CHICAGO, IL (November 14, 2011) – Richard Lucco, superintendent of the Great Lakes Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), has been appointed executive director for ministry development, it was announced today by ECC President Gary Walter.
The new position is one of 27 recommendations coming out of the three-year Organizing for Mission (OFM) initiative that considered the Covenant’s mission, clarified mission and ministry priorities and proposed ways of expanding the Covenant’s capacity to serve into the future.
“Organizing for Mission sets a number of things in motion,” Walter notes. “This position will focus on cohesively developing and accomplishing ministry priorities. It will collaborate among departments, conferences, institutions, and congregations, as well as serve as a point of personal and professional support for conference superintendents.”
To serve effectively in this position, the person needs to be recognized as someone who is committed to all areas of shared ministry and values every part of the Covenant’s fellowship, Walter said. “Dick is a respected leader because both of those dimensions are true of him.”
Before becoming superintendent in 2002, Lucco served 22 years as pastor in Covenant churches in Kewanee and Elgin, Illinois, and in Salem, Oregon. He and his wife, Valerie, have four sons and two grandchildren.
“I am excited and energized by the opportunity to further God’s mission in the world and advance the kingdom through my service to the Covenant,” Lucco says.
Lucco will assume his new responsibilities February 1. The Great Lakes Conference will commence a search process for a new superintendent and expects to nominate a candidate during the conference annual meeting in April.
