Together" Theme
SALINA, KS (April 26, 2005) - Three new congregations were recommended for
membership into the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) as the Midwest
Conference held its 119th annual meeting last Saturday at First Covenant
Church.
Alfa Y Omega Church in Carthage, Missouri, (under pastor Allan Serrano)
and The Crossing Covenant Church in Thornton, Colorado, (under Jeff
Grote) were recommended without delay to the ECC's annual meeting, which
occurs at Keystone, Colorado, from June 22-25. A third congregation -
City Church of Kansas City, Missouri, (under Robert Johnson) was
recommended subject to the resolution of incorporation status.
Saturday's meeting culminated two days of activity as the conference
celebrated its annual meeting weekend under the theme "Better Together."
The conference events included an inspiring Friday night sermon by David
Kersten, executive minister of the ECC's Department of the Ordered
Ministry.
Kersten used texts from Revelation 9 and 19 to challenge delegates,
pastors and administrators to make the conference more reflective of the
diverse community that heaven would represent. Recently, the conference
has been doing just that, adding nine
ethnic congregations with three others on the horizon. Alfa Y Omega is
one of those congregations, growing from 15 core group members two years
ago into a congregation with 110-120 in average worship attendance.
Serrano gave testimony to his church's vitality, discussing the 65
individuals who have dedicated their lives to Christ since the church's
inception. The start of a music school has helped the church develop
worship team talents and a concert in Carthage during the weekend was
expected to draw 500 Hispanics and Anglos to the church.
Conference Supt. Ken Carlson hoped church giving could grow at the
conference level because he saw how the added finances could support a
number of encouraging trends in the conference. During the past decade,
20 churches have been planted and three other congregations have
transferred membership into the Evangelical Covenant Church. Even more
encouraging were the more than 1,000 people coming to faith in Jesus
Christ from those churches during that time.
Associate Supt. Rick Mylander stated that the conference has increased
its overall growth by 7 percent during the past year. Some of that
growth is from a number of ethnic churches that have cropped up
throughout the conference since 1997.
But administrators believed that some of this momentum could ebb if
monies weren't available to help support church plants and other
initiatives. Delegates approved the Midwest Conference's proposed 2006
budget of $877,697 after a report by executive board member Garry Hintz
of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Pomeroy, Iowa. However, the news
that only 52 of the conference's 80 churches had fulfilled their pledges
from the previous fiscal year was a concern.
In other news from the annual meeting:
- Incumbents Hintz, Cliff Jensen, Kim Schott and Michael Zak were
voted unanimously to the conference executive board.
- Lavern Holdeman gave a report on the conference's efforts to bolster
the Churches Planting Ministries initiative.
- Carlson reported that the conference will put more emphasis on
helping town and country churches in the conference. There are now 13
conference congregations using bi-vocational pastors and 12 are from
town and country churches.
- Administrative reports from the denomination included one from
Kersten and another from Bill Clark, director of Strategic Giving for
the ECC. Kersten alerted delegates to proposed changes in the Covenant
Affirmations, which had been written in 1976. Clark thanked the
conference for its church giving support to the ECC, which increased 2.8
percent from a year ago, and for the nearly 2 million given to Covenant
World Relief ($945,000) and tsunami relief ($966,000) in recent months.
- During Friday afternoon's conference Ministerial Association
meeting, Kersten gave a more detailed report about the changes to
Covenant Affirmations while Tim Peterson (vice chair), John Peterson
(secretary) and Ken Moore (at-large) were voted into
various positions.
- Conference ordination candidates Tammy Swanson-Draheim, James Curry,
Brent Thompson, Steve Hoden, Gavin Ellis, Wes Gibson and Holdeman gave
testimonies before being recommended for ordination at the conference
level. David Dillon and Matt Kronberg were also recommended for
ordination. Holdeman and Win Jackson-Houwen (pending a May interview)
are transferring their ordinations while Daniel Sesay is being
recommended for commissioning.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
|
|
|
