Love the Cov: Recent Episodes

Love the Cov

A collaboration between Make and Deepen Disciples and the Covenant Companion, join hosts Jane Chao Pomeroy and Cathy Norman Peterson as they dive into Covenant history and explore what makes the Evangelical Covenant Church Covenant as we move toward our future together as mission friends.

Retired Covenant pastor Harold R. Simmons passed away on June 21, 2024, in Foley, Alabama. He was 81.

Harold Robert (Bob) Simmons was born on a mountaintop in Monterey, Tennessee, to Reverend Curtis and Martha Simmons. He moved frequently with his church-planting family, living in various southern towns, including Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Birmingham, Magnolia Springs, Foley, and Silverhill, Alabama. Bob attended Foley High School, where he played trombone, and later graduated from Woodlawn High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1961.

That fall, Bob attended Owasso Bible College for three years. During summers, he worked in his father’s construction business. In 1965, his family returned to Silverhill, and Bob began studying psychology at Yancey State Junior College, eventually transferring to the University of South Alabama.

In October 1968, Bob was drafted into military service during the Vietnam War. He served until September 1970, achieving the rank of E-5 Sergeant. Bob was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and earned expert status in rifle marksmanship.

After his military service, Bob returned to college, where he met Mary Emily Wilcox. They were engaged six months after meeting and married on May 6, 1972. Their 52-year marriage produced three children: Matthew, Timothy, and Benjamin.

Bob built a house for his bride in Silverhill before they moved to Chicago. There, Bob completed his degree in psychology and attended North Park Theological Seminary, earning a Master of Divinity. He was ordained in 1979. Bob pastored in Chicago and Moline, Illinois, before returning to Alabama in 1983, where he served as a Covenant Church planter and later as pastor of Greenwood Covenant Church.

In 1988, Bob planted New Covenant Church in Foley and became a full-time chaplain at Holman Prison in Atmore. For nearly a decade, he ministered to inmates on Alabama’s death row. Bob left this role in 1997 but continued serving New Covenant until its merger with Greenwood Community Covenant Church in 2012, pastoring the merged church until his retirement in November 2022.

Pastor Bob’s life was marked by his deep faith, commitment to family, and compassion for his community. He touched countless lives through his ministry.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Reverend Curtis and Martha Simmons, and his sister, Myra Joy Mellberg (Ray). He is survived by his wife, Mary Wilcox Simmons; his sons, Matthew, Timothy (Veronica), and Benjamin (Anna); five grandchildren: Abby, Libby, Albert, Mary, and Gloria; his sister, Norma Ann Davis (Len); his brother, David Ledbetter Simmons (Annie); and many loving extended family members.

Funeral services were held at Silverhill Covenant Church on June 28, 2024. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Women’s Care Center of Robertsdale or Gideons International, both causes close to Bob’s heart.

Peace be to his memory.

Patricia L. Hallsten, spouse of the late Rev. Edwin Hallsten, passed away on May 24, 2024 in Naples, Florida. She was 91.

Patricia Louise Tornquist was born on August 4, 1933, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Leonard and H. Velora Tornquist. As the eldest of four children, Pat developed a lifelong love of ice skating and a reputation for speed in running races. To pay for her tuition at Minnehaha Academy, she worked part-time at a bakery and later at Dayton’s. An accomplished seamstress, she often made her own clothes.

During her first year at Minnehaha, Pat caught the attention of Edwin Ansgar Hallsten, and they soon had their first date. She graduated in 1951, and they were married on May 8, 1951, in Northwood, Iowa. Throughout 67 years of marriage, they celebrated the anniversary of that first date.

Pat served alongside Edwin at several churches, including Winthrop Covenant in Minnesota; Portage Park Covenant in Chicago; Church of the Master and Kirkwood Community Covenant in St. Louis; and First Covenant Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Throughout these years, Pat raised their children, organized many moves, and made each new house feel like home.

Pat volunteered in many capacities: as a camp counselor, co-leader of youth and counseling groups, and at marriage retreats. After her children were grown, she worked part-time in interior design. Her hobbies included reading, antiquing, furniture refinishing, sewing, and gardening. In her 80s, Pat learned to use an iPad to stay connected with family and friends, often sharing inspiring quotes at her assisted living apartment.

She was cherished as a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, and friend. Her family remembers her sense of humor, compassion, and timeless style.

Patricia was preceded in death by her husband, Edwin; son Rand Hallsten; granddaughter Rachel Parks; sons-in-law Steve Parks and James Eldridge; and her brother Richard “Dick” Tornquist (Kay). She is survived by her children, Dawn Hallsten (Don Mateer), Brent Hallsten (Terri), and Danielle Eldridge, as well as her daughter-in-law Karen Hallsten; 17 grandchildren; 29 great-grandchildren; and her brothers Lowell Tornquist (Barb) and Sheldon Tornquist.

Pat will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery beside Edwin.

Peace be to her memory.

Hear from leaders and participants, as well as Sankofa veteran Nilwona Nowlin, who walks us through the journey—and shares her reflections after years of getting on the bus. For more information visit covchurch.org/sankofa

Mary Chung March outlines our history of becoming a multiethnic mosaic, growing from our roots as a Swedish immigrant church. And Steve Wong, pastor of the first Asian American church plant in the Covenant, reflects on his journey into the Covenant, how he has seen the denomination change, and our call to continue becoming the beloved community.

Covenant historian Hauna Ondrey and Dominique Gilliard join us to talk about the end of the 1960s, the Black Manifesto, the Covenant’s unique response to this call to white churches and synagogues—and where we witness similar themes in our culture today.

In the Covenant we identify as non-creedal, meaning we do not adhere to a specific creed. But non-creedal does not mean we are without theology. The six Covenant affirmations address the question, “What does the Covenant believe?” Retired North Park Theological Seminary professor Klyne Snodgrass joins us.

As a denomination, we voted to ordain women in ministry in 1976. In this episode, we talk with Evelyn Johnson, a woman of many firsts, including the first woman elected to lead a department at Covenant Offices within the budget and the first female superintendent. She shares her memories of those early years and her experiences serving in more than 40 years of ministry in the Covenant.

Covenant pastor and historian Jonathan Wilson shares an overview of Moravianism and how this movement impacted the Covenant. And Sally Carlson, associate pastor of Shoreline Covenant Church, tells us how she became Covenant and why she loves the Cov.

Curtis Ivanoff talks about our long history in Alaska, where the Covenant has been engaged since our very earliest days when the church in Sweden sent people to share the gospel of Jesus. It’s a complicated story that Curtis engages with compassion and generosity as he unpacks our identity as Indigenous Mission Friends.

Harold Spooner talks about our long history serving marginalized people, beginning with our early children’s home and hospital and continuing our mission to love mercy and do justice. And Todd Slechta shares why he loves the Cov, saying, “I came into the Covenant because I turned left for a cheeseburger.”

Michelle Sanchez, executive minister of Make and Deepen Disciples, helps us unpack our identity as people who love Scripture. And Garth Bolinder, superintendent of the Midsouth Conference, shares his journey of why he loves the Cov.

Covenant historian Kurt Peterson talks about how the Covenant became "big tent" evangelical, including members from across the theological spectrum, in the years leading up to World War II. And Dennis Edwards, New Testament scholar at North Park Theological Seminary, shares his perspective on the space we occupy within the contours of evangelicalism today.

Rev. Kara Stromberg will stand as the nominee to succeed the Rev. Mark Stromberg as the Northwest Conference superintendent

Co-pastors Lexie Lang and Jason Sivewright planted Engage South Kansas City in 2020

Longtime Covenant historian Phil Anderson unpacks our history and identity as an immigrant church, and Danny Martinez, superintendent of the Central Conference, speaks into this conversation from his perspective as a Covenanter who is a 1.5 generation immigrant.

Why was global mission so important to early Covenanters? Curt Peterson, executive minister of Serve Globally 2003-2015 (and currently serving in that role as interim), shares some of our Covenant history and how our understanding of mission has changed over time. And Jim Sequeira, pastor of Cascade View Covenant Church in Vancouver, Washington, joins us to share why he Loves the Cov!

In episode 3 Efrem Smith joins us to talk about the Covenant being a missional church. We also hear from co-pastors Marv and Linda Norlien from the Northwest Conference on why they love the Cov.

Covenant theologian Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom joins us to help us understand Pietism and how this movement has influenced the Covenant. This week you'll also hear Cathy's journey into the Covenant.

Episode two of the new Love the Cov podcast is coming soon. Co-hosts Jane Chao Pomeroy and Cathy Norman Peterson talk about Pietism with Covenant theologian Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, and Cathy shares her story of how she came into the Covenant.

Welcome to the first episode of the Love the Cov podcast! Join co-hosts Jane Chao Pomeroy and Cathy Norman Peterson for a conversation with C. John Weborg on how the Evangelical Covenant Church started. You’ll also get to know Jane as she shares how she got into the Covenant.

John Raymond Hunt, former secretary of the Evangelical Covenant Church, died suddenly at home in Maplewood, Minnesota, on October 23. He was 71.

A collaboration between Make and Deepen Disciples and the Covenant Companion, join hosts Jane Chao Pomeroy and Cathy Norman Peterson as they explore all there is to love about being Covenant. Join us for conversations about our shared Covenant story and distinctives as we move toward our future together as mission friends.

Michael White, pastor of Harbor Covenant Church in Gig Harbor, Washington, that if they didn’t change, they would no longer exist in 10 years, despite their healthy attendance numbers. The congregation agreed.

“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” —Revelation 7:9

As a multiethnic denomination, we seek for the Evangelical Covenant Church to become an authentic reflection of the kingdom of God—here on earth—as depicted in Revelation. We especially pray we may continue to grow in our ability to cultivate eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to respond to the suffering of our sisters and brothers both near and far. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we do all we can to abide by the new command Christ gave us: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

Together, we pursue Christlike love for one another, knowing that how we love attests to the One to whom we belong. Our love is meant to be missional, evangelistic, and transformational, so that people may come to know Christ through our sacrificial love for one another, and our love may produce unity, healing, and reconciliation in a divided world.

In the Covenant, the 6-Fold-Test for Multiethnic Ministry helps us discern how we love one another well. The newest addition to this test—practicing solidarity—is a call to prioritize becoming an interconnected body as we learn to intentionally mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.

In this present moment, it is appropriate for us to collectively discern how we can practice solidarity with our Asian and Asian American sisters and brothers—many of whom are mourning and lamenting right now. Our sisters and brothers of Asian descent have seen an increase in ethnic profiling, scapegoating, hate crimes, and boycotts of their businesses in correlation with the rise of the coronavirus (COVID-19). To read how Covenanters have been subjected to xenophobia, click here.

According to one report, 471 cases (16 cases/day) of xenophobia or discrimination were reported in the America’s News database in the four weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

In New York, for example, which is home to one of the largest Chinese communities outside of China, business owners have experienced an “unprecedented” decline, seeing between a 30% to 70% drop in sales since the first COVID-19 death was reported in the U.S. Chinese and Asian American businesses nationally have reported an 18% decrease in business as customers fear catching coronavirus in these establishments and their ethnic enclaves.

And fear rises for our Asian and Asian Americans sisters and brothers each time COVID-19 is irresponsibly referred to as the “Chinese virus.” As Covenanters, we are outraged by language that scapegoats and maligns amid the violence, stereotyping, and ostracization so many are experiencing.

Given these realities, here are a few suggested ways we can practice solidarity with the Covenant Asian Pastors Association and our sisters and brothers of Asian descent right now.

Speak up when we hear the coronavirus referred to as the “Chinese virus.” While the virus originated in China, in 2015 the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a best practices statement for naming new human infectious diseases, calling on scientists, national authorities, and the media “to follow best practices in naming new human infectious diseases to minimize unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people.” They explained, “In recent years, several new human infectious diseases have emerged. The use of names such as ‘swine flu’ and ‘Middle East Respiratory Syndrome’ has had unintended negative impacts by stigmatizing certain communities or economic sectors.” WHO adds that “best practices state that a disease name should consist of generic descriptive terms, based on the symptoms that the disease causes,

GRAND HAVEN, MI (February 11, 2020) Rita White, wife of the late Covenant pastor Roland White, died January 2 in Grand Haven, Michigan. She was 99.

She was born March 7, 1920, in Carlstad, Ontario, to Edward and Nancy Jean Lippert, and grew up in Kitchener, Ontario. She met her future husband when she was hospitalized for appendicitis. A student at Toronto Bible College, Roland was a member of a school quartet that came to perform for patients where she was being treated. They were married September 13, 1941.

Together they served in ministry for more than forty years, in Covenant churches in North Branch, Fort Frances, Rainy River, and Emo, Ontario; Anchorage, Alaska; Baudette, Minnesota; and Lund, Wisconsin. Following retirement in 1982, they lived in Minneapolis and Baudette. Rita later moved to Muskegon, Michigan.

Rita loved sports—she played softball until she was 95, and always said she could beat most men at horseshoes.

She was preceded in death by Roland in 1987 and by their son, Lowell, in 1976.

She is survived by two daughters, Juanita Nielsen and Nancy Weeks; a sister, Juanita Loan; two granddaughters; and three great-grandchildren.

A service will be held April 25 at Forest Park Covenant Church, Muskegon, Michigan.

SPRING VALLEY, CALIF. (Jan. 22, 2020) – Wayne Weld, the first Covenant missionary to Colombia and North Park Theological Seminary emeritus professor of missions, died Friday, Jan. 17. He was 85.

Wayne was born on Nov. 28, 1934, in Yakima, Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington, as well as a master’s degree and doctorate in missiology from Fuller Seminary.

Wayne married Mary Anne (Bergman) on August 19, 1960.

They were commissioned at the 1963 Covenant Annual Meeting for service in Ecuador. There they taught at the 4th of July School in Ibarra and worked with the local church. In 1968, they became the first Covenant missionaries to Colombia. Wayne taught and served as academic dean at the United Bible Seminary in Medellín, where the couple were involved in the development of the Villa Hermosa Covenant Church.

He served as professor of missions at North Park Theological Seminary from 1975 until he retired in 2002. They subsequently served as short-term missionaries in Quito, Ecuador, for two years.

In addition to teaching at the seminary, Weld also served as editor of The Covenant Quarterly from 1985 to 2002. He co-authored “Principles of Church Growth” with Donald McGavran in 1971 and authored, “The World Directory of Theological Education by Extension” in 1973.

He was preceded in death by Mary Anne. He is survived by Brian (Kerith) of Newcastle, Australia, and John (Kate) of Crystal Lake, Illinois; and three grandchildren.

A memorial service for Wayne and Mary Anne is tentatively planned for late April at Covenant Living at Mount Miguel in Spring Valley.

A memorial service for Daniel “Dan” Tepke, former senior vice-president [...]

A celebration of life service for T. David Beck [...]

When Alex Chiu created a painting of Mary and Jesus during a recent worship service [...]

Scripture, Culture, and AgricultureAn Agrarian Reading of the Bible Ellen F. Davis CambridgeUniversity Press, 254 pagesReviewed by Dave Rinker | December 9, 2019When I heard that theologian Ellen Davis needed someone to pick her up at LAX, I jumped to volunteer—pushing the fact that I didn’t own a car out of mind. After reading Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible, I considered her the Michael Jordan of good Bible reading. Our conversation through L.A. traffic was like talking with an old friend. That day I learned that Davis engages her readers and an eager fan in similar ways—she accounts for others’ perspectives and engages the collisions of the biblical text and our world. In the first two chapters of this book, Davis demonstrates the close connection between modern agrarian writers and authors of the biblical texts. She establishes a way of reading the text that takes into account the ways the Bible is shaped by an agrarian outlook. The effect of listening to farmer poets like Wendell Berry or scientists like Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold is that Davis’s readings are “more material.” You see this front and center in chapter 5, titled “A Wholesome Materiality: Reading Leviticus.”Davis points out that Leviticus speaks the language of “embodied imagination.” This means Leviticus offers analogy in patterns and connections that add up to the whole of a community’s lived environment. Davis draws this out in Leviticus 19—which can be seen as the center of the book and the center of the first five books of the Bible, or Torah. In the middle of the chapter is the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” On either side of this command are a number of others that hang together by way of analogy. In verse 9 we read, “You shall not cut to the edges of your field,” and at the end of the chapter, “You shall not cut the edges of your beard” (v. 27). Beards and fields—what’s the connection? Davis writes, “Because we put the two kinds of trimmings in different categories, we miss the force of the analogy, which could prompt reflection on the likeness between the male Israelite and the field, both being possessed of edges.” Upon examination, we see connections between the farmer and field, the self and the vulnerable neighbor who gleans from the edges of the community’s fields. By the end of the chapter the point is clear: “Love the immigrant as yourself…for you were an immigrant in Egypt.” The self and the other are connected through the provision God has made through the land (Leviticus 25:23). This book is a great read for anyone interested in deepening their understanding with current issues facing farmers or thickening their ecological engagement of more familiar texts like Genesis 1-3 and the story of the Exodus. As a reader you will be pushed off the page into action and reflection regarding what this kind of reading might mean for your town or city.

CHICAGO, IL (December 6, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Why the World Needs Bloodsucking Creatures Who among us hasn’t asked God why he created mosquitoes or other hideous creatures that seem to have no purpose other than to spread misery? Scientists say there are some 30,000 blood-sucking species that cut across the animal kingdom. Now the Royal Ontario Museum has opened an exhibition called “Bloodsuckers,” which curators hope will give visitors a new appreciation for the creatures that cause most of us to shudder. They also hope it will raise questions of what we fear and why. Any article that references the “elegance of bloodsucking organisms” and describes their evolution as “beautiful” is worth a read. From the article: “A natural history and culture institution, the Royal Ontario Museum also explores how blood-feeding, a trait that exists in nature, has crept into the human imagination and morphed into something fantastical. Monsters abound within the gallery. There are models of the chupacabra, a beast rumored to drain livestock of their blood, and the yara-ma-yha-who, which originated in the oral traditions of Australia and boasts bloodsuckers on its fingers and toes. These creatures do not directly resemble any real blood-feeding animal. Instead, they speak to our ‘innate fear of something taking our life force,’ says Courtney Murfin, the interpretive planner who worked with curators to craft the exhibition’s narrative.” In a Wisconsin Village, the Doctor Makes House Calls — and Sees the Rarest Diseases on Earth Certain Amish, Mennonite, and other closed communities who only marry within their own people are more susceptible to genetic mutations that lead to significantly higher rates of rare diseases. That makes them ideal groups to study how those mutations are passed down generations. An old-fashioned country doctor is helping scientists around the world in their research. Physician James DeLine is not a religious man, but he worked to gain his patients’ trust by spending time caring for and learning from the people under his care. From the article: “When he became the village doctor in 1983, DeLine had no experience treating the Amish and no idea the crucial role they would play in his work. Today, about 20% of the doctor’s patients are Amish or Old Order Mennonite, part of a Christian population called Plain People. They are known for their separation from the modern world and adherence to a simple lifestyle and unadorned dress. Something of a throwback himself, DeLine, 65, is a short, bespectacled man with a walrus mustache, a doctor who carries a brown medical bag to house calls. For years, he carried his equipment in a fishing tackle box.” Why a TV Station Recruited Climate Skeptics for Road Trip A Dallas TV station recruited one of the most ardent climate-change skeptics they could find, introduced him to top scholars with different viewpoints, and then invited him to travel with a reporter to see the impacts of climate change himself. The slow turning is evidence of what can happen if people are exposed to truth with someone walking alongside them with integrity and without expectations. From the article: “The Verify Road Trip project forces the news organization to let the public in on the reporting process. Instead of watching a reporter search for the truth, it allows the viewer to see someone just like himself search for the truth. It is about building connectivity and credibility with the audience, which is exactly what journalism needs.” A Barbershop Births Church of Drug Users, Ex-Inmates, Homeless Folks Two men have contextualized ministry to people who generally live on the margins. It sounds noble,

Remember Well the FutureReceiving Advent’s Covenant Promiseby Don Johnson | December 4, 2019Planning, leading, guiding, and preaching on Sundays is a high honor and privilege. But planning worship for the Advent and Christmas season is tricky business. Expectations run high, musical preferences run deep, and sentimental memories tug on our hearts (well, maybe not the Christmas carols in Costco in October).Memories can easily drive Advent habits, customs, and traditions. Some memories are dear and wonderful; others are bitter and painful. Some of us cling to our histories; others run as far from them as we can run. The season of Advent hovers between nostalgia and fantasy—both of which regularly disappoint us.So throughout four decades of ministry I found it particularly helpful to immerse myself in the revised common lectionary—the Scripture readings assigned to each Sunday over a three-year cycle. These readings capture a majority of themes and stories of the Bible. By looking at the Old Testament lesson, the Psalm, the Gospel lesson, and the text from the Epistles each week, we can uncover deeper themes about how God works with and among us. These lessons remind us that we are part of a bigger story than the one we experience in our present moment. We are part of a bigger movement than our own family, our own local church, or our denomination. There is something truly magnificent going on from God’s perspective that we cannot grasp on our own.The Gospel lessons for Advent 2019 come from the book of Matthew (you can find them in the lectionary in back of the Covenant Hymnal on page 961). These passages call us to be awake, ready, prepared, repentant, and looking for the Messiah. How can we do that in our busy, distracted, and materialistic culture?Susan Palo Cherwien’s hymn “Rise, O Church, like Christ Arisen” offers us a gift as we seek to prepare for Advent well. In verse 3 we sing, “Rise, remember well the future God has called us to receive.” What good advice. I am a confessed nostalgic, and I like to remember the good past, the godly people, and the wonderful experiences of my life. But I also remember the insults, slights, and offenses others have inflicted.We get busy and distracted.We get caught up in endless thingswe think we need to do—and weforget God. We forget God’spromises and expectations.Yet that is not where this hymn points us: “Remember well the future.” How in the world do we remember a future that we have not yet experienced? The key is what comes next. “Remember well the future God has called us to receive.” The future is in God’s hands and always has been. When God calls us to receive the future, that is a call to receive God’s covenant promises to us in faith.Advent is about God’s covenant promise to redeem us, save us, and bring us hope and life. That’s the way God has always worked. God comes to us where we are and invites us to trust the promises God makes—whether those promises were made to Abram and Sarai, or to Moses and David. And Jesus made many promises to his disciples about his presence, that he would never leave them and that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. God comes to us in our uncertain and fear-ridden times, offering us a promise for our future. To get there, we need to remember just what God promises and what God’s word says.But we forget. Throughout Scripture we see how often God’s people forget God’s covenant promises and God’s law before they drift off into sin and rebellion. That forgetfulness is not unique to Israel or the New Testament disciples, of course. Forgetfulness is human. We get busy and distracted. We get caught up in endless things we think we need to do—and we forget God. We forget God’s promises and expectations. The words of the hymn ring true as timely advice when we forget God’s promises, when we dwell in nostalgic memories of our family-tribe or become anxious about the fears and worries of the future, our finances, or our families.

The Disregarded GiftWith all our focus on Christmas,does the manger still catch us unaware?by Leeann Younger | December 2, 2019Tanya’s life is littered with loss. To the untrained eye the ravages of urban poverty, her battle with alcohol, and the effect of drugs and addiction on her family have left her empty-handed, with little to offer the world. But Tanya knows something of grace and abundance. So when she heard Susan share her story of leaving the comfort of a long-held job to launch into scary, new, and uncharted professional territory, Tanya felt called to act. “Can I have your number?” said the woman perceived to have nothing to the woman perceived to be self-sufficient. “I’d like to call and check up on you this week.” Their exchange was an almost unremarkable moment at the end of a membership class in our then-young church. But the woman traditionally thought of as the “have not” dared to believe she had something important to give. And she was right.In most ministry stories, the obvious winners give to the obvious losers. Those who are “powerful” sacrifice some of their status or material belongings to offer the “weak” a moment of grace or triumph. Those of us with demonstrably more give to those who, in our view, have less.And during the season of Advent, our churches gear up for the spectacle of Christmas programs, pageants, and giving initiatives. We work hard to enlarge our collective footprint for the holidays, seeking to bring the good news of Jesus to our friends, trying to make meaning out of the chaos of our age. This is our chance. This is our season.But what if our big programs, while faithful, are incomplete? What if the Nativity story tells us less about how we reach out to others and more about how God is reaching out to us?“Do not be afraid,” says the angel in the Nativity story. It’s a preemptive response to the fear that must have accompanied a visit from a heavenly host. This manifestation of the spirit world to those of us locked in human frames would be at the very least unsettling, if not terrifying. But “do not be afraid,” says the angel again and again. Because even though this news will turn the world upside down, it is very good news. What if the nativity story tells us less abouthow we reach out to others and more abouthow God is reaching out to us? The announcement of the coming of the Messiah is extravagant when compared to the actual circumstances of his birth. The creator of the universe would be found as a baby “wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Matthew 2:12). I wonder how this baby-Messiah was received in real time. Did any one of those who were privileged to see the grandeur of the angels dare to wonder if this baby was really the way God planned to save Israel? We know now not to underestimate the power that child contained as we read the story. But sometimes I think we need to be reminded that he was a baby and not a figurine. The way, the truth, and the life was a crying, slobbering, pooping (yes, I said it!) baby. Chuck’s panhandling post is across the street from our building. He is a veteran whose life experiences led him to a crack addiction. When he’s clean and clearheaded we sit together and talk about his past. “Here,” he said one day, handing me a five-dollar bill.“You need to keep your money, Chuck,” said the young, dumb pastor, certain that I didn’t need anything from a panhandling crack addict. But while I couldn’t see Chuck as a person with a gift to give, he understood his mission in that moment. “I’m okay,” he said confidently. “Besides, I want this place to stay open.”The fragile circumstances of the Messiah’s arrival and ministry are sometimes obscured from our view because we stand on the “It is finished!” side of the gospel story. It’s a glorious declaration and we rightfully hold fast to it. But Christ’s nativity did not appear likely to lead to such proclamations of victory. His parents were culturally disgraced and physically displaced.

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and [...]

I recently learned that my maternal grandfather, a pastor who planted churches in Korea and founded a Korean American immigrant church in the United States, regularly conveyed these words of guidance to his own children: “Enjoy life.” It was with fondness and smiles that my aunties, uncle, and mother shared remembrance of this saying together when our family gathered to honor my grandfather’s life one year after his passing. We sang his favorite hymn (“Amazing Grace”) and shared memories by his gravesite under the shade of a nearby tree. The profound wisdom in those words can too easily be lost. Today, hearing that exhortation in spaces of comfort and privilege can sound hedonistic. But for my grandfather, those words were a radical message of faith in the midst of struggle and obedience compelled by love, not duty. My grandfather was born in the early years of oppressive colonial rule, a time when Koreans fought for their humanity in the face of an imperial power that profited from suppressing and attempting to eliminate their centuries-old culture and language. Following the end of World War II and the restoration of Korean autonomy, he graduated from seminary and became part of a growing wave of church planting and evangelism efforts in Korea, which later included a time of brutal imprisonment and witnessing fellow Christians being martyred for their faith. He later responded to the call to start a Korean immigrant church in the U.S., relocating his family to the Detroit area in the early 1970s. My grandfather lived through times of colonization, imprisonment, war, and suffering. He was hard-working and sacrificial, leading 5 a.m. prayer meetings, teaching, preaching, and ministering to the needs of an ever-growing congregation, who saw the church as their resource for every felt need, as an oasis in the desert of a foreign land. At our family gatherings he led us in worship and prayer, and he sought to engage his grandchildren in practices of faith by administering Bible-reading campaigns, with rewards.

Joy is not optional.My grandfather knew this.

And yet in the midst of the burdens he carried, the gravity of the needs around him, and unending ministry work, he was quick to smile, with boundless energy and a deep, infectious laugh that could put anyone at ease. My grandfather believed in moderation, actively pursuing physical, emotional, and spiritual discipline, while also intentionally seeking joy, practicing generosity, and living a life of love. By encouraging his children to enjoy life, he communicated a deep message of both hope and warning. Hope, because life is suffering, and in that pain, the joy of the Lord is our strength. And warning, because life without joy is life that is not rooted in Christ. Joy is not optional. My grandfather knew this. He bore the pain of suffering throughout his lifetime, surviving inhumane imprisonment and even witnessing his own mother being beaten because of her faith. He understood the cost of following Jesus more deeply than I may ever know. His testimony reflects the truth that hope, joy, and love spring forth from a life of full obedience to Christ. As I continue growing in vocational ministry, I need my grandfather’s message more than ever. As tasks and responsibilities pile up and the needs and requests of my church community continually surface, “enjoy life” becomes a necessary reminder that work cannot be separated from the love of Christ and the joy of the Lord. I am in awe of the movement of the Spirit, bringing the necessity of joy to light through the witness of my grandfather’s character and wise teaching, as remembered by his beloved children. My hope is that this movement of truth would continue to flow, bringing conviction for us all to cling to joy—as though our lives depend on it.

Shaun Marshall, director of congregational vitality [...}

(November 21, 2019) - Richard E. Olson, retired Covenant pastor, died November 13. He was 81. He was born September 9, 1938, in Concordia, Kansas, to Edward and Helen (Lundquist) Olson and grew up attending Brantford Covenant Church. Even though polio left him paralyzed as a young teen, he remained very active throughout his life. Dick attended Emporia State University where he met and fell in love with Ernestine Agnew. They were married June 29, 1963. After graduating with a master’s in chemistry, Dick went to work for the Food and Drug Administration in Kansas City and became an expert at various types of microscopy. He was involved in investigating the Tylenol and Gerber baby food scares in the 1980s. Dick and Ernie were active members of Hillcrest Covenant Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, where Dick served on boards and taught Sunday school. They regularly held Bible study groups in their home and founded the church camping group. Dick loved science but over time he developed a strong sense of call to ministry. After taking night classes for more than a decade at Midwest Baptist Theological Seminary, he graduated with an MDiv degree and retired early from the FDA after 30 years of service. He was ordained in 1998 and served ten years as the pastor of Swedeburg (Nebraska) Covenant Church before retiring to Stromsburg, Nebraska, and Midwest Covenant Home there. Ernie’s health brought them back to the Kansas City area for assisted living and proximity to family. Dick was preceded in death by Ernie and an infant daughter, Cheryl Lynn. He is survived by two children, Kristen Hickey (Steve), and John (Holly); three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and his close friend Linda Layson. A funeral service was held November 19 at Hillcrest Covenant Church, followed by interment at Lenexa Cemetery in Lenexa, Kansas. Peace be to his memory.

(November 20, 2019)—Supporters of Saman Pho say they are thrilled the Cambodian refugee who was expected to be deported due to a prior felony conviction will soon return to his family. California Governor Gavin Newsom used executive clemency to pardon him last Friday. Supporters had submitted a petition with 40,000 signatures in support of Pho to Newsom. The Covenant Asian Pastors Association (CAPA) had urged Covenanters to add their names to the petition prior to it being presented November 2. Pho’s family is connected to First Covenant Church in Oakland. “This is one victory among a sea of crises, but it is a victory of hope nonetheless,” said CAPA president Mary March. “I’m deeply grateful to Governor Newsom for this act of clemency demonstrating his belief in my rehabilitation, and to my family and community for their unwavering support,” Pho said through the Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Asian Law Caucus, which has been representing him. “I hope that Governor Newsom continues to recognize the injustices impacting our communities and uses his power to help so many others in my situation.” Pho was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on October 3 when he reported as requested to their headquarters in San Francisco. He was one of around 40 Cambodians around the country with past criminal records who were to be deported. Born in Cambodia, Pho was a child when he and his family were imprisoned in a labor camp under the Khmer Rouge genocide. They witnessed numerous atrocities, and his brother died from malnutrition. After three years, the family escaped. They lived in several overcrowded refugee camps before entering the United States in 1982 when Pho was six years old. When Pho was 19, he was convicted for firing a weapon while under the influence of alcohol after a group of young men attacked him and his friends. He served 11 years of a 12-year sentence. He turned his life around while in prison. After his release, the 44-year-old husband and father of four worked multiple jobs and eventually graduated with honors from a cement mason apprenticeship program, becoming a member of Plasterers and Cement Masons’ Local Union No. 300. “The pardon will allow Saman to reopen his case to prevent his deportation,” according to Asian Law Caucus. Milan Chang, a spokesperson for the caucus, said the pardon makes it “extremely unlikely” that Pho will be deported because it negates the grounds on which he was being deported. He added that he is unaware of any deportations carried out after an individual has been pardoned. Pho was detained in Texas and Arizona but is now being held in Yuba County, California, according to his wife, Maribel. Authorities have told her it could be three weeks before he is released.

Sustainable Young Adult MinistryMaking It Work, Making It LastMark DeVries and Scott PontierIVP Books, 224 pagesReviewed by Jordan Cone | November 20, 2019Being a young adult in church can be awkward. No longer in high-school youth group but not quite the target audience for most Bible study groups or retreats, it’s easy to fade into the background. As a member of what authors Mark DeVries and Scott Pontier describe as “the generation that’s staying away from the church in record numbers,” I was immediately intrigued by their thoughts on how to get people like me into the pews.Feeling out of place because we’re not married with kids yet or because we’re away at college much of the year, we do often struggle to stay connected to the church. Truthfully, if it weren’t for my former youth pastor, I would be one of the many millennials the authors call “insider kids”—kids who grew up in the church but are completely disconnected by the time they graduate from college. I am grateful that after I graduated from youth group at Valley Covenant Church in Stillman Valley, Illinois, my youth pastor, Chuck Potts, became a great friend and mentor. He has kept tabs on me throughout my college journey and met with me on breaks, always offering words of wisdom and an ear to listen—which has kept me involved in the Covenant community.Sustainable Young Adult Ministry can help churches understand the unique relationship young adults have with the church. Written as a conversation between the authors and their readers, this book relates personal stories and life lessons to illustrate its claims. First, it discusses common mistakes the church makes when trying to attract us, and then it offers step-by-step solutions to those mistakes. I found its analysis of my generation refreshing and surprisingly accurate.My first “That’s so true!” moment was in chapter 2 about how my peers and I “speak a different language” that the church has difficulty interpreting. In response, the authors write, “Few people become fluent in a language from a seminar or book. Fluency comes from actually being with native speakers.” So true! My generation hungers for transgenerational relationships, and DeVries and Pontier recognize that we don’t want to be observed from a distance. We want to be in the mix. We value what older generations have to say and are eager to learn from their experiences. We don’t want to be interpreted by the church, we want to be in communication with the church.These “That’s so true!” moments occurred more often than I expected. Another instance was when the authors stated that my generation wants to make a difference, and we want to be able to do that in partnership with the church. Contrary to the popular belief that my generation is lazy, the authors write, “Living a life of meaning, a life that makes a difference, profoundly matters to them. They’re committed to leaving the world better for their children...this generation steadfastly refuses to believe that the status quo has to remain in place.”It is true that we are a large part of the consumer culture, but more than any other generation, we use that in positive ways. We buy metal straws in an effort to reduce plastic pollution, we buy clothing from organizations that partner with nonprofits, we dedicate our birthdays to raising funds for charity on Facebook, and we use social media to bring awareness to causes we care about. We also want to come alongside our churches to make an impact, whether that’s in the church itself or in the world outside it. The problem, the authors say, is that we often don’t have a space within the church to do so.Though having a young adult program isn’t a bad idea, the authors say it’s not the place to start. Rather, they suggest, churches should start by investing in relationships with us, by including us, by not “waiting until we’re ready” to give us the leadership opportunities we’re looking for. Let us come alongside you in mission work.

The North Park Distinctive An Interview with Mary Surridgeby Erin Chan Ding | November 18, 2019At her inauguration less than one year ago, Mary Surridge, the 10th president of North Park University, referenced the nine men who had served in the role before her, noting that leadership at the college had moved from “bow ties to neckties to pearls.”“It’s a stark change,” Surridge said, “and I am honored to be the first female.”In a recent conversation, Surridge reflected on her first year as president; the challenges of Christian higher education; the university’s burgeoning demographic diversity; and the responsibility that comes with being a “first.”“I hope that I will be as strong a caretaker of the mission of the university as all of those who had gone before me,” she says. “And if so, the university succeeds.” Looking back at this past year, what has surprised you the most?I previously served in development, student affairs, recruitment, retention, and in coaching—and I call on every one of those experiences every day now. I also know that no matter how long you’ve been at the institution, there is a high learning curve when you step into a new position. You have a new level of responsibility. It’s not a 24/7 job, but it is 365, because it’s never out of your mind. So even though you understand the culture of the university, and you understand the legacy, there’s a lot to learn. But I have strong colleagues, and they help me a great deal.Can you tell us about that transition to this role? A large part of my role in the past was supporting the president for success, and that meant the success of the institution. I also had peers in the other vice-presidents. Now I look to the vice-presidents for that kind of support—and I know I have a responsibility to support all the other leaders at the university. That means learning the academic structure and the value of shared governance. I’ve always had a great deal of respect for our faculty and the way they serve, teach, and support our students. Now I am working to understand their needs from a presidential level, and that’s a new experience for me.What does it mean to you to be the first woman serving in this position? Any time you’re the first, you’re setting a path. I knew it was important right away to set some priorities and communicate them clearly—and they weren’t priorities for me as a woman. They certainly are priorities I align with, but they were the right priorities for North Park in that first year. What were the priorities?Number one is respect—respect for the mission, for the legacy of our school, and for the Board of Trustees and their ultimate responsibility for the future of the university.Second is resource generation. The resource generation and management of our financial budgets is critical. Small, private, liberal arts institutions are almost entirely tuition-dependent. At North Park, 88 percent of our operating budget comes from tuition revenue at this point. We want to support our students and see them reach their goals and achieve their degree. So that means being able to recruit our students well, retain them well, and it means inviting our generous alumni and friends to come alongside us and provide some of the resources that support scholarships. We need to keep a North Park education affordable, and that requires considerable institutional aid. Higher education is under pressure like never before. We must be creative in generating new revenue streams.We also have to steward our funds very well. Sometimes that means constrained budgets, so we have to do as much as we can to work efficiently and effectively.Third is responsibilities and results. We set goals, work toward goals, achieve goals, exceed goals, and set new goals. Everybody’s work can be measured on one level or another. One of our trustees says to me, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” So we ask, what’s our goal for recruitment? What’s our goal for retention?

CHICAGO, IL (November 15, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. How Helsinki Built ‘Book Heaven’ The massive new library in Helsinki reflects Finland’s commitment to literacy, love of books, and bringing people together. From the article: “This progress from one of the poorest countries of Europe to one of the most prosperous has not been an accident. It’s based on this idea that when there are so few of us—only 5.5 million people—everyone has to live up to their full potential….Our society is fundamentally dependent on people being able to trust the kindness of strangers.”

I Am Railing: Sir Rod Stewart Reveals His Epic Model Railway City The classic rocker also is a railroad modeler extraordinaire. He has spent 23 years building a model city, and some theological insight is partly what drives him. From the article: “The scenery and structures are his forte, rather than the locomotives and tracks. ‘I find beauty in what everyone else sees as ugly—rugged skyscrapers, beaten-up warehouses, things that are very run down.’” 82-Year-Old British Cyclist Completes One Million Miles The one million miles Russ Mantle has ridden is equivalent to traveling to the moon and back two times. He hopes to do another million. From the article: “Mantle has been building up miles since 1952 and has kept detailed, handwritten logs of his time on the saddle, recording not only the total mileage, but also the names of towns he rides through and even the cafes where he stops during his rides. ‘Sometimes, I even record the wind direction and the temperature that day,’ Mantle said.” Public Art Project Spurs Cross-Border Conversations Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s new work focuses on people’s search for connection and the desire to be heard. From the article: “When two beams of light cross, they’ll create a bi-directional audio channel, connecting people on opposite sides of the river in direct communication through amplified sound. Participants can wait in line for the opportunity to control a searchlight and engage in one or more cross-border conversations.” Dad Took Photo of Daughter Every Week for 20 Years This five-minute video is a reminder that “they grow up so fast.” Dutch filmmaker Frans Hofmeester from Utrecht, Netherlands, took a photo of his daughter Lotte against the same background every week from the day she was born. He stitched together this video that has more than three million likes on YouTube.

David Stockamp arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 40 years ago as a missionary and minister in the Bible institute of the Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM). The CEUM operates in northwest DR Congo, an area approximately the size of the state of Ohio.Stockamp returned to the United States when conflict broke out in the region and began working with Serve Globally as coordinator of church relationship, working to facilitate relationships between churches and the global personnel they support. In 2013 he returned to DR Congo as a non-residential missionary, visiting four times a year to teach theological students. He also works with master trainers in the Continuing Pastoral Education Initiative (CPEI) of the CEUM.What is the scope of pastoral education in the CEUM?The Covenant has been a partner in ministry in Congo for more than 80 years. The CEUM has a Bible school, four Bible institutes, and one superior Bible institute, which is similar to a junior college. It also supports a school of theology at Ubangi Protestant University in Gemena. CEUM has 1,500 trained pastors serving 2,000 congregations with 213,000 baptized members.Until 2015, the CEUM hosted only one biannual conference for pastors in one location. Many pastors couldn’t attend, because it was too arduous and costly to get there. Four years ago, the CEUM took action and commissioned four Congolese CPEI trainers and a missionary adviser to help make the training more accessible. Now CPEI facilitates four-day seminars in six regions every year. Travel in DR Congo continues to be a challenge. Road conditions are often hazardous, and pastors often must brave inclement weather, health issues, harassment, and hunger just to attend. The decentralized format makes it possible for 90 percent of pastors to attend a training event within one to two days of travel from home. By this past June, 3,000 pastors had participated in 21 seminars. Nearly half come by bicycle, a third come by motorbike, and the rest travel by boat or on foot. One pastor walked 120 miles to reach a conference. In spite of the challenges, the experience is so positive that 99 percent of participants want to come again. Each attendee pays a $3.50 fee, and the cost of the materials is $3. These costs are substantial as the average annual per capita income is $475.What resources has CPEI created? So far, four volumes on practical theology have been produced in Lingala, and a fifth will be published in December. Before this project, no written materials had been available to participants. The materials are passed along to lay pastors and church leaders also. One volume can affect many, many leaders.Over the four years it has cost $70,000, which is remarkable, given how many pastors we have educated. The team has laptops and printers available to them, as well as sound equipment and generators. To get the trainers to the remote places where conferences are held can cost up to $2,000. The trainers also receive a small stipend.What do you anticipate for this project in the future?We are raising funds for the program to continue over the next four years. We have some great partners, and we would welcome more people to give to the CPEI efforts. This is an important focal point for pastors to connect and learn. We also hope to produce further volumes of practical theology.By this past June, 3,000 pastors had participated in 21 seminars. Nearly half of participants come by bicycle, a third come by motorbike, and the rest travel by boat or on foot. One pastor walked 120 miles to reach a conference.

Hope Covenant Church will continue to operate its homeless shelter this [...]

Stories That Shaped My Faith The Presence of Great Love by Rebekah Strobel | November 11, 2019

The first time I sat down to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I was 13 years old—and I immediately sensed that something incredible was happening. For years, I eagerly awaited the release of each new book in the series until finally at age 21 I held Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last book in the series. I was working at Cascades Camp and Conference Center in Yelm, Washington, and I’m not ashamed to admit I stayed up way past the campers’ bedtime, reading the book in the bathroom while they slept. When I finished it, I had a deep sense of peace. I’ve reread the series a few times over the past decade and a half, and every time it refreshes my soul. My parents’ generation had The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, fiction stories overflowing with truth about love and light. My generation has Potter. Author J.K. Rowling has said the books reflect her own struggle with faith, something I believe my “lonely generation” desperately needs—a story that is honest about the struggle yet still lives in the light. Having served in ministry for more than a decade now, I find myself constantly in a place of joy and wonder and confusion and hurt. I never cease to be amazed at people’s great capacity to love—and our ability to be unkind. Throughout these years I have seen people at their very worst and their very best. I often feel as if I have a foot in both extremes of humanity, and living in that tension can be overwhelming. It is sacred, holy work, and it is hard. Surrounding myself with voices that speak of God’s goodness, the hope we find in Jesus, and the hard work that is worth doing has become a lifeline. The voices from the Harry Potter series are just those beacons of light. On his 11th birthday, Harry learns he is a wizard and a very special one at that. The scar he bears on his forehead is a reminder that a great evil tried to kill him, but his mother’s love and sacrifice protected him. Throughout the books, things become increasingly challenging for Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione as they face the ignorance and hate that evil inspires in fearful people, and the overwhelming might of evil. Reading and rereading these books has always given me the reckless hope that love is enough. As I’ve grown, I’ve discovered the parallels in life, such as the ways evil is present in our world. My heart has broken more times than I can count as I see people tear down the image of God in one another. Sometimes I have felt deeply the desire to give up, to stop learning, to turn off the news and accept that this is just the way it is. But my faith has weathered enough to tell me that defeated feeling is a lie. So I open my trusty dog-eared pages, and I read again about a trio of 17-year-olds who cling to hope and to one another when faced with impossible tasks. The thing is, they never give up. Even in the face of terrible dangers, oppressive realities, deep injustices. Even when they are angry, hurt, at opposite ends of the same spectrum. Even when they leave one another and we readers think all is lost—they never give up. They keep fighting, believing, coming back together, and forgiving. In the end, love actually does win. Throughout the series, wise Professor Dumbledore explains extraordinary magic by calling it love. His default is to choose love, kindness, and compassion. When something happens that can’t be explained, he chalks it up to the presence of great love, a magic more deep and enduring than any other—deeper even than the darkness. Of course, the evil Voldemort mocks him for it, calling Dum-bledore’s belief in the power of love childish and foolish. At his most frustrated, even Harry wants to dismiss it—how could love alone be strong enough to overcome unfathomable evil? And yet, again and again, it is. Reading and rereading these books has always given me the reckless hope that...

CHICAGO, IL (November 8, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles

and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Faith Guided Tubman Fight Against Slavery The new movie “Harriett” portrays how important Harriett Tubman’s faith was to her heroic work.

From the article: “‘I never met with any person, of any color, who had more confidence in the voice of God, as spoken direct to her soul…and her faith in a Supreme Power truly was great,’ reads an 1868 quote from Quaker abolitionist Thomas Garrett on the wall of an exhibit at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park.” The Ugly Gory Bloody Secret Life of NHL Dentists The toothless gaps of hockey players can be sources of amusement and wonder for fans. For players, they can be badges of honor, testimony to the toughness of the competitors who sustained the injuries and have determined to play on—sometimes minutes after losing multiple teeth. What that means for team dentists is that sometimes they have to perform miracles.

From the article: “(Gil) Rivera has seen it all during his 17 years practicing dentistry in the NHL: a Tooth Fairy teammate delivering goalie Ben Bishop's incisors to the bench for safekeeping; winger Ondrej Palat holding up half his bottom teeth with his tongue after getting lightsabered by an overeager rookie in practice; veterans, like Tomas Tatar, whom Rivera calls ‘Humpty Dumpties’ because they have lost the same three front teeth on four separate occasions; marquee talent in need of work (and a bit of courage) hiding from him at the arena; and a notorious tough guy silently sweating through his clothes during an especially tough bicuspid extraction that Rivera compares to King Arthur pulling Excalibur out of the stone.” Ten Years Ago, I Called Out David Letterman. This Month, We Sat Down to Talk. Nel Scovell left her job as a comedy writer for the “Late Show with David Letterman” after only five months because of what she called a culture of “sexual favoritism” shown to men on staff. She subsequently wrote an article for “Vanity Fair” calling out late-night TV shows for only have male writers on staff. In it she criticized her former boss, who fended off a blackmail attempt by a former employee by acknowledging publicly he had done “terrible, terrible” “creepy stuff.” This excellent piece is about far more than Dave Letterman. It demonstrates what can happen when people are willing to acknowledge and repent of their sins.

From the article: “‘When I read that document you wrote 10 years ago,’ Dave said, ‘I just thought, There’s nothing to be upset about here. It happened, that’s all true.’ Even better than making Dave laugh is having Dave acknowledge that I told the truth. In the past decade, I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words about women in the workplace, but the main point boils down to six: Believe women. Hire women. Respect women.”

13 Life-Learnings from 13 Years of Brain Pickings Maria Popova’s “Brain Pickings” started as an email to seven friends in 2006. Today the site is read daily by hundreds of thousands of people. Popova describes her thought-provoking blog as “an inquiry into what it means to live a decent, substantive, rewarding life,” as she explores literature, science, art, and other broad areas of interest.

From the article: “We live in a culture where one of the greatest social disgraces is not having an opinion, so we often form our ‘opinions’ based on superficial impressions or the borrowed ideas of others, without investing the time and thought that cultivating true conviction necessitates. We then go around asserting these donned opinions a

nd clinging to them as anchors to our own reality. It’s enormously disorienting to simply say, ‘I don’t know.

(November 8, 2019) - Michael Roy "Mike" Borden, husband of Covenant minister Diane Borden, died unexpectedly on Friday, November 1, in Manchester, Conn. He was 55.

Mike was born on February 10, 1964, in Brainerd, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from North Dakota State University.

He and Diane (Palm) Borden were married in 1995 in Chicago, where they lived and worked at Jesus People USA and their five children were born.

In 2004, the family moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. Mike had a knack for being able to fix anything and worked in maintenance, and later became an Uber driver.

He and Diane, who serves as pastor to children and families at Trinity Covenant Church in Manchester, previously ministered at Council Tree Covenant Church of Fort Collins, Nueva Generacion Covenant Church in Ameya, Nicaragua, and Uptown Church in Chicago.

Mike was known as a kind father and loving husband whose generosity and frequent laughter blessed everyone around him.

He is survived by his father, John “Jack”; wife, Diane; and children Wesley, Olivea, Audrey, Mikey, and Elaina. He is preceded in death by his mother, Laureen (Winch) Borden.

A celebration of life service will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 9, at Trinity Covenant.

Donations in his honor may be made to Cornerstone Community Outreach http://www.ccolife.org/ or HJH Libraries.

This obituary was updated on November 8 at 10:35 a.m. CDT.

Breaking away from the pack to do something different can produce obvious benefits, but there can also be unintended consequences. In the Hamilton showstopper “The Room Where It Happens,” the titular hero lectures his frenemy Aaron Burr, “When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game,” he says, “but you don’t get a win unless you play in the game.” Burr is upset because of the Compromise of 1790: in a closed-door meeting, Hamilton trades the location of America’s capital in exchange for Congress adopting his plan for a national bank to assume state debts. Burr protests the lack of transparency in what he thinks is a shady deal. The unintended consequence comes when Burr decides to take Hamilton’s advice. “I want to be in the room where it happens,” he declares. So Burr takes on an active role in his own political fate by defeating Hamilton’s father-in-law for re-election, deepening the rift between Hamilton and Burr, culminating in their fatal duel. I couldn’t help but think of that dynamic as I watched the Netflix documentary The Family, a partially dramatized series that traces a group of Christian businessmen and politicians who gather for fellowship. As with so much in our heavily politicized culture, the value of the show is in sharp dispute. Liberals view it as a brave takedown of a shadowy cabal of players who use Christianity as a cover for political lobbying. Christian conservatives think it’s a cynical hit piece where harmless Christian fellowship is sensationalized into something sinister. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. For me, the documentary felt oddly personal. I have moved in similar fundamentalist Christian circles, and the figure at the center of it all, Doug Coe, has had positive interactions with my father, the Reverend Henry Greenidge. My dad not only knew about the Fellowship but jokingly referred to it as “the Christian CIA.”

An unintended consequence of seeking likeminded people for fellowship is you succumb to a sort of groupthink.

It is fascinating to watch the final episode, which focuses on a multiracial gathering of Christian men in my hometown of Portland. For these reasons, I resist the hyper-partisan characterizations of these men either as saints or as monsters. But one thing kept sticking in my craw. At various points, men would quote variations of John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” They were using the verse to justify harnessing the gospel as a way to influence people in power. The idea was that if they are consistent in their Christian witness, sharing Jesus with whoever comes into their path, God will draw more powerful, influential people into their orbit, the Fellowship will grow, and good outcomes will follow. But the very next verse explains what Jesus meant. He wasn’t talking about being “lifted up” metaphorically, as in receiving praise or adulation. He was speaking literally, about being lifted up onto the cross, where he was to be crucified. That detail changes everything, right? One of the unintended consequences of seeking likeminded people for Christian fellowship is that you can succumb to a sort of concentrated groupthink, where everyone makes the same assumptions about which outcomes are good, which values are worth pursuing, and how power should be wielded. Coe’s initial motivations for avoiding the spotlight might have been to avoid grandstanding, but for many members of the group, it morphed into valuing secrecy and avoiding accountability. But if we are truly serious about representing Jesus, partaking in his resurrection is preceded by partaking in his crucifixion. It means we willingly give up the power we may feel we’re entitled to, because we trust God enough not to manipulate the outcome. So regardless of your occupation or ministry role, lift Jesus up. Make the character and work of Christ known to the people in your circle. But be careful about it.

Harbored

Serving the world without leaving the wharf by Cathy Norman Peterson | November 4, 2019

A row of buildings fronting the wharf at Boston Harbor hides the colossal cruise ship, as well as the water, though you can still smell the sea. The Norwegian Gem, one of the largest ships of the Norwegian Cruise Line, arrived in port early on a recent Friday morning after a week in the Caribbean, and the passengers and crew have not yet begun to disembark. At the end of the long terminal, next to a bank of still-working pay phones, the cream-colored door to the New England Seafarers Mission (NESM) nearly blends into the wall. Above it, a giant arrow points passengers “TO SHIP.” A smaller sign welcomes seafarers to the mission, which is operated by the East Coast Conference of the ECC. More than 100 cruise ships carrying more than 300,000 passengers come into port at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal every year. According to Cruise Market Watch, the cruise ship industry took in $45 billion in revenue in 2018.

It is a lucrative business made possible by the often unseen and unrecognized work of the thousands of crew members on board. Cruise ships are often referred to as “floating hotels,” and they require an army of staff to clean, cook, maintain the ship, and serve the guests. Seafarers work long days, seven days a week—they may vacuum as many as 400 rooms a day or fold towels in the bowels of the ship for 14 hours straight. Sometimes the job requires four hours on, then two hours off, which can wreak havoc on a body’s biorhythms. Those seafarers are the reason the oldest continuous ministry in the Covenant continues to operate. Begun in 1880, five years before the denomination was founded, the New England Seafarers Mission serves ship workers—officers, guest services staff, cooks, custodians. From as many as 167 countries, 25,000 staffers of ships come through the mission each year. NESM began with a layperson, a former sailor, who worked the waterfront, visiting Scandinavian crews from ships that called into Boston. Today, Stephen Cushing serves as its chaplain and executive director, overseeing the primary site on the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in Boston Harbor and a smaller branch in Providence, Rhode Island. Once the passengers are off the Gem, the crew can go ashore, and Scott Hamby, chief finance officer on the ship, stops by the mission. Hamby began his career at sea by responding to a job ad, even though he’d grown up in a landlocked part of Texas. When the hiring manager asked about his maritime experience, he replied, “I’ve never even seen the ocean.” She laughed so hard she hired him on the spot. He started working two weeks later. The biggest challenges in his work aren’t the long stretches away from home, Hamby says. “I’m single, and I have family nearby who take care of my house,” he says. The challenge is staying grounded while “living in a bubble,” referring to the surreal nature of life on board. “Like every job, there are good days and bad days. But in this job the bad days take place in exotic locales,” he says. Begun in 1880, five years before the denomination was founded, the New England Seafarers Mission serves ship workers—officers, guest services staff, cooks, custodians. From as many as 167 countries, 25,000 staffers of ships come through the mission each year. Most of the crew who share Hamby’s bubble, however, have few opportunities to escape the demands of their jobs. Cruise lines get around labor laws (as well as tax laws and safety regulations) by registering their ships and businesses in countries with looser restrictions, such as the Bahamas or Bermuda. The common practice of “flying a flag of convenience” means cruise lines don’t have to abide by U.S. laws, even if they operate out of U.S. ports and carry U.S. passengers, according to a recent report in Business Insider. The Norwegian Cruise Line, for instance, is headquartered in Miami,

CHICAGO, IL (November 1, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Outlawed Baby Names Around the World The United States puts few restrictions on what parents can name their children—witness the name of just about any child born to a celebrity in the last several decades. Other countries take something of a different stand. The reasons for banning names range from protecting the child from ridicule to rejecting Western culture (which is why Saudia Arabia banned the name Linda in 2014). Some names are rejected by courts on a case-by-case basis while parents in Denmark must choose from a list of 7,000 government-approved names.

From the article: “IKEA is beloved around the world, but there’s one place where it’s illegal to name your baby after the furniture store: its home country of Sweden. The name violates the nation’s strict naming laws.” Kirk Franklin Boycotts the Dove Awards Support is growing among artists for the gospel singer’s decision to boycott the Dove Awards, which is the Christian music industry’s equivalent of the Grammys. Franklin announced his decision this week, citing the fact that the Gospel Music Association and Trinity Broadcast Network twice edited his previous acceptance speeches to delete references to the need for racial healing and shootings of both police officers and black men.

From the article: “Not only did they edit my speech, they edited the African American experience,” he said. Five Myths About the Reformation Marking Reformation Day this week points to the need for a proper historical perspective of the event. Perhaps it can help us better understand the Protestant church today.

From the article: “For some , it feels odd to ‘celebrate’ an event that divided the church. Didn’t Jesus pray for the church’s unity? Others have no difficulty celebrating the Reformation, seeing it as the starting point of all that they value in church history. What is the best way Protestants today should look back on the Reformation? Should we think of it more like a happy birth or an ugly divorce?” Opposing Team Members Come Around Soccer Player Whose Hijab Slipped This is a heartening video that might lead us to consider how we can protect the dignity of others on both a personal and larger scale. Be sure to click on the ESPN/Facebook link beneath the photo to see the video.

From the article: “It was a spontaneous act, clearly born of understanding, empathy, and respect. Even though those players did not practice the same custom, and even though it wasn't even their own teammate, they supported this woman's adherence to her faith tradition without hesitation and gave her the privacy she needed in the moment.” Ants Never Get Stuck in Traffic Jams. Here’s Why The study cited here could lead to changes in the way transportation corridors are planned but also could help scientists in fields as diverse as molecular biology and telecommunications. The article also includes a brief discussion of individualism versus working for the common good.

From the article: “For instance, in 2008, German scientists built a tiny ant motorway in the lab, complete with the equivalent of highway interchanges, so that ants could navigate between their nest and a sugary food source. Then the scientists monitored how the ants quickly found the shortest possible route between the two. You'd expect jams to form near interchanges, as they do on human highways. Instead, whenever a route started to clog, the ants returning to the nest blocked ants traveling in the opposite direction, forcing them to find an alternate route.”

Shalom Colombia How young peacemakers are leading efforts to transform their communities by David Husby | November 1, 2019

The municipality of El Bagre, Colombia, is representative of the decades of conflict and violence in that country. Covenant missionary Julio Isaza grew up there and witnessed firsthand the suffering of people caught in the violence. His parents lost their land and were forced to flee the conflict in the area. As a result, Isaza has become passionate about peacemaking and reconciliation. Estefanía Castro also grew up in El Bagre, attending Sunday school at Centro de Armonia Cristiana, the local Covenant church there. When she was 16, she started teaching Sunday school. At 22, Castro moved in with a young man and they had a child. However, he soon abandoned her, and she was left feeling ashamed and emotionally scarred. In the past six decades, more than 200,000 Colombians have died and millions have been displaced. In recent history, more people have been internally displaced within Colombia than in any in other country in the world until 2014 when it was surpassed by Syria. Uncontrolled gold mining in El Bagre means that region has become a particular magnet for conflict. Rebel and paramilitary groups have been fighting there for decades. Yet in spite of this valuable resource, 75 percent of the population of El Bagre lives below the poverty line.

Peace march in El Bagre, Colombia In 2016, Isaza was in El Bagre and noticed how deeply Castro cared for children and youth in the community. He invited her to be one of 25 Covenant youth to participate in a yearlong certificate course on peace and reconciliation. She agreed. One section of the course addressed forgiveness and healing. And that began the process of healing from past trauma in her life. She has become passionate about peacemaking. Now Castro says, “We believe we can be the principal transmitters of the process of peace. Colombia needs peace, and our communities need peace. We are the vehicles so peace can be a reality in our country.” After they graduated, 10 of the youth created a project in El Bagre called SEHPAZ, or Be Peace Make Peace. It began in January 2018 and is funded by Covenant World Relief. “We are ambassadors of Jesus in a context where there is violence in order to generate a true reconciliation with God.”

Diana Garcia was selected to be the leader of SEHPAZ, and she asked Castro to help lead the program with her. At first, Castro was hesitant. But Isaza says she and Garcia have become strong and capable leaders, along with 15 youth volunteers who are seeking to build peace, particularly among children and youth. Isaza, who recently earned a master’s degree in conflict and peace from the University of Medellín. He and his wife, Katie, who is also a Covenant missionary, serve as advisers to SEHPAZ. Activities of the program include peace fairs, sports tournaments, a march for peace and nonviolence, neighborhood cleanup days, movie forums, tree planting, and workshops on such topics as the biblical basis for peace, forgiveness and reconciliation, entrepreneurship, advocacy, civic participation, and peace with God, others, self, and creation. “As agents of peace and reconciliation we seek to proclaim the good news of the kingdom through our service to the community, collaborative relationships, and networking as a way of fostering teamwork,” Garcia explains. “We are ambassadors of Jesus in a context where there is violence in order to generate a true reconciliation with God, each person with him- or herself, with our neighbors, and with creation.”

Youth of El Bagre participate in a kite festival for peace SEHPAZ is now in its second year, and the Covenant youth have become respected throughout El Bagre as leaders who are bringing change to the community. They collaborate with local police, the municipal government, the church, a school, and other NGOs. Isaza says one of the greatest impacts of

Betty Nelson, retired dean of North Park Academy and College [...]

“There is no better place to practice peace and reconciliation than the church to exemplify [...]

Several Covenant churches are providing shelter to evacuees from the Kincade [...]

WYOMING, MN (October 28, 2019) – Daniel Anton Schwabe, husband of Covenant pastor Toni Schwabe, died Thursday on the couple’s 43rd anniversary. He was 68.

Dan was born on June 3, 1951, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Raymond and Mildred Schwabe.

He graduated from Mankato State University and went into a career of teaching high school. He also launched a business, CPR Etc, and taught thousands of people CPR and first aid.

He and Toni were married on October 24, 1976. They have served Rice Creek Covenant Church in Lino Lakes, Minnesota.

Survivors include Toni, a daughter, Amanda Nephew (Jasper); son, Kristopher Schwabe (Amy); and grandchildren.

A service of celebration will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 1, at Crossroads Covenant Church in Forest Lake, Minnesota. Memorials may be sent to Rice Creek, 125 Ash Street, Lino Lakes, MN 55126.

Since his release, Pho has worked multiple jobs and eventually graduated with honors from a cement mason [...]

This new nine-part podcast, Dolly Parton’s America from Radiolab, takes the [...]

A masked intruder entered the home where Dejiza Coleman was staying [...]

Osman Konda, co-pastor of the Sudanese Evangelical Covenant Church in Manchester [...]

CHICAGO, IL (October 24, 2019) - Betty Jean (Carlson) Holmgren, wife of North Park Seminary professor emeritus Fredrick Holmgren, died Sunday, October 13. She was 94.

Betty was born on March 1, 1925, in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, to Hilding Gustaf and Clare Marie Carlson.

She graduated from North Park College.

Betty married Fred on June 12, 1948. While serving the Evangelical Covenant Church in New Rochelle, New York, Fred completed his studies at Union Theological Seminary and Betty worked as administrative assistant to the vice-president of Adler Electronics.

The couple moved to Chicago in 1960, when Fred was hired as a professor at North Park Theological Seminary. Betty worked as administrative assistant to three academic deans at North Park College.

In retirement, Fred and Betty had opportunities for travel, and for ten years they would spend three months of every year in Freiburg, Germany. Although Betty didn’t start to learn German until she was in her sixties, she was able to converse easily in the language.

Betty had a loving spirit that characterized her life. During the 1960s, at a time of intense racial tension, she and Fred were strong advocates for social justice and racial equality. They also were vocal in their opposition to anti-Semitism and encouraged others to develop deeper insight into the Jewish tradition.

Survivors include her husband, a daughter, Margaret “Marge” Conville; a son, Mark Holmgren; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service was held October 20 at North Park Covenant Church, where Fred and Betty were longtime members. Memorials may be given in her name to the church, 5250 N Christiana Ave, Chicago, IL 60625.

Allison developed the Covenant’s Schools of Prayer and Bringing My World to Christ. [...]

Addiction Nation What the Opioid Crisis Reveals about Us Timothy McMahan King Herald Press, 272 pages

Reviewed by Doug Bixby | October 21, 2019

Addiction Nation is a great resource for anyone impacted by addiction and an important read for people concerned about the opioid crisis in our culture. It is for anyone seeking a restorative approach to helping people who suffer from addiction. It is for pastors, politicians, therapists, high-school teachers, youth leaders, coaches, school administrators, concerned parents, and loving friends. This book is for anyone longing to find solutions to the crisis and for those who hope to avoid contributing to the shame and stigmatization that keep us from moving forward. The opioid crisis in America is real. This book offers an in-depth exploration of addiction. It is personal, political, and prophetic. Timothy McMahan King depicts addiction as a human problem, not just a moral one. King shares his own struggle with addiction that began with his use of prescription pain medications after a medical procedure. Paradoxically, those medications both saved his life and threatened it. He reveals that identifying addiction as a disease allowed him to let down his guard and receive the help he desperately needed. All human beings fall somewhere on a spectrum of addiction, King writes, suggesting that self-deception and denial get us nowhere. He describes addiction as more than a personal problem individuals face. Rather, he suggests, it is a societal problem steeped in the chaotic social, economic, and political systems of our culture. King draws a very clear line between addiction and consumerism, exposing predatory practices of pharmaceutical companies and unethical doctors. This book offers historical and sociological insights about the distribution of opioids, cocaine, crack, alcohol, and other drugs, and points to the imbalance between punitive and healing approaches based on social issues such as race, gender, and socioeconomic class. “The greatest mistake we can make is to believe addiction is out there and not our problem,” King writes. In a profound way, he says, “Addiction Nation is my story. But it is our story too.” This book treats the subject of addiction with the respect it deserves without oversimplifying it. “Addiction is a dragon that is overcome not through battle but through a kind of taming and redirection,” King writes. He continues, “Ultimately, the concept of willpower in recovery fails because it treats the automatic self as an enemy to be conquered. The conscious self becomes the knight in shining armor, wielding willpower as a weapon to slay the dragon of addiction. Addiction is hard to overcome because it does not reside primarily in the conscious self.” He suggests that shame not only keeps addicts silent and in denial, it also silences community leaders who are best positioned to help people struggling with addiction. Too often people want to know whose fault it is or who is to blame. Like the disciples with the blind man, they ask, “Who sinned, this person or their parents, that they are addicted?” This book advocates for a restorative approach that focuses on “healing, not consequences.” King argues that it does not matter whether an addiction starts with prescription drugs or out on the streets: “Blame and accusation only lead to silence and shame.” Recovery, he suggests, begins with healing. King points out that the so-called “war on drugs” has primarily led to an unjust and unimaginable increase in incarceration rates in our nation. Throughout Addiction Nation, King reflects on his own recovery and the many available treatment options and resources. He hits a crescendo when he reveals a very important question that his doctor asks him—a question that changed his life. It truly was the turning point in his recovery. As a pastor, I gained great insight from this book about the role of empathy in working with addicts, the need for needle exchange programs,

Hope Covenant Church has opened its parking lot this week [...]

“We were so thankful for their courage and compassion [...]

CHICAGO, IL (October 18, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles

and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. National Association of Evangelicals’ New President Hopes to Bring Together a Movement in Crisis Walter Kim, 51, is the first person of color to head the 77-year-old organization that represents millions of churchgoers in a time when many no longer want to be identified as evangelical.

From the article: “Over the past few years, the NAE…has sought to remain a center ground for American evangelicals. and others have tried to keep the movement’s name from being hijacked as merely a political marker. It hasn’t been an easy job.” Ethiopia’s Evangelical Prime Minister Wins Nobel Peace Prize After less than two years in office, Abiy Ahmed, 43, has brokered peace with Ethiopia’s neighbor Eritrea. The two countries have experienced years of violence, resulting in 80,000 deaths at the border. Ahmed has also helped heal wounds between two branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. His faith guides his pursuit of peace and justice.

From the article: “The prize announcement commended his leadership, saying: ‘He spent his first 100 days as Prime Minister lifting the country’s state of emergency, granting amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, discontinuing media censorship, legalizing outlawed opposition groups, dismissing military and civilian leaders who were suspected of corruption, and significantly increasing the influence of women in Ethiopian political and community life. He has also pledged to strengthen democracy by holding free and fair elections.’” Researcher: Artifacts Show that Early Church Women Served as Clergy Researcher Ally Kateusz says recently discovered artifacts indicate that women were serving in roles as ordained clergy in the early church. Other Catholic researchers disagree with her interpretation.

From the article: “One of the artifacts she bases her findings on is an ivory reliquary box dating from around A.D. 430 that depicts a man and a woman standing on either side of an altar, each raising a chalice. The altar is that of Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The gesture of raising a chalice is recognized as a liturgical act performed by priests.” Digital Dystopia: How Algorithms Punish the Poor Governments and businesses are establishing policy based on algorithms that indicate the best options for tackling a problem. But when the information fed into the algorithms is bad data, such decisions can cause devastating harm.

From the article: “Only mathematicians and computer scientists fully understand the sea change, powered as it is by artificial intelligence (AI), predictive algorithms, risk modeling and biometrics. But if you are one of the millions of vulnerable people at the receiving end of the radical reshaping of welfare benefits, you know it is real and that its consequences can be serious—even deadly.” 19 of the Most Bizarre World Records You Never Knew Existed You have to wonder how people come up with some of these ideas.

From the article: "Yes, we still include all the classic categories like tallest humans, fastest athletes, heaviest vehicles and highest-scoring video-gamers," Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday told BuzzFeed News, "but we’re always looking to shine a light on the quirkier aspects of human achievement."

Surprised by Scripture Engaging Contemporary Issues N.T. Wright HarperOne, 240 pages

Reviewed by Laurie Danielson Cornell | October 16, 2019

In Surprised by Scripture, one of the world’s leading Bible scholars invites us to engage 12 contemporary issues with a robust, prayerful, comprehensive reading of Scripture. Chapter titles include “Can a Scientist Believe in the Resurrection?” “9/11, Tsunamis, and the New Problem of Evil,” and “Our Politics Are Too Small.” I commend this good gift to every Covenant pastor and church member, and here is the reason: N.T. Wright gives us 12 excellent examples of how to read and interpret the Scriptures with the same commitments the Covenant family has declared to be essential. In our Covenant resource paper “The Evangelical Covenant Church and the Bible” we say, “At our best, we, as Covenant people read the Bible faithfully, communally, rigorously, charitably, and holistically, with commitments to grace, transformation, and mission.” (This is a two-for-one review—I also strongly recommend that paper, which can be found at covchurch.org.) “Jesus is coming, so plant a tree,” Wright says in one chapter. “The reason that slogan is counterintuitive to the point of being funny is that, for many devout believers, the Second Coming is the point when the world as we know it is done away with and Jesus snatches his own people up to heaven, to live there with him forever.” Might it be that there is even better news from the Scriptures about our future hope? Wright goes on to declare that God has begun restoring his beloved creation—and aches for our partnership in the coming of the new heaven and new earth already underway. When we take a broader and deeper look at the Scriptures, here is what Wright concludes: “In the New Testament the Second Coming is not the point at which Jesus snatches people up, away from the earth, to live forever with him somewhere else, but the point at which he returns to reign not only in heaven but upon the earth.” N.T. Wright creates a calm, mature, and biblically informed space for wrestling with the Scriptures and doing theology together in community. What a gift as we face each theological issue before us. This practice—this rare treasure—is deep and solid in our Covenant heritage, and much needed right now in the global body of Christ, the American church, and in our local Covenant congregations.

About the Author

Laurie Danielson Cornell is an ordained Covenant pastor, currently serving as the chair of the Pacific Southwest Conference Ministerial Association. She and her husband, Jim, are members of Village Covenant Church in Azusa, California. Although she has lived most of her life in California, her Midwest roots run deep, making her a devout fan of the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Cubs.

The opening lines of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, released earlier this summer, set the stage for its depiction of the USSR’s handling of the world’s most destructive nuclear accident: “What is the cost of lies? It’s not that we’ll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then? What else is left but to abandon even the hope of truth and to content ourselves instead with stories?” The series goes on to dramatize, with agonizing effect, the human cost of lies told by those in power. As the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear explosion unfolds, government officials refuse to acknowledge the high levels of radioactive exposure and the deaths that would ensue, choosing instead to operate from an entrenched position of self-protection and preservation of their own authority. I watched the first episode with fists clenched, angered by the blatant abuse of power and mishandling of pertinent information. Although there were several initial casualties, the episode was intentionally designed to dwell not on the human element of loss (that would come later), but to guide the viewer to first confront the reality that the people in power chose lies over truth. Because of their cowardice, thousands of men, women, and children would suffer the consequences of their decisions in the days and years to come. Like many of us, I view the pursuit of truth as a vital part of my life’s journey. Psalm 86:11 is a constant, daily prayer: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.” Despite the truth of God flowing all around us, I am becoming increasingly aware of my inherent inability to fully see it. I pray that I would never leverage lies in a manner as blatant as the circumstances portrayed in Chernobyl. But I recognize that because of my own sin and because of the pervasiveness and deceitfulness of human frailty, my personal blindness is inevitable—blindness to the consequences of my actions, the pain of others, and even sometimes blind to the grace of God and his unfailing love.

If the light of truth is what we seek, perhaps we must start first by listening. In those opening lines, I was struck by the sequential progression: lies followed by the inability to recognize truth and finally leading to the fabrication of stories. In other words, if a lie is the starting point, stories will then be created in lieu of actual hope, in an effort to make sense of the situation. First a lie, then falsified stories. I believe part of our collective journey as Christ followers must include a focused, intentional effort to name oppressive lies for what they are—often catalyzed first by self-preservation—and to directly address the ways they have harmed people, creating division and discord. Truth, on the other hand, cannot be fabricated or controlled. Christ is truth. Truth becomes known. Truth is in the Spirit, given by the Spirit. We worship in truth. We are sanctified by truth. Truth can’t be manipulated. It can only be received. While truth is revealed through Scripture, through teaching and the working of the Spirit, I believe God also chooses to reveal his truth through our relationships. By giving of ourselves in love, and receiving others in love, we see the light of truth in ways that might otherwise be left unseen to us. The chronicling of the early church in Acts captures ways God miraculously revealed himself by speaking his truth through people. We learn from Paul and Peter’s stories about the need to listen for the Spirit through the voices of others, particularly those who are not already within our circles of influence. If the light of truth is what we seek, perhaps we must start first by listening. We begin by receiving honest, vulnerable stories of real life shared by real people—then, as relationships are built, revelation follows. The truth of Christ’s love is all around us, in and through one another.

“This space,” she said, “is sacred for us.”

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos [...]

A medical ministry connected with the Covenant Church of Ecuador (IPEE) was planning [...]

Mothers in Waiting Healing and Hope for Those with Empty Arms Crystal Bowman and Meghann Bowman, editors Harvest House, 208 pages

Reviewed by Devyn Chambers Johnson | October 10, 2019

I inadvertently found myself reading Mothers in Waiting the week before Mother’s Day. My own infertility journey has made Mother’s Day a complicated holiday. The pain of infertility, like grief, never really goes away. I rejoice that God has grown our family through adoption, but infertility and pain and loss will always be part of me. In Mothers in Waiting, I hear echoes of my own journey yet am also reminded that infertility is not a uniform experience. The editors of this book have collected a series of nearly 30 vignettes from Christian women who each share their unique stories in their own words. The women are honest about the toll that infertility took on their bodies, their marriages, their friendships, their emotional health, and their relationship with God. Yet they also tell stories of joy, redemption, and peace. Two themes are woven throughout these stories—and my own. Infertility is lonely, and infertility is as unique and diverse as the people who experience it. Infertility is lonely because the hurt is so deep it is difficult to share—yet family and friends often rely on those who are hurting to explain and educate them. This book is an amazing resource for family and friends who want to know, understand, and support their loved ones. It does not provide answers or give instructions, but it does tell stories—stories that those living the day-to-day of infertility may not be able to tell for themselves. I longed for those closest to me to read and research, independent of my guidance or instruction. There were seasons when it was far too difficult to put words to my own pain. Every story in Mothers in Waiting is different. Every couple faced different challenges, had varied expectations, and in pursuing God’s will made different decisions. The exposure to so many different experiences helps dispel myths and assumptions related to infertility that often turn into unhelpful and even hurtful advice (“adopt and you will get pregnant,” “my second cousin’s wife tried acupuncture and they had twins!”). This book was a reminder to me that my story is one among many, and that brings both comfort and humility. The subject matter means this is not an easy book to read, but it is accessible. I highly recommend that both men and women read it. It will make you a better friend, neighbor, pastor, and family member. Motherhood and fatherhood are lauded in both our secular world and our churches, making infertility and infant loss lonely, even shameful, experiences. Telling these stories as Mothers in Waiting does brings the pain of infertility out of the shadows to find light and hope and healing.

About the Author

Devyn Chambers Johnson co-pastors Community Covenant Church in Springfield, Virginia, with her husband, Ryan, where they are raising two active and independent girls. Devyn is also completing her doctor of ministry degree at Virginia Theological Seminary and is the founder of Four More Women in the Pulpit. Her music career peaked early when she was cast as the Mother Abbess in her high school’s performance of The Sound of Music.

Headwaters Covenant Church Helena, Montana Weekly Attendance: 71 Established: 2010

When Headwaters Covenant Church first began worshiping together ten years ago in Helena, Montana, the church offices were located at the local YWCW. That unique setting meant staff became increasingly aware of the needs experienced by women who were transitioning out of homelessness. Specifically, they realized that when residents left the Y to move into their own place, they needed all kinds of essentials—toiletries, household items, hygiene products. So Headwaters partnered with a local nonprofit to create a pantry that operated on the model of a foodbank but gave away goods to help people set up their residence. The congregation donated items, and the pantry distributed them to anyone in need. When Headwaters moved into their own facility seven years ago, they had space to expand the ministry. They created Headwaters Current, a donation center, and partnered with Good360, a nonprofit that works with corporations to responsibly distribute excess goods to people in need. Through that partnership, two nearby Bed, Bath, and Beyond stores began giving donations to Headwaters. They received so many goods they decided to host a Christmas giveaway—and more than 500 people showed up. “We realized that obviously the community needs this, so we decided to keep going,” says pastor Seth Domach. Headwaters Current has offered bimonthly giveaways, hosted large events, and now operates as an on-demand resource center serving individuals on a case-by-case basis. Stores send everything from pillows and bedsheets to comforters and towels. “We can give people everything from coffee pots to humidifiers,” Domach says. Recipients may be shelter residents, survivors of domestic abuse, members of the Helena Indian Alliance, people who were formerly incarcerated, or the elderly. In addition, Headwaters Current provides bedding to nonprofits that house people, such as a home for survivors of domestic abuse, a home for teenaged mothers, and a group teen home. “In one case a couple’s two grandkids were moving in with them,” says Domach. “They didn’t have anything for children in their house. We were able to deliver a variety of needed items to them.” They don’t accept used donations, so every item they give away is brand-new. “We want to help give people a sense of dignity as they start a new phase of their lives. We know they need to develop a sense of pride,” Domach says. The congregation is deeply invested in the ministry. “One retired couple comes whenever there is a shipment to unpack and sort the stuff for us. We also have friends of members who love to come and help out,” says Domach. The project has served more than 1,000 households in the community of 31,000 residents.

Stories That Shaped My Faith Gamification: The Art of Problem-Solving Through Play by Kendall Churchill | October 8, 2019

When people hear of my passion for strategic board games, they often respond with some degree of skepticism: “You mean, like Monopoly? Um, okay….” To be fair, I recognize that playing Monopoly can be extremely unpleasant. Although it’s one of the highest selling games of all time, it’s an experience that usually results in boredom or hurt feelings, or both. In fact, Monopoly was not designed to be fun. Elizabeth Magie created the game in 1903 as a protest against monopolies of the day. Her aim was for “men and women discover that they are poor because Carnegie and Rockefeller, maybe, have more than they know what to do with.” I think Magie has accomplished her goal—Monopoly is a slow, unfair, harsh simulation of an economic monopoly. The good news is that loads of games today are educational and fun. Players of Compounded will learning about chemistry. Players of 7 Wonders and Timeline will learn about human advancement throughout history. Playing Escape the Curse of the Temple, a cooperative game with a time limit, will teach you how to keep calm under pressure. Chinatown focuses on bartering ability. Some games allow us to take part in worlds we only dream about, such as Legendary, a card-based superhero game. Others, such as the beloved classic Clue or my preferred variation, Mystery at the Abbey, teach critical life skills like deduction. Playing Village will help you learn resource management. While many people still associate board games with sheer luck and childhood, my appreciation for games comes from viewing them as a framework through which we can learn about and explore the world in fresh ways. A few years ago, I designed a board game for my congregational vitality class that taught players about four types of church health (missional, stable, critical moment, and at-risk). My game had a play structure similar to a beautiful game my wife loves called Tokaido, and it demonstrated how the choices a church makes affect their journey toward vitality.

Games challenge us to identify our priorities, make sacrifices, or take calculated risks.

There are many different styles of games—simulation, cooperative, competitive, trivia—and many of them have proven to be effective in teaching. Education professionals continue to find new ways to “gamify” their content, but too often adults miss out on opportunities to learn through play. Games can also help to break the ice in conversation and bring different kinds of people together for fellowship. I believe games should be a staple for faith development and community building of all ages, especially within the church. A good game can raise questions and spark conversation the way a good sermon can: what should we do, what resources do we have, and how can we be most effective? Because games usually have a very specific condition for winning, they can help us understand leadership practices such as narrowing our focus, thinking about the steps we need to take to get where we want to go, or the importance of delegating tasks among a team. Games can challenge us to identify our priorities, make sacrifices, or take calculated risks. And games can just be fun. We get to relax, laugh, build friendships, try new things, and explore new ideas. One game that has particularly impressed me is the Pursuit of Happiness. In this game players move from childhood through adolescence into adulthood, and finally conclude in the sunset years. In each season of life, players make choices around relationships, work, hobbies, stress, and rest. Everyone has the same limited amount of time, so saying yes to one option inevitably means saying no to another. Prioritizing healthy, long-term living allows for a longer life in which there may be more opportunities, but may mean more difficult activities in the short-term. It can be both invigorating and frustrating to watch a ...

TORRANCE, CA (October 7, 2019) – Articles by three Covenant scholars are included in the tenth-anniversary issue of Inheritance, a journal that focuses on Asian and Pacific Islanders theology.

Among the writers are:

Bo Lim, associate professor of Old Testament at Seattle Pacific University Russell Jeung, professor and chair of Asian American Studies at San Francisco University Al Tizon, executive minister of Serve Globally and affiliate professor of missional and global leadership at North Park Theological Seminary

Lim and Jeung focus on living as exiles in Babylon and reflect on the prophet Jeremiah’s call to Israel in captivity to pray and work that the city might prosper.

“Asian Americans have a theology of exile, because of our status as forever foreigners wherever we are,” writes Jeung, whose article is an excerpt from his book At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors. “I would argue that doing justice as powerless exiles is like this: It’s an act of trust and obedience to God’s commands. We do not know if we will be successful in winning justice; after all, those Jewish exiles would never see their homeland again. At the same time, we do not have to be resigned to being ineffective and weak in this fallen world.”

In his contribution, “What Has San Francisco to Do with Babylon?” Lim recounts that his father was the pastor of a first-generation Korean church in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, a place that has seen cycles of prosperity and poverty as well as changing racial and ethnic makeup. “Whereas my father called his generation into Babylon, my generation needs to flee it. Babylon is more than a geographical reality—its power is religious, economic, cultural and political. So fleeing Babylon may or may not involve relocation.”

In “SIR Justice: Musings of a Fil-Am Social Activist,” Tizon notes the danger of generalizing about a particular people group, but writes that he has retained a trait he learned during his formative years in the Philippines—“SIR,” or the pursuit of “smooth interpersonal relationships.”

“At its worst, SIR can devolve into acquiescence, conflict avoidance, a muted voice, a tendency to being taken advantage of, and an unhealthy need to be liked by all,” Tizon writes. “At its best, SIR can provide the capacity to adjust to diverse situations and contexts, to endure hardship and struggle with less emphasis on complaining, and to serve as a bridge between conflicting parties.”

Tizon says the concept continues to guide his work. “SIR might explain, at least in part, why I am so keen on reconciliation as a crucial, non-negotiable expression of justice. In its unhealthiness, I might want to get to reconciliation too fast. But when it is at play in a good way, SIR can get me closer to my best understanding of the practice of biblical justice.”

Sometimes, in my mind’s eye, I like to conceive of what I call Biblical deleted scenes [...]

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service [...]

A celebration of life service for retired Covenant pastor Rick Larson was held [...]

Salim Munayer was born in Lod, Israel. A Palestinian Christian and an Israeli citizen, he is passionate about reconciliation, or musalaha in Arabic.

In 1990, Salim founded the nonprofit organization Musalaha to promote and facilitate reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians from a range of ethnic and religious backgrounds. One aspect of that work is their recent Bridge Building initiative, which brings together people from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and other religious or non-religious backgrounds to pursue reconciliation through the biblical principles of peace, tolerance, and love. Participants engage in desert encounters, seminars, and international conferences. Salim also teaches at Bethlehem Bible College in the West Bank, and is an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Serve Globally, including Covenant World Relief, partners with both Musalaha and Bethlehem Bible College.

How does reconciliation happen between people groups with such a long history of deep conflict? There is a big discrepancy in the historical narrative over whether the Israelis or the Palestinians started the conflict. The gap is so big you wonder whether people are living in the same land and experiencing the same wars. It takes a year and a half to two years for each Musalaha cohort to go through the reconciliation process. When we start talking about political realities, it is very challenging. Yet our aim is to say, “I want to be in the light and not go back into the cave.” We don’t have the critical mass yet to impact how the government will act, but we can encourage individuals not to participate in oppression and retaliation.

Why do you bring people together in the desert? A major obstacle to reconciliation is geographical separation. We have the West Bank barrier that keeps people apart from each other. In contrast, the desert is neutral ground. We see in Scripture how often God meets people in the desert. It is a place of transformation. We’ve found it to be a place where people start to engage with one another, where they can begin to tell each other their stories. It is so important to the process of reconciliation because people have dehumanized and demonized the other. That is the root problem of everything. When we dehumanize people, then we justify the violence we commit against each other. So before people can debate issues or even start to have real peace, you have to get to know one another.

Jesus’s call to love our enemies is core to your ministry. What does loving your enemy look like? We discover God by loving our enemy. Loving our enemy helps us to understand how God loves us because we are each in rebellion against God. When I love my enemies, I get to know them as people. I want to know their pain, their past. I want to know about their culture. It’s also about learning how I have caused them pain. And it’s not just about the pain I personally have caused but also the pain my people group has caused. It means being willing to look into socioeconomic and political actions that cause pain.

What is the role of the church in reconciliation? We have to recognize that the church has been a big part of the problem, so it must play a role in healing. For example, the church has contributed to anti-Semitism by demonizing Jewish people. On the other hand, many Christians in the United States believe the establishment of the political state of Israel will hasten the return of Christ. This theology drives American politics today and marginalizes Palestinians. Many international Christians find themselves taking sides in the conflict, but that makes the Israel-Palestine situation worse. Rather, Christians need to promote a theology of reconciliation. A theology of reconciliation blesses both Israelis and Palestinians. The Good Samaritan story is a framework—we need to help people regardless of who they are. The church has a prophetic role. Prophets need to speak to the powers like Nathan...

CHICAGO, IL (September 27, 2019)—Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. One Woman’s 50-State Search for Kindness Delivers a Few PR Lessons After the Sandy Hook massacre, Mary Latham told her mother it was yet another indication of how awful society had become, listing a litany of examples to prove her point. Her mother, who was dying of cancer at the time, told her there was still more good than bad in the world—but you had to look for it. When her mother died, Latham went on a 50-state search. What she found has been inspiring. According to her website, “More Good,” Latham plans to write a book about her adventures and donate copies to hospital waiting rooms.

From the article: “If it’s personal, it’s powerful. If it’s from the heart, it will move people. If there is a commitment to go the distance, budget won’t matter. If it’s real, perceptions will follow, and so will awareness. And if you can truly connect with one person, you can touch thousands.” It’s Time for Black Athletes to Leave White Colleges Black college athletes help overwhelmingly white-majority schools rake in billions of dollars, while historically black colleges and universities struggle to stay afloat. What would happen if all of those athletes decided to attend HCBUs instead?

From the article: “About 30 Division I schools each bring in at least $100 million in athletic revenue every year. Almost all of these schools are majority white—in fact, black men make up only 2.4 percent of the total undergraduate population of the 65 schools in the so-called Power Five athletic conferences. Yet black men make up 55 percent of the football players in those conferences, and 56 percent of basketball players.”

Opinion: Keep the Bean Forever Open, Clear and Free of Preachers and Protesters The sculpture Cloud Gate—more conventionally known as The Bean—located in Millennium Park, is one of Chicago’s most popular tourist attractions. Recently, Wheaton College’s Chicago Evangelism Team was preaching and handing out tracts there when security guards told them park rules prohibited such activities in that space. The students sued, alleging that their rights to freedom of speech and religion were being violated. As is often the case, there is a lot more at stake than this particular lawsuit. Even if the students win in court, will their tactics help or hurt efforts to communicate the gospel?

From the article: “It’s a lot easier to get behind those expressing conventional, widely accepted views than it is to champion the rights of those whose utterances you find repellent.” Bring Back Handwriting: It’s Good for Your Brain Writing by hand is good for the brain—and the soul.

From the article: “Psychologists have long understood that personal, emotion-focused writing can help people recognize and come to terms with their feelings. Since the 1980s, studies have found that ‘the writing cure,’ which normally involves writing about one’s feelings every day for 15 to 30 minutes, can lead to measurable physical and mental health benefits….And there’s evidence that handwriting may better facilitate this form of therapy than typing.”

We Added New Words to the Dictionary for September 2019 The Merriam Webster Dictionary added 533 new words and meanings this month in a variety of categories. Some changes, such as they, reflect ongoing cultural shifts in “the complex ways we understand ourselves and others.” Others, such as vacay (vacation) and sess (session), are more playful. I did not realize that I have struggled with coulrophobia for a long time, but fortunately I’ve managed to keep it from negatively impacting my life. (Coulrophobia means an irrational fear of clowns; I doubt I'm the only one.)

I have been a reluctant church goer for much of my life. [...]

She says that while climate change doesn’t cause poverty, it accelerates and intensifies [...]

Navigating Church with Special NeedsMy son James was born 13 years ago on a hot July morning. When he was placed into my waiting arms, white striped knit cap on his head, I looked into his large eyes framed with long lashes, and I knew this boy was going to radically shape my life.There were giggles, crying, diapers, and spit-up—and my husband, Dave, and I were immediately in love. But there were also frequent trips to the doctor and hospital, diaries of liquids and syringes, nebulizers, and a new phrase: “failure to thrive.” That first year, James had a great laugh but no words. External stimuli, such as noises and textures, seemed to bother him. Later came seizures and surgeries. Some overarching medical issue was causing James’s myriad of symptoms, but no physician was able to identify exactly what was wrong.When James was six months old, we moved to the Twin Cities. Even as I reveled in the joy of motherhood, my days were often lonely and overwhelming. I cried out to Jesus to hold us, bring us hope, and give us peace. I knew a good, good God knit James together with intent, purpose, and delight as declared in Psalm 139. Thankfully, God was also building a team of family, friends, and our new church, Faith Covenant in Burnsville, to walk with us through this journey. Tiny James was so far off the growth chart that he didn’t have the reserves to fight off illness. Every bug landed him in the ER with IVs or breathing treatments. Our pediatrician’s office dubbed the back rooms the “Newendorp Wing” because we were there so often.So we weren’t especially surprised when our pediatrician suggested that we quarantine James for the viral season when he was about a year and a half old. That meant no large groups of people or being around “germy” environments. We had to miss several significant family and friend events. At church, Dave and I would tag team—one of us would go to church while the other stayed home with James.As we entered into Advent, I longed to experience the candlelight and songs of celebration. Emmanuel meant “God with us,” and my heart needed that reminder. Jim, our pediatrician with whom we were on a first-name basis, told us we could probably attend a Christmas Eve service if we slipped into the back of the sanctuary after the service started and left before it ended. So on December 24, I dressed James in an adorable outfit complete with matching cap, and we arrived during the first carol. We were in church together for the first time in months. What 17-month-old James could not express with words and speech, he tried to make up for in coos and sounds. I looked on with tenderness as my son tried to express himself to a world that had not yet heard his voice. Dave and I leaned into each other.The couple in front of us turned around a few times as James babbled. We tried to quiet him, but he continued. Eventually the woman turned and said, “We have a nursery for little ones—you should use it.” I apologized, my eyes filling with tears. I hastily penned her a note, letting her know that I was so sorry if our son was disturbing them—and explained that he was medically fragile, could not use the nursery, and that were at church together for the first time in a long time.I was devastated. This church had become a lifeline for us as we navigated the complicated world of special needs. Now it no longer felt safe.The woman later apologized, and over time God helped heal my heart. But the lesson was not lost on me: we never know what is happening in the life of someone who walks through our doors."Through it all our church has loved us well."As James grew, we discovered that he loved trucks and airplanes. We watched his eyes turn green and hair darken as he got older, and he eventually uttered some of those words we dreamed of hearing. With great joy, our family affectionately said, “I ee oo” (translation: “I love you”) to one another. We also learned other things about him—epilepsy, pulmonary challenges,

CHICAGO, IL (September 20, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. The Grandmaster Diet: How to Lose Weight While Barely Moving Losing weight is easy while just sitting—as long as you’re a grandmaster chess champion. The article begs the question: “Are chess players athletes?”

From the article: “Robert Sapolsky, who studies stress in primates at Stanford University, says a chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day while playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day. Based on breathing rates (which triple during competition), blood pressure (which elevates) and muscle contractions before, during and after major tournaments, Sapolsky suggests that grandmasters' stress responses to chess are on par with what elite athletes experience.” ‘People Actively Hate Us’: Inside the Border Patrol’s Morale Crisis The article presents dueling views of reality about the Border Patrol and its work. What everyone agrees on is that the job has never been more emotionally devastating.

From the article: “One Border Patrol agent in Tucson said he had been called a ‘sellout’ and a ‘kid killer.’ In El Paso, an agent said he and his colleagues in uniform had avoided eating lunch together except at certain ‘BP friendly’ restaurants because ‘there’s always the possibility of them spitting in your food.’”

Sandy Hook Parents Release Chilling ‘Back to School’ PSA The Sandy Hook Promise Foundation produces a public service announcement each year designed, according to their website, so “that gun violence is preventable when you ‘Know the Signs.’” Their videos have been watched billions of times and have led to calls for more action on guns. The latest PSA, “Back to School Essentials” lives up to the descriptors used by the group and others as “shocking” and “chilling.” Like the others, the PSA has led to angry calls for action. Judging by social media responses, it also has led to feelings of despair and fear.

From the article “The Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, based out of Newtown, Connecticut, depicts smiling, happy children suddenly having to employ skateboards, jackets, and cell phones in life-or-death moments. ‘We don't want people to turn away from it, so pretending it doesn't exist is not helping to solve it,’ Sandy Hook parent Nicole Hockley told NBC's ‘Today’ show, which debuted the shocking, minute-long video.” The Worship Song I Can’t Bring Myself to Sing The writer of this article has spent months wrestling with one line in a popular song that declares God will never let us down. Although he says he agrees with the song’s intent to communicate God’s goodness, there are too many times he has felt let down by God. He is far from the only one. Critics of “shallow contemporary music” will point to this article as evidence for their case, but traditional hymnody is filled with similar statements. What is a worshiper to do? More important, why do so few hymns or songs acknowledge the reality of suffering?

From the article: “The psalmist prepares me for the road of suffering and gives me ahead of time a hymnbook to help me express the reality of God’s goodness when the walk of faith feels like making my way through impenetrable fog. That’s what I want to sing—something that acknowledges the bloodied, weary hand still barely able to lift itself in praise, hanging on to a thread of truth that God is still good, even though the darkness of disappointment has closed in.” Dog Poop DNA Tracking Introduces Spy Tech to Our Backyards In the United States, dogs produce 21.2 billion pounds of waste every year. That has proven to be an enormous problem in suburban and urban areas when owners don’t pick up after their pets.

STILLMAN VALLEY, IL (September 18, 2019) – Rick Lindholtz, pastor of Stillman Valley Covenant Church, says he is grateful for the way the community offered assistance during the four months the congregation was unable to meet in their sanctuary. A fire damaged the building on May 4.

After the fire, the congregation met at a nearby church, only having to adjust their meeting time by 15 minutes, Lindholtz said. The church was one of five in the community who offered the use of their worship space.

Others helped as well. “Valley Covenant serves the communities around us by providing the Bread of Life food pantry and soup kitchen once a month, and our partners at the Northern Illinois Food Bank supported our efforts by providing mobile food truck service two months in a row,” Lindholtz said. By August, the church was able to serve out of its own building.

The fire destroyed the offices of pastor Rick Lindholtz and associate pastor Chuck Potts and damaged other portions of the building. Repairs included replacing walls and ceilings, remediation of asbestos flooring, upgrading restrooms, and adding a new preschool office space.

“Our church members are overjoyed to see the improvements in our facilities. As we move forward on the ECC’s Vitality pathway, we are also anxious to share our new facilities with the communities that have been so generous and supportive of our ministry during the past four months,” Lindholtz said.

The fire started when employees with a company doing work on the building pulled a piece of siding and caused an electrical arc.

ENGLEWOOD, NJ (Sept 16, 2019) – Metro Community Church will host the Covenant Justice Coalition Conference October 18-19 with the theme, “‘The Presumption of Guilt’: The Church's Response to an Unjust Criminal System.”

“We will focus on the pervasive pain to the individual, family, and community that results from an unjust criminal system,” organizers said. “We will provide a space to both lament and plan to intervene as a church.”

The conference will include speakers, workshops, and group discussions.

Registration is $95 per person before October 1. Late registration is $110. A group registration rate is available.

Speakers include:

Jennifer Eberhardt, social psychologist at Stanford University who studies the consequences of the psychological association between race and crime. She has begun working with law enforcement agencies to design interventions to improve policing and help agencies build and maintain trust with the communities they serve.

Edwin Raymond, sergeant with the New York Police Department who is featured in “Crime + Punishment,” a documentary that won a special jury award for “social impact” at this year's Sundance Film Festival. He is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit by 12 officers who allege that the city has pursued monthly quotas for arrests and summonses, which have been banned by the state and disproportionately impact communities of color.

Rahsaan Hall, director of the racial justice program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. His previous work included serving as assistant district attorney for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in New York.

Dominique Gilliard, director of racial righteousness and reconciliation for the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Love Mercy Do Justice mission priority.

Michael Carrion, pastor of Promised Land Covenant Church. He also serves on the board and executive committee of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, which is comprised of more than 3,000 Hispanic congregations.

Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, professor of theology and ethics at North Park Theological Seminary.

The conference will take place at the Community Baptist Church in Englewood.

Visit the conference website for more information, including videos of the previous 2017 conference.

News Contact: Stan Friedman News and Online Editor Evangelical Covenant Church Stan.Friedman@covchurch.org

Mountain Village Covenant Church Mountain Village, Alaska Membership: 66 Established: 1919

On the banks of the Yukon River sits the Yup’ik village of Mountain Village, Alaska. Accessible only by plane or boat, or by snow machine in the winter months, the village is 453 miles northwest of Anchorage. It was to this remote community that Wilson and Minnie Gonongnan were called to serve in 1919 by the first general conference of Alaskan Covenant churches, held in Elim, Alaska. They planted Mountain Village Covenant Church and served there for four decades. L. E. Ost, a Covenant missionary who served in Alaska for over 50 years, took the Gonongnans down the coast by boat and up the Yukon River. They arrived in Mountain Village not knowing the language. At the time Catholic or Russian Orthodox priests occasionally visited the village, but no church was established there. Alaska Conference superintendent Curtis Ivanoff tells the story of the Gonongnans’ arrival. Initially they had to live in a tent. At times people threw sticks at their tent to dissuade them from their work. But Wilson’s response was to say to Minnie, “God knew we needed firewood.” The difficult beginning did not deter them. Eventually they built the church and a parsonage. Their granddaughter Anna Walters, now 80, recalls, “Grandpa loved the Bible. Every afternoon from 1:00 to 3:00 he would shut himself in his room and study the word. I would go to sleep and wake up to Grandma singing hymns.” Walters says she remembers the church being heated by a wood stove and lit by a kerosene lamp. “It was so cold, but everybody just bundled up and studied the Bible together.” In April the Alaska Conference marked the 100-year anniversary of the church by establishing the Wilson and Minnie Gonongnan offering. Funds from the annual offering will be used to support and recruit pastoral candidates to serve village churches. Ivanoff says, “I am delighted that we have named this offering after Wilson and Minnie because it can help us remember not only their faith but also the shared faith of our churches that came together to give for the sake of sending. We recognize the great benefits and also the challenges that come with being called to serve in a village. This is one way we can come alongside our rural churches who have fewer monetary resources available.” To give to the Wilson and Minnie Gonongnan offering, contact the Alaska Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church at alaskacovenant.org.

Despite living in Portland, I do not consider myself a true Oregonian. This is partially because I understand our history, and I’ll likely never truly feel at home in a state intentionally founded to exclude black people. But also Oregon has a reputation for being outdoorsy, and I have a complicated relationship with nature. I enjoy hanging out in local parks, but where some might see the potential for wondrous adventure in a vast wilderness, I can’t help but think of danger and inconvenience. In the abstract, I totally appreciate the majesty of a snowcapped mountain or the vastness of the ocean. In reality, my attitude is less boundless fascination and more guarded appreciation. I engage with nature the way most white baby boomers engage with hip-hop—only in small quantities, if at all. As a result, I often find myself at odds with evangelical culture because so many of our worship songs frame the glory of God through the majesty of nature. I respect biblical texts that describe God that way, but I think the church has developed an unhealthy Pavlovian response to anything related to nature as automatically good, pleasant, or fun. This is one reason the song “Oceans” became such a giant hit. It’s well written and musically interesting, but I believe its popularity has at least as much to do with people loving the ocean as it does with people overcoming their fear of the unknown. So I wince every time I see some well-meaning preacher quote Amos 5:24 out of context: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Like many Covenanters in my generation, I came of age singing “Where Justice Rolls Down” at camp, surrounded by people more predisposed to identify with the words “water” and “stream” than with “justice.” Consequently, I had no idea what that passage really meant or why Dr. King had so famously quoted it. We sang a happy song about justice, ignoring verse 23: “Take away from me the noise of your songs.” I engage with nature the way most white baby boomers engage with hip-hop—in small quantities, if at all. Ironically, Amos’s “ever-flowing stream” does happen in nature, but it rarely inspires people to burst into song. A river or stream that flows over its intended boundaries? We call that a flood. Floods are to be avoided or abated, not celebrated. Amos 5:24 is not a joyful exhortation but rather a passionate warning, a plea for repentance. It indicates that the days of the unjust status quo, where the cares of the needy are ignored and deprioritized, are numbered. Consider the rest of the book. Because of Israel’s habitual disobedience, Amos prophesies destruction and exile, enduring the jeers of Amaziah the priest and King Jeroboam. “Go share your bad news somewhere else,” they tell Amos. Amos replies, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” Israel was in such dire need of correction that God converted a shepherd into a prophet. But instead of facing the truth God’s servant laid at their feet, they blamed the messenger. Amos’s explanation of his calling falls on deaf ears. Sadly, this attitude is still common. Whether regarding racial or gender equity, or any other justice issue, for many church people invested in the status quo the first instinct is not to ask whether these warnings are truly from God. Rather, it’s to draw battle lines and cast the questioner as divisive and inauthentic, an outsider looking to stir up trouble. Such responses fail to address the root problem. They widen the church’s cultural divide just when we ought to be narrowing it. In their worst form, they reek of assimilationist theology. “If you were really one of us,” they imply, “you would drop this thing.” Friends, I gotta be honest. I already get that message from my state. It hurts when I get it from the church too.

CHICAGO, IL (September 13, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Some Cemeteries Changing Rules Banning Cyclists Cemeteries can be a peaceful place to visit, but some prohibit cyclists from biking along the paths. This story explores the ban and uncovers the surprising historical reason behind it.

From the article: “Before the late 1800s, cemeteries were destinations for leisure activities. But as medical care improved and people began to live longer, Americans’ experience with death became less frequent and more removed…. Around that same time — the late 19th century and early 20th century — bicycles came into vogue for both transportation and recreation. But news accounts from the era suggested not everyone held bikers, also called ‘scorchers,’ in the highest regard.” Language Change: From ‘Slave’ to ‘Enslaved Person’ In recent years scholars have debated whether the word “slave” should be excised from our vocabulary. This discussion notes how the words we use influence how we think.

From the article: “It’s precisely because ‘enslaved person’ is a repellent contradiction in terms that we should try to use it more often.” Oregon Woman Turns School Buses into Tiny Homes for Working Homeless Families Freelance journalist Julie Akins lived among homeless people in different sections of the country off and on for two years as she researched a book on the working poor. She encountered several families living in school buses with the seats pulled out. That’s when she came up with the idea of retrofitting the buses with kitchens and bathrooms for homeless families.

From the article: “On Thanksgiving Day last year, the family moved into their new home. Akins offered to paint the bus any color they wanted, but they insisted it stay yellow. They call it their ‘Yellow Submarine.’ ‘As a family, we used to always sing, “We All Live in a Yellow Submarine,”’ Flood says. ‘And that came true.’” Elite Failure Has Brought Americans to the Edge of an Existential Crisis Distrust in the institutions and foundational principles of the U.S. is growing. Some might attribute this decline to youthful rebellion, but older generations are becoming more skeptical too. What does this mean for American identity?

From the article: “The nuclear family, religious fealty, and national pride—family, God, and country—are a holy trinity of American traditionalism. The fact that allegiance to all three is in precipitous decline tells us something important about the evolution of the American identity.” Taking Revenge on Illegal Parking This one is just for fun. We are not endorsing these actions!

From the article: “It’s really not that difficult to park within the lines of a parking space, but some people do seem to find it impossible. They make their way into other spaces, they ruin the parking ventures of other drivers, and they just look a little silly.”

Calaveras Softball League

MOUNTAIN RANCH, CA (September 13, 2019) – The community of Mountain Ranch returned a $10,000 favor to San Andreas Community Covenant Church.

The town’s baseball field was destroyed during the massive Butte Fire in 2015 when the Fed-eral Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used the field as its staging area. Heavy water trucks, temporary showers, and laundromat tore up the field.

FEMA said it wasn’t their responsibility to pay to restore the field, and Calaveras County couldn’t afford to do it. So the community raised $45,000 for the repairs. The church contribut-ed $10,000. Even though its own members had lost homes, the church wanted to contribute the funds to help build up the morale of the community.

Recently Mountain Ranch raised enough money to return the $10,000.

Phil Alberts, who guided the original construction of the fields and managed the community softball team for 25 years, told the Calaveras Enterprise, “We gave the $10,000 back to the church so that they can use it for some other community or individual that is facing a disaster,” said Phil Alberts said. “I think it’s a big accomplishment for a town the size of Mountain Ranch.”

Steve Airola, chair of the church leadership team, said the congregation never intended for the money to be returned, but they are happy to receive the funds so they can help more people.

The Day I’ll Never Forget How the trauma of 9/11 brought me to a new awakening by Michelle Sanchez as told to Erin Chan Ding | September 10, 2019

A decade and a half before Michelle Sanchez began serving as executive minister of Make and Deepen Disciples, she worked on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs, one of the most prestigious investment banks in America. She was at her desk on September 11, 2001, when two planes rammed into the World Trade Center a few blocks away.

The very first thing I remember were papers falling, showering from the sky. I was on the 17th floor of the Goldman Sachs building, 85 Broad Street, in the financial district in lower Manhattan. I had studied international business in college, and after graduating I started working for Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst. The whole month of August was training, which took place in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on the top floor. If the attack had happened a couple weeks earlier, I would not be here. September 11, 2001, was my second actual day of work. I had probably been at my desk half an hour when paper started to rain from the sky—as if a Xerox machine had blown up. Nobody knew what was going on, so we kept working. And then somebody said, “A plane crashed into the World Trade Center!” There had been other accidents at the World Trade Center, so we were saying, “Oh no, that’s terrible!” But we just thought it was some kind of accident, and not necessarily devastating. Then people stopped working and turned on the TVs, and we saw how serious it was. But still, everybody thought it was an accident. The panic didn’t start until the second plane hit. Then there was massive anxiety, terrible panic. At some point the phones stopped working, and we couldn’t reach anyone.

I was raging mad at God, asking, “Where were you, God? How could you allow this?” I don’t remember hearing anything. It was just the rain of papers. And then the sky turned dark gray. I remember thinking about the thousands of people who had just lost their lives. People react to trauma in so many different ways. An associate in front of me kept working, although she became increasingly agitated. She was freaking out, but in this way of, “We have all this work to do.” A guy who was working for her came over and said, “So, I’m going to leave.” And she said, “No! We have a meeting!” Then she picked up the phone. This was before all of the lines were dead. She talked to somebody for a minute, and then hung up. She turned around and said, “My gym just closed. Can you believe my gym just closed?” People get interesting when death comes close. After about 90 minutes, we were asked to leave. Someone had procured masks for us because we didn’t know how bad the air quality was. When I stepped outside, everything was white. Everything was covered with ash. I mean, it was unreal. It looked like a ghost town. And I’ll never forget the smell—a burning plastic death smell. I can smell it right now. We were thousands of people, all just trying to get home. One of the most pivotal moments of my life was walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge, surrounded by thousands of people, all of us terrified and afraid. Behind me, the city was up in smoke. And I was thinking, “If I had to meet God right now, I would not be ready.” I knew Jesus would be there to welcome me. But I think it laid bare what I would have to tell God about what I had done with my life—my vocational choices, why I was where I was. Essentially, I think my whole life has been a struggle between following Jesus and following money. I grew up without a lot of money. I was a lower-class black girl surrounded by upper-class white people. I wanted to break out of that. I wanted to make a lot of money. My whole life it was like, “What is my salvation? Jesus, wealth. Jesus, wealth.” It’s kind of a heart tension I’ve had. At the same time, I truly loved my business major. I was president of the entrepreneurship club in college.

SOLDOTNA, AK (September 4, 2019) – A record enrollment of 105 students started classes at Alaska Christian College when the fall semester began last month, says Eric Johnson, vice president of advancement. The previous record was set last year when 94 students enrolled.

The school also has continued to grow its physical space. Volunteers spent the summer constructing a new building that will hold three classrooms. Johnson says the school hopes to complete the project by the spring semester. He invites anyone with drywall or finishing skills who is available this fall to volunteer for a week or two to contact the college. Food, housing, and limited transportation will be available.

The college serves predominantly Alaska Native students from villages across the state. It works intentionally to help them make the difficult transition from village life to college.

Less than 5 percent of Alaska Native high-school graduates complete their first semester of college, statistics show. ACC provides a holistic education, offering free counseling to students at New Hope Counseling Center as well as four accredited AA degrees (Christian ministry, paraprofessional education, behavioral health, and general studies).

The school was founded in 2001.

Among its graduates is Katherine Fancher, who went on to become the first Alaska Native female to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. After completing her military service, she went on to work as a test engineer building nuclear submarines for Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News, Virginia.

She will be among the speakers at the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Summit to be held October 10-12 in Vancouver, British Colombia.

The school will hold ACC Give Days on September 13-20 to raise funds for student scholarships. Tax-deductible donations may be made at www.AlaskaCC.edu/give.

How do we dismantle the stained glass ceiling?

CHICAGO, IL (September 5, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

The Coming Death of Just About Every Rock Legend Straight-up rock music has all but disappeared from the charts, and the old-time rock and rollers seem to appear on more AARP magazine covers than albums in recent decades. The headline and opening paragraphs sound grim—still, it’s striking to see how many stars are in their 70s.

From the article: “From the beginning, rock music has been an expression of defiance, an assertion of youthful vitality and excess and libido against the ravages of time and maturity. This impulse sometimes (frequently?) veered into foolishness. Think of the early rock anthem in which the singer proclaimed, ‘I hope I die before I get old.’ As a gesture, this was a quintessential statement of rock bravado, but I doubt very much its author (The Who’s Pete Townshend) regrets having survived into old age.”

When Faith Comes Up, Students Avert Their Eyes In this article, Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, laments students’ reluctance to discuss faith issues.

From the article: “As a nonbeliever myself, I am not trying to convert any student to any religion. Yet how to discuss religious faith in class poses a major challenge for nonreligious colleges and universities. How can such an institution claim to educate students about ideas, culture, and ways of life if students, professors, or both are uncomfortable when talking about something that’s been central to humanity throughout recorded history?”

Where Does Affirmative Action Leave Asian-Americans? A lawsuit expected to be decided later this fall alleges that Harvard University discriminated against Asian Americans in order to promote more racial diversity on campus.

From the article: “Over the past year, I found myself constantly talking about the Harvard case with this cohort, many of them friends and colleagues, not only for journalistic reasons but also because it was always on our minds. These conversations usually started with perfunctory statements like ‘Listen, I know I’m not supposed to say this’ or ‘This is a complicated issue,’ but they almost always ended with a surprisingly declarative conclusion. ‘Look, I support Harvard’s right to pursue the diversity they want,’ said one Asian-American who described herself as a ‘staunch supporter of affirmative action.’ ‘But of course they discriminate against Asian kids.’”

Forensic Scientists Trace the Missing, Identify the Dead Forensic scientists often risk their lives to ensure that bodies of people killed in battle zones and disasters are identified and treated with respect.

From the article: “Starting in 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross developed the concept of ‘humanitarian forensic action’ to ensure that those who die in war, disaster and other complex emergencies are treated respectfully and with dignity and don’t become missing persons.”

Screens Are Changing the Way We Read Scripture Scientists say that reading the Bible in digital format impacts comprehension and interpretation. Should churches be encouraging members to read more print?

From the article: “In her book Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf explains that reading is not hardwired in the human brain the way language is. Not only does the remarkable plasticity of the human brain make reading possible, but the activity of reading creates new circuits in the brain. These aid in learning abstract and creative concepts that go beyond the brain’s genetically programmed functioning. Reading demands ‘extraordinary cerebral complexity,’ Wolf says, and the brain requires years for ‘deep-reading processes to be formed...

BATAVIA, IL (September 4, 2019) — Charlotte Earldine “Deanie” (Ottoson) Youngman, widow of Covenant pastor Ralph Youngman, died Monday, September 2, at the age of 90.

She was born in Wausa, Nebraska, in 1928. After graduating in the top of her high school class at the age of 16, she taught in one-room country schools before starting at North Park College in 1948.

Deanie married Ralph on May 29, 1951. They served Covenant congregations in Le Roy and Tustin, Michigan; Ashtabula, Ohio; Lockport, Illinois; Brockton/East Bridgewater, Massachusetts; and Chariton and Centerville, Iowa.

She is survived by a daughter, Judy; and two sons, Owen and Randy; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 21, at the Covenant Living Holmstad retirement community in Batavia. It will be preceded by a visitation at 1 p.m. and followed by a reception.

NAKURU, KENYA (September 4, 2019) — The Evangelical Covenant Church of Kenya (ECCK) elected a new moderator and consecrated its first missionary during a gathering that drew people from the United States and other African nations on August 11.

Nashahon Kamau Ngoima is the first pastor to be ordained through the ECCK in its 21-year history. He was then immediately installed as moderator of the denomination, which has 37 churches and seven church plants.

The week prior to the ceremony, the denomination finished reworking its constitution and bylaws, which now require that the moderator be ordained in order to provide additional oversight and strengthen the ECCK’s structure.

“The ordination was a big milestone for the ECCK,” said Simon K. Njorge, chair of the House of Clergy (the equivalent of the ECC Board of Ordered Ministry). Njorge, who lectures in theology and counseling at Africa Nazarene University, is working with other ECCK leaders to establish a theological training center in Kenya to serve students throughout east Africa.

Ed Delgado, president of Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos (CHET), participated in the laying on of hands. CHET materials have been used to train many ECCK pastors, including five of the eight current denominational leaders. A second cohort of 15 leaders is going through training, much of which is being taught by members of the first cohort.

During the service, Patrick Njoroge Karanja was consecrated to missionary service. He plans to plant churches in the remote area of Lokichoko near Kenya’s border with South Sudan in cooperation with the Evangelical Covenant Church of South Sudan and Ethiopia. It is the first coordinated work between the sister denominations.

The gathering also prayed over a Rwandan pastor who will plant Covenant churches in that country and possibly in Burundi. “Who knows, we soon may be seeing ECCK missionaries to the USA and elsewhere,” Delgado said.

Delgado, who lived in Kenya for four years while working with Compassion International, said participating in the service was “one of the high points of my professional career.”

“The leadership is committed,” Delgado said. “They are passionate. They’re equipping and recruiting leaders and planting churches with congregants representing all of the tribes in all of the tribal regions of Kenya.”

The ECCK was birthed in 1998 through Christ Covenant Church, a pan-African congregation pastored by Paul Macharia and Eunice Mungai in Florissant, Missouri. Macharia is originally from Kenya and traveled back to the country to start the first Covenant church there. He has since helped recruit, guide, and assist ECCK leadership.

Those leaders come from diverse backgrounds, including architects, lawyers, and medical professionals.

The event also was attended by representatives from CHET and Covenant congregations Centennial Covenant Church and Imago Cristi, both in Denver, which have helped support the young denomination.

Addiction and Grace Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions Gerald May HarperOne, 240 pages

Reviewed by Eric Landin | August 31, 2019

According to Gerald May, everyone is an addict. Without diminishing the struggle and suffering of addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, etc., May, who was a physician, psychiatrist, and theologian, attempts to broaden our thinking on the subject in this classic text originally published in 1988. Writing at the intersection of psychology and contemplative spirituality, May invites readers to be freed from the complex web of mental, physical, and spiritual attachments we call addiction. Humans can become addicted to virtually any substance, behavior, or pattern of thinking—coffee or smart devices, sex or stress, being helpful or being right, worrying or working, food or exercise, silence or socializing. Clearly some addictions are more destructive than others, and some are more socially acceptable than others. In fact, some addictions (such as busyness or workaholism) are extolled as paths to success in our culture. But from a spiritual perspective, we know attachment to anything other than God is idolatry. The problem is not with the thing (or behavior or thought pattern) itself. The issue is our warped desires. Addiction “sidetracks and eclipses” our fundamental desire for love, goodness, and God, May writes. Preoccupied with our idols, we are unable to freely choose the grace God offers. Deep down, we know these attachments aren’t good for us. We say we want to be rid of them, and sometimes we mean it. Still, we are unable to cut them loose. With the Apostle Paul, we find that “what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). May illuminates the universal experience Paul describes. In mind, body, and spirit, we sustain our addictions through self-deceiving, self-defeating patterns in which our best efforts and intentions actually reinforce the addiction. It’s like spinning your wheels when you’re stuck in the mud—all that effort only gets you stuck deeper. We find freedom, then, not in willful intentions to do better or passively waiting for God to take it away. Instead, we must step away from the willful struggle and participate in the grace of God. Freedom comes through a cooperation between God’s grace and our responsibility. As stuck as we may be, “there is always some level at which we can choose, freely, to turn to God or to turn away from God...to be willing for our attachments to be lightened or to hold on to them.” God’s grace is waiting to meet us in the spaciousness on the other side of addiction, empowering us to untangle our attachments and live free. This book is a refreshing word for addicted persons as fully integrated people—body, mind, and spirit. May writes for an interfaith audience but grounds his approach in the Christian story. While his insights on the neurology of addiction have been outpaced by more recent scientific advances, his integrated approach still rings true. Anyone seeking to better understand addiction beyond the stereotypes and stigmas will find Addiction and Grace to be a helpful companion, especially if we are willing to take a hard look in the mirror.

About the Author

Eric Landin is lead pastor of Batavia (Illinois) Covenant Church, where he, his wife, and two kids are blessed to belong. He enjoys making music, running, and baking. He hopes to one day have a hobby farm if he can convince his family that it would be fun to have chickens and pigs.

Members of Covenant congregations in Stromsberg, Nebraska; Wichita, Kansas; and Libertyville, Illinois, recently helped with reconstruction work in Iowa.

HORNICK, IA (August 29, 2019) - Merge is looking for volunteers to help reconstruct homes in Iowa, Nebraska and Alaska that have been damaged by recent flooding and earthquakes.

Dave Lusk, executive director of Merge, says that teams of skilled workers are a priority, although teams with unskilled workers are welcome to participate as long as they are accompanied by an experienced construction worker to supervise them.

Teams of volunteers will be mudding, taping, framing, painting and replacing drywall. However, there is a possibility that electrical and plumbing work will need to be done.

In Hornick, Iowa, teams of volunteers are working to restore homes that were flooded when a levy north of the town broke in mid-March.

“When it’s off the front page, that’s when the help is needed,” Richard Moore, pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Sloan, Iowa said. The rush of people to help is strong when disasters are making headlines, but once news coverage dies down, projects tend to get forgotten.

“If it wasn’t for crews like the one from Merge, they would be much further behind than they are. People have just been thrilled to be able to have folks come in.”

The disaster reconstruction is likely to continue through the summer of 2020.

To set up a trip or for more information, contact Lusk by email at merge@covchurch.org or call (956) 458-9568.

CHICAGO, IL (August 30, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles

and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. The 1619 Project The New York Times published a major multimedia, interactive undertaking that marks the 400th anniversary of the first kidnapping of West Africans before they were brought to America in 1619. The project includes videos, podcasts, written and photographic essays, poetry, and other literary forms. The Smithsonian is a partner in the project, which took six months to pull together. It is a stunning work and covers American history that many of us never learned in school. Resources for teachers also are available.

A PDF can be found here.

From the article: “The 1619 Project is a major initiative from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.” Another Denomination Changes Its End Times Doctrine Global church history led the Evangelical Free Church to drop its premillennial theology of the end times this summer. The denomination voted to eliminate “premillennial” from its statement of faith, acknowledging that different views of eschatology have been held since the beginning of Christianity.

From the article: “We believe there is a significant inconsistency in continuing to include premillennialism as a required theological position when it is clear that the nature of the millennium is one of those doctrines over which theologians, equally knowledgeable, equally committed to the Bible, and equally Evangelical, have disagreed through the history of the church,” the EFCA stated. When Does Breaking News Compel a Preacher to Rewrite Sunday’s Sermon? When breaking news hits over the weekend, preachers may ask themselves whether to alter their Sunday sermon to address the event. While every pastor must consider his or her own context, this writer offers four questions that can help preachers examine their planned sermon.

From the article: “If I do not change a word, will this sermon still speak honestly and sufficiently about the world where this news happened?...Does it speak to the way the Spirit stirs people to respond generously and self-sacrificially in the most difficult of circumstances? If it does not, then it must be changed.” The Question We Ask Every Mom (But Never Dads) Kate Ryder, a founder and CEO of a digital health company, says she is asked at least once a week, “’How do you do it all?” Her husband, Lee Teslik, an executive at Google, says no one has ever asked him that question. They recently recorded a conversation about that dynamic. Topics include what the question says about society’s expectations, why the question is most often framed around childcare, and whether being a mother limits a woman’s career opportunities.

From the article:

Lee: How do you answer the “how do you do it all” question?

Kate: Well at this point, it follows a script . I usually say “not gracefully” and then change the subject back to whatever I was talking about. Or, if it’s too awkward to answer it like that and I need to get into it more, I usually say something about having a supportive husband, family, and community. 'Where I'm From': A Crowdsourced Poem That Collects Your Memories of Home When National Public Radio asked listeners to submit poems on the topic of “Where I’m From,” they received 1,400 submissions in just two days. Thoughts from the poems were then edited to form a single poem.

From the poem: “I am from casseroles and canned tuna Kennedys and Saturday morning cartoons

OTSEGO, MI (August 28, 2019) – A funeral service for Geraldine “Gerry” (Deater) Peterson, widow of Covenant minister Norris Peterson, was held Thursday, August 22, at the First Congregational Church in Otsego, Michigan. She died Sunday, August 18, at the age of 92.

She was born September 7, 1926, in Muskegon, Michigan, to Rufus Leroy and Geraldine Deater.

Gerry earned a teaching degree from Bob Jones University. She taught first through fourth grades. She married Norris on July 13, 1957.

They served Bretton Woods Covenant Church in Lansing, Michigan; Westside Covenant Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan; First Covenant Church in Fresno, California, and Highland Covenant Church in Bellevue, Washington.

Gerry is survived by her daughter, Patricia Youngs (Darin), of Otsego, Michigan; a son, Gregory (Venisa), of Ludington, Michigan; and three grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, sister, and twin brother.

Memorials may be given to the First Congregational Church, 120 W. Morrell St., Otsego, MI 49078; and Wings of Hope Hospice, 530 Linn St., Allegan, MI 49010.

CHICAGO, IL (August 23, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Hymn Society Tournament Reveals “Greatest Hymn of All Time” The March Madness style contest to identify the greatest hymn had some “real nail-biters,” the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada wrote on its Facebook page.

There is no word on whether anyone finished with a perfect bracket.

From the article: “Hymn experts said it was fitting, if not surprising, that ‘Holy, Holy, Holy!’ — which trounced ‘Amazing Grace,’ 70% to 30% in the second round — defeated its musical challengers.” Why These Praying Mantises Are Wearing Itty-Bitty 3D Glasses This study on how insects see the world could have major real-world applications. There’s a long but fascinating video about how they placed those glasses on the praying mantises and why.

From the article: “To dive deeper into how the praying mantis' neurobiology pieces together a 3D model of prey, researchers at Newcastle University devised what may be the greatest experiment in the history of biology: They stuck itty-bitty 3D glasses to a mantis' face, then showed the insect movies.” The 25 Wealthiest Dynasties on the Planet Control $1.4 trillion The article lists the top richest families, including how they first began making their money, and outlines their current status.

From the article: “The numbers are mind-boggling: $70,000 per minute, $4 million per hour, $100 million per day. That’s how quickly the fortune of the Waltons, the clan behind Walmart Inc., has been growing since last year’s Bloomberg ranking of the world’s richest families. At that rate, their wealth would’ve expanded about $23,000 since you began reading this. A new Walmart associate in the U.S. would’ve made about 6 cents in that time, on the way to an $11 hourly minimum.”

Ethiopia Just Set the World Record for Most Trees Planted in a Day Reforestation is a successful and crucial way to combat climate change. It also reduces mass migration, war, and disease.

From the article: “Ethiopia’s primary industry is agriculture, which has contributed to frequent droughts—and forest decline—thanks to land degradation. The ‘Green Legacy’ campaign to re-green the east African country aims to counteract that—and climate change more generally—by planting 4 billion indigenous trees between May and October, the rainy season.”

NASCAR May Be the Fastest Way to Learn about Physics There’s a lot to learn in this brief but clear article that outlines various physics principles spectators can witness in action during NASCAR races. And props to the clever headline.

From the article: “With the high speed and power of stock cars come the risks of dangerous collisions. Some of the hardest crashes in NASCAR register around 80 G’s – that is, 80 times the acceleration of gravity that holds you to the planet. For perspective, amusement park rides top out around 6 G’s.”

Opportunities Plentiful for Churches to Reach Boomers by Stan Friedman | August 23, 2019 Churches are missing crucial opportunities to evangelize and disciple baby boomers, who make up nearly 20 percent of the population and are eager to make a difference in the world, experts say.

“As long as we have breath, we know God has a plan and purpose for our lives,” says Lynn Black, adult ministries director at Countryside Covenant Church in McPherson, Kansas. “But we have a culture that is so focused on youth.”

Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, the population explosion that occurred after World War II. According to the U.S Census:

There are 75 million boomers. They are retiring at the rate of 10,000 people a day. 40 million Americans are age 65 and older. By 2030, boomers will make up 20 percent of the population. By 2035, there will be more people over the age of 65 than under 18.

Boomers are a field ripe for evangelism and discipleship because they are considering the trajectory of their lives and asking the “bigger questions,” says Black, who also is a coach with Crescendo, a ministry of Make and Deepen Disciples focused on equipping pastors, staff, and church leaders to unleash the potential of boomers and beyond to engage in the work of God’s kingdom.

Those big questions include, “Who am I?” and “How do I live a meaningful life?” Black says.

She adds, “As people turn 55, they are starting to suffer more losses—family moves away, parents die, we sometimes have a physical limitation that comes into our lives, sometimes there’s loss of income when we retire. So many of these events happen in a short period of time. Just when we are dealing with one, another one comes into our life.”

Boomers also are seeking to be good grandparents as well as dealing with relationships with their adult children. An increasing number are becoming primary care providers for grandchildren. While many boomers are still working, most are considering what retirement will look like. "Retirement is an opportunity for people to live into what they are passionate about. The church can provide that opportunity."

Many similarities exist between boomers and millennials. Studies indicate that both generations care about social justice, want to develop relationships across generations, and engage their entrepreneurial spirits.

Overall, entrepreneurs over the age of 50 make up more than half of America’s small business owners, and 42 percent of those surveyed said they started their businesses to pursue their passions, according to the 2018 Small Business Trends for Baby Boomers.

“Retirement is an opportunity for people to live into what they are passionate about,” says Evelyn Johnson, co-author of Crescendo: An Ascent to Vital Living. The church can provide that opportunity, she adds.

Those opportunities frequently look different than an individual’s current or previous career. “I’ve been a school administrator, but I may want to be doing carpentry work,” says Gordon Mohn, a member of Countryside Covenant and superintendent of the McPherson school district.

According to a Pew Research poll, the average boomer believes old age begins at 72, and they feel nine years younger than their chronological age. They do not want to be called “seniors” or “older adults” and will avoid ministries that use such designations.

Harbor Covenant Church in Gig Harbor, Washington, launched its TREK ministry roughly four years ago because boomers in the congregation wanted to move beyond traditional bus trips and lunches. “Many of our people have been successful in business and they wanted to move from ‘success to significance,’” says pastor Michael White.

So TREK has focused on outreach and service. They have brought in speakers for special events on a variety of topics. One of its ongoing service projects is Happy Feet, which helps raise funds for shoes for children in the community. In addition to service and educational opportunities,

Reconciling with the Earth: Audubon Covenant Church by Jordan Cone | August 20, 2019

A swarm of bicycles wind their way through the Florida neighborhood surrounding Audubon Covenant Church, toting an assortment of gardening tools. The cyclists are volunteers with Fleet Farming, an urban agricultural program that transforms lawns into farms to increase local food accessibility.

Audubon Covenant is partnering with the Orlando-based nonprofit to transform community members’ lawns into farmlettes, or garden plots, that are planted and maintained by the cycling volunteers. The garden in Audubon Covenant’s yard is the largest in the Fleet Farming program. An orchard of at least nine different types of fruit trees, including banana, pomegranate, and avocado, has been planted on the lawn as well, cared for through a partnership with Orlando Permaculture, who works to promote environmental change through educational programs. Both Orlando Permaculture and the nonprofit that launched Fleet Farming, IDEAS for Us, maintain offices at the church. The average American meal travels around 1,500 miles from farm to table. And 40 million acres of lawns across the U.S. consume between 30 and 60 percent of fresh water in cities, according to IDEAS for Us. Fleet Farming has prevented more than 10,000 pounds of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere, and the increased local food accessibility has reduced the carbon output of food transportation. Located amid a community of bungalows and mid-century modern homes, Audubon Covenant was the first building constructed in the neighborhood in 1954. Many residents have lived there for decades and are invested in each other’s lives. “I think their open-mindedness allowed them to become a kind of testing ground for new initiatives,” says Sarah Robinson, pastor of Audubon Covenant Church. Robinson came to the church in 2013, around the same time the East End Market set up shop in the neighborhood, focusing on local, sustainable produce and creating a big garden out in front. Other local sustainability initiatives were in the works. A graduate student was working on a project to make Audubon Park an ecodistrict, where communities address sustainability by linking energy, transportation, water, and land use in an integrated system. The church has also installed a bike rack to encourage cycling to worship and replaced single-use plastics in favor of actual dishes that can be washed in their new dishwasher.

In her last year of seminary, Robinson sensed God calling her to serve at a church that needed revitalization through a holistic connection with its community. So when Audubon Covenant called her as their pastor she was excited to see that God had brought her to a place that needed the kind of revitalization she felt called to. Some Christians discount the need for creation care, Robinson acknowledges, because, they contend, we are called to focus on the kingdom to come, not the earth we live in today. In response, she points to the depiction of a renewed heaven and earth in Revelation 21:1–22:5. “These verses speak of the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth,” she says, “and God coming to dwell with God's people in a heavenly state where there is no more pain or crying or death, where it is described as a garden in the city with a river of life flowing through it.” To describe her hopes for the church Robinson uses a gardening metaphor based on her years growing up near farms. She recalls “demonstration plots” usually found along the highway where farmers try out new fertilizer, experimental seed, or innovative agricultural practices. Their purpose is to demonstrate a better way so that others will want to try it. Audubon Covenant is seeking to be a demonstration plot of creation care ministry, Robinson says. “I think of churches as a place in which we live out the kingdom of God so people can have a vision of what that is meant to be—a vision of something better,

Evangelical Covenant Churches in Argentina are bracing for more national economic upheaval while also preparing to continue serving the poor

“This church has a rich history. We have members whose families have been around for three, four, and even five generations,” says Peterson. “Now we are in a position to launch a $3 million capital campaign to maximize our building for our community.”

When Joyce Boggess began researching her ancestry, she never expected to find herself face to face with the descendants of the Southern family who once enslaved her family. Now, with a calm resolve, Joyce seeks opportunities to share stories of African American history—her own family’s and those of her hometown, Freeport, Illinois.

"Enough” is not a word that typically inspires. Perhaps we’ve had enough of something negative—“enough already.” Or maybe we’ve reached the minimum threshold of something positive—“good enough.” But when is something, or someone, simply enough? Prior to entering vocational ministry, I had pursued a career in healthcare management where I thrived in a constant state of dissatisfaction with the status quo. I was trained in the ways of performance metrics, dashboards, best practices, and improvement initiatives. The prevailing logic was these tools would incentivize better performance, generally through a three-step process: define measurable goals, implement well-researched improvement plans, and offer rewards for achieving said goals. The philosophy seemed compelling—that organizations would better serve stakeholders if they continually innovated, delivering perpetually higher-value services and products to consumers. But after transitioning to my current pastoral role, I now see this system more clearly. Although the output of continuously improving processes is largely valued by consumers (who doesn’t like higher quality products at lower prices?), the foundational starting point that nothing is ever good enough can actually cause harm. Jesus’s purpose was not for us to simply do better. The marketplace economy requires consumers to want more, desire more—all the time. For the system to function, what we have can never be enough. Spreading this message is essential for the economic system to bolster profits, spur innovation, and generate wealth for investors. And that message comes with consequences. “Not enough” seeps into our sense of self. I am not enough. I am not successful enough. I am not smart enough. I am not funny enough. I am not cross-cultural enough. And it seeps into the messaging within our churches and ministries. We are not enough. We are not large enough. We are not financially stable enough. We are not multi-generational enough. It’s true that operating from a place of deficit can generate productive outputs. With the right tools, resources, and incentives, many organizations turn “not enough” into “success.” But operating from a mindset of deficit can come at great human expense. It elevates the achievement of measurable goals over the humanity of the people who are doing the work. It can even obscure the humanity of the people we intend to benefit. Case in point: organizations are increasingly identifying diversity and inclusion as a strategic priority, creating dedicated departments and setting goals for diverse representation in the workforce. While important work is indeed being done, I find myself increasingly aware that the “not enough” mindset—we are not diverse enough—carries the risk of further objectifying the very people such strategic goals are meant to benefit. Yes, representation is important. But to blindly apply continuous improvement methods to address an evil as endemic and destructive as the system of race, is incomplete. Jesus’s purpose was not for us to simply do better. His message was not to do better in prayer, do better in worship, or do better in diversity. The Gospels do not proclaim a message of continuous improvement. Rather, Jesus brought a message of grace, of an entirely new kingdom of God that is coming and has come, on earth as is in heaven. The kingdom of God does not operate on the currency of the world. As we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” the transformation of grace starts first in our own hearts and allows us to see our true worth. In Christ, I am enough. In Christ, we are enough. Fully resting in this truth is vital for us to be liberated from the lies of racism, patriarchy, and classism. When we rest in our enough-ness, we can more fully see the image of God in our fellow sisters and brothers. When we embrace the truth of our belovedness and fully rely on the Spirit to move us, miraculous healing can occur and dividing walls can be collectively...

Stories That Shaped My Faith When I was a senior at North Park University, a friend asked me to become his “joy ambassador.” He explained that he wanted me to teach him how I was always able to be so joyful. I didn’t know how to answer him. It took me a while to figure why joy was the fruit of the Spirit easiest for me to bear. I was able to find the silver lining in most circumstances. The smallest and most insignificant things are beautiful to me. I love sunsets, art museums, beautiful melodies, and blooming flowers. One of the ways I connect with God is in the joy of discovering those simple things. Then November 2017 hit me. I was diagnosed with stage III endometrial cancer and went through eight long months of treatment. My lifelong ability to find joy in all circumstances was put to the test. Around that time I discovered the Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. The premise of the show is that Marie Kondo, professional organizer extraordinaire, author of the New York Times bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and apparently a genuinely delightful woman, is invited into people’s overflowing closets and homes to help them declutter. Instead of approaching each mess with criticism or judgment, she enters homes inviting residents to ask, “What sparks joy?” What Kondo asks her clients to do is not easy. They collect every item in a given category and place them in a pile—first clothes, then books, purses, shoes, kitchen items, tools, photos, and personal items. Nothing is off-limits. Once the items are piled up, the owner holds each piece, one at a time, and decides whether to keep it or donate it. The process is meant to bring not pain but rather a freedom and release from the things in our lives that we are ready to say goodbye to. The goal is to be surrounded by items that make you happy in the place you call home. Of course, you may need to keep some items that don’t spark a lot of joy for you—a hammer, for instance. Kondo has many tips for keeping a happy home, such as how to fold your clothes and how to put things away. But the real heart of the show is unpacking your relationship with your possessions. I couldn’t help but experience a new sense of gratitude for the things that surround me each day when I held each item in my hand and chose either to keep it or donate it. That gift of finding joy in the little things began to bloom again in my heart the way it had before my diagnosis. In discerning which items in my life “sparked joy,” I was left with a sense of thankfulness for things that can keep me happy, healthy, safe, and secure. I am thankful that I do not have to worry about where I will sleep tonight or whether I will have a warm coat in the winter. I never want to take those things for granted. This exercise helped me remember that. But on a much deeper level, I found myself rediscovering the ability to find joy. I was again delighted by the obvious beauty of the wider world as well as by the things I have decided to keep. I started in my own apartment, and it spread to finding beauty in my neighborhood, my community, my church, and my world. Finally, I was reminded that I am not defined by my possessions. I could have given away every item I held in my hands and my primary identity as the beloved child of Christ would not have changed. All the other ways I define myself (daughter, sister, aunt, pastor, girlfriend, friend, apartment renter, plant lady) are secondary. My joy does not come from my things, but rather by delighting in my Creator and the beauty of creation that I enjoy with him. The ability to observe, share, create, and enjoy the beauty of the world with friends, family, and community—and with the God who walks beside me—fills me with a joy I want to share.

Committed to the Dream How his own path to education prepared the retiring CHET president to lead a new generation of Latino and Latina students to serve the church An interview with Ed Delgado by Stan Friedman | July 25, 2019

Growing up in a small town in Arizona, Ed Delgado sensed a strong call to ministry that fueled his desire to provide Bible education opportunities around the world. For the past 12 years, he has served as president of Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos (CHET), the Covenant’s ministry training center for Spanish-speaking clergy and laypeople. He first came to CHET as a board member in 1999, then served as the school’s dean and vice-president from 2000 to 2005. Delgado retires in September. One of CHET’s primary goals has been to provide underserved and under-resourced Latino and Latina students with opportunities for ministry education. During Delgado’s tenure, the school expanded its curriculum and developed new pathways for students into credentialed ministry and graduate schools. CHET, which started with 50 students in 1989, had 452 students from 17 countries enrolled last year. Ninety-five percent of Spanish-speaking Covenant pastors have taken at least some courses through CHET.

How did your experience as a first-generation college student prepare you to serve CHET students? My dad was born in the United States, and my mom was born in Mexico one day before she arrived in the United States. Both of my parents were very bright. My dad was one of nine kids, and he loved school. But his family called him lazy because he wouldn’t skip school to help them in the fields, so he left home. Eventually he was able to get his high-school diploma. My mom won awards when she graduated from eighth grade. The first day of high school, she realized she didn’t have the money for books or paper, and she only owned one dress. So she dropped out and went to work cleaning people’s homes. When my brother and two sisters were born, my parents’ desire for us to go to school was really deep, and they did everything possible to help us. They put us in preschool, which was unusual at the time. They constantly encouraged us to be good students, to respect our teachers. I knew I wanted to go to college, but our high school didn’t have a counselor to help us prepare. I didn’t know you had to take an entrance exam like the SAT to get in. One day we were told that anybody who wanted to go to the university had to be at the high school early Saturday morning. When I got there they said, “Everybody who is taking the test needs to get on the bus.” The bus took us to the high school in the next town where they led us into the gym. There were desks all lined up with number two pencils. They told us to sit down, but I didn’t quite understand what was going on. Someone said, “Okay, you’re going to take this exam. You can’t get up, and you have to ask permission to move. Use the number two pencil, and take the exam.” I guess I did pretty well because I made it into the University of Arizona. I went there because I didn’t know I could apply anywhere else.

What is unique about the CHET student population? Ninety percent of the students studying at CHET are the kind of person I was as a young boy. Many of them haven’t been able to complete high school. They know they have a call to ministry, and they want to be equipped, but they haven’t had anyone to help them take the next steps. That’s what drives me to guide them, provide them resources, show them care. All our students are part-time, and almost all of them have jobs, so it’s a real sacrifice to be in school. Many of them come from extreme poverty or from countries torn apart by violence. A lot of them are the first ones in their families ever to get any advanced schooling, and some have never experienced graduation at any level. All of them really want to be here. They’re super committed. Our commencement ceremonies are filled with tears because they never expected this coul...

CHICAGO, IL (July 25, 2019) – Todd Slechta has been named the new president of Covenant Initiatives for Care (CIC), a ministry of Covenant Ministries of Benevolence.

CIC develops and manages healthcare ministries that serve the underserved, including Covenant Enabling Residences, Covenant Children’s Ministries, and Ädelbrook Behavioral and Developmental Services. Slechta will advocate for individuals with intellectual disabilities through increased communication and education within the Evangelical Covenant Church.

He brings a wealth of ministerial and executive experience. He has served as a Covenant pastor and as executive director of Covenant Bible College in Canada and Ecuador. He was principal of Vanguard Classical School, which serves students with a range of disabilities, social, and emotional needs, as well as those with gifted and talented capacities. Following his time at Vanguard, Slechta was vice president of personnel development for PeopleCare Health Services, an in-home healthcare company, where he designed and guided operational efficiencies via technological enhancements and staff training.

Most recently, he has been consulting to help all sectors of business use biblical principles to effectively and strategically lead their organizations.

Slechta has a bachelor’s degree from North Park University and a Master of Divinity from North Park Theological Seminary.

A map prepared by Keith Gustafson highlights the distance between where the current outbreak began and the distance from Gemena.

Pete Ekstrand, Covenant Global Personnel to DR Congo

GEMENA, DR CONGO (July 22, 2019) – Although the World Health Organization recently declared an “international health emergency” in response to the latest outbreak of ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, no immediate threat is posed to the region where the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) ministers, said missionary Pete Ekstrand.

"The disease remains far from the CEUM churches with very difficult roads between the places,” Ekstrand said. “At the same time, we do not take this development lightly.”

As of Friday, the second deadliest ebola epidemic in history had killed more than 1,700 since the disease reemerged in the country’s eastern North Kivu and Ituri provinces last August, according to government officials. The death toll represents two-thirds of those who have contracted the virus.

The deadliest outbreak occurred in West Africa in 2014–2015, when 28,616 people were infected and 11,310 died.

“Emergency declarations are issued sparingly, reserved for outbreaks that pose a serious threat to public health and could spread to other countries,” Ekstrand said. “They are meant to increase international attention and aid to help stop epidemics.”

World Relief is using funds from Covenant World Relief to respond to the Ebola crisis where it has flared up, said Dave Husby, director of Covenant World Relief.

Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, has said, “The risk of spread outside the region remains low.”

Cases have been slow to spread in high-traffic areas, Ekstrand said. “That says that the health authorities have been doing their jobs very well.”

“Essentially for the rest of the world, the main recommendation is: support DRC and don't panic,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said on Friday. “Do not shut borders. Do not put on travel and trade restrictions. Do not panic.”

Ekstrand said missionaries monitor the news and ebola reports regularly and that they are encouraged by the WHO statements that recommend no travel restrictions.

WHO released recommendations for how to continue strengthening community awareness and screenings.

When it comes to reflecting on the deepest of America’s sins [...]

How the Covenant responded to the Black Manifesto

SPRING VALLEY, CA (July 15, 2019) – Former Covenant missionary Mary Anne Weld died Thursday, July 4. She was 84.

She was born on June 7, 1935, to Arthur and Edith Bergman in Helena, Montana.

She attended Eastern Montana College of Education and then earned a bachelor’s degree from Westmont College. She also earned master’s degrees in English as a Second Language and in family and community counseling.

Mary Anne married Wayne Weld on August 19, 1960. They were commissioned at the 1963 Covenant Annual Meeting for service in Ecuador. There they taught at the 4th of July School in Ibarra and worked with the local church. In 1968, they became the first Covenant missionaries to Colombia. They served on the staff of the United Bible Seminary in Medellín, where Mary Anne taught English and music, and they were involved in the development of the Villa Hermosa Covenant Church.

After the Welds returned to the United States in 1975, Mary Anne taught high school for more than 25 years in the Maine Township District in north suburban Chicago. She taught Spanish and was a bilingual teacher. Wayne served on the faculty of North Park Theological Seminary as professor of world mission. Following their retirement, they returned to Ecuador as short-term missionaries for three years.

In 2011 Mary Anne and Wayne moved to Mt. Miguel Covenant Retirement Community in Spring Valley, California, and became members of Community Covenant Church in El Cajon, California.

She is survived by her husband, Wayne, two sons, Brian (Kerith) of Newcastle, Australia, and John (Kate) of Crystal Lake, Illinois; and three grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her brother, Covenant pastor John Bergman.

Memorials may be directed to Community Covenant Church, 1835 Granite Hills Drive, El Cajon, CA 92019.

Peace be to her memory.

What happens to God’s call to ministry in the face of mental illness?

In the latest chapter of my ministry journey, I’m now in the beginning stages of trying to plant a church. The existing congregation I serve is not capable of growing into the kind of diverse, welcoming, multigenerational church it wants to become, so I’ve been deputized to gather a new community of believers under a new vision with a new name that will eventually begin worshiping in our current space. As you can probably imagine, it’s a tricky proposition. Because of this, I’ve been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and praying about what it means to plant a church. And I’ve realized that even that term “church planting,” for me, evokes some problematic imagery. Not having any kind of legit agricultural experience, when I think about planting, I think of buying an existing plant from a store, then placing it in a preselected patch of dirt. In this scenario, planting is a simple, straightforward affair. Buy a plant, then plant that plant. Much of my journey has been about God lovingly stripping away the armor that I use to burnish my own image. My experience has been nothing like that. Rather, trying to recruit and gather a new community of believers feels a lot like building a sand castle. While the raw materials are plentiful, it takes a lot of careful planning, moment-by-moment intuition, and when the weather patterns shift, improvisation. It means being vigilant and wary of those who might, with words or actions, clumsily trample on a fragile structure. And it means boldly moving forward even while feeling like it could fall apart at any moment. It’s a move of the Spirit—an organic, nonlinear, context-sensitive experience that upends all of my linear, systematic instincts. And the doubts…oh Lord Jesus, the doubts. I could write a whole chapter on how to deal with the doubts, the insecurity, and wanting to quit every other week. I’m realizing that a lot of my ministry journey has been about God slowly and lovingly stripping away the armor that I use to burnish my image. In most of my ministry life I’ve been a worship leader, where it’s easy to rely on my musical ability to maintain an air of invulnerable competence. Sitting behind the piano feels safe, like it’s a shield. When I started preaching more regularly as an associate and co-pastor, I dabbled further in honesty and self-disclosure. But still, I found a certain amount of comfort and protection in using the lectionary texts and following the established, well-worn liturgies of the church. It’s a privilege to serve in an established church that has its own history and legacy. But when you’re planting a church, you don’t really have any of that. You’re not burdened by that baggage, but you can’t lean on it either. As a matter of fact, one of the unspoken questions church planters must answer is, “What makes you a leader worth following?” As I invite people into my home, or have chats in coffee shops, restaurants, libraries, and parks, what I’m really trying to do is demonstrate through my life the kind of culture that I want to build in this new church. It’s a challenge, therefore, to share my life with people when I sometimes feel like I kind of suck at living the kind of successful life that others should want to emulate. I don’t own my home, I’ve never raised children, and my credit score is worse than my Xbox gamer score. I recently attended the 30th anniversary celebration at Irvington Covenant in Portland, Oregon, the church my dad founded, my growing-up church. Once again, the good reverend Henry Greenidge said something that deeply impacted me. Quoting his good friend Mark Novak, former executive minister of the ordered ministry, he said this: “Don’t take yourself too seriously, because you’re not that great. If you take yourself too seriously, it means you’re not taking God seriously enough.” I want to inspire people to take God so seriously that they want to be honest and to share their doubts with someone who’s learning not to take himself so serious...

Introducing Young Leaders Who Are Developing Their Call in the Covenant.

OMAHA, NE (June 29, 2018) – Steve Klimkowski, treasurer and executive director of finance, told delegates to The Evangelical Covenant Church 2019 Annual Meeting that the denomination ended fiscal 2018 with a $12,930 surplus. It is the fifth straight year the ECC has posted a cash balanced budget.

Mission expenses were $443,970 or 2.65 percent overbudget, which was due to an increase in church planting activity within Start and Strengthen Churches. The mission priority was $509,469 over budget. The investment in church planting was entirely funded by a higher draw on “Living Legacy” proceeds.

Klimkowski said there was continued strong enrollment, sound reserves, and good operating results for our Bethany Benefit Service operations. The 2019 rate increase was limited to 3 percent – far lower than any broader national plan trend, and especially impressive for a platinum-rated plan.

The Covenant Pension Plan is well funded at 99% of liabilities, under fair actuarial assumptions, Klimkowski said. The plan has $243 million in assets vs. projected 244.3 million in actuarial liabilities. Director of pensions Paul Hawkinson, who recently stepped down as treasurer and executive director of finance, gave a report on the transition from a defined-benefit to defined-contribution plan.

Covenant Trust Company currently manages $1 billion in investments and holds another $1 billions investments for which it provides accounting and performance reports.

OMAHA, NE (June 29, 2019) - Delegates to the 134th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church approved a $28.25 million budget for fiscal year 2020.

The budget, presented by Steve Klimkowski, executive director of finance, contains both the operating and directed mission activity.

The operating budget represents the ongoing activities of the core mission priorities and mission support teams. The operating budget is $18.87 million.

The directed mission budget represents an array of missions that are supported solely by donor-designated gifts but which would not be possible without the infrastructure and support provided by the core operating budget. The directed ministry budget is $9.38 million Operating Budget Start and Strengthen Churches – $3.8 million Make and Deepen Disciples – $1.13 million Develop Leaders – $1.81 million Love Mercy Do Justice – $695,806 Serve Globally – $6.25 million Communications – $1.38 million Shared services – $3.77 million Directed Mission Covenant Kids Congo – $200,000 Extra Budgetary Missionaries – $1.75 million Serve Globally Partner Project – $300,000 Global Engagement – $450,000 Covenant World Relief – $2 million Paul Carlson Partnership – $1.5 million Friends of World Mission – $200,000 Kingdom Builders – $75,000 Women Ministries projects – $50,000 Bezalel, LLC/Social Enterprise – $600,000 CovEnterprises – $400,000 Lilly Financial Leadership – $750,000 Domestic Disaster Relief – $400,000 Center for Leadership – $300,000 Pastoral Resources (SPE, Covenant Orientation, crisis/counseling) – $400,000 Projected Sources of Income Local church giving – $8.92 million Individual donor support – $2.23 million Affiliate Fees and Ministry Investment – $4.92 million Transfers and Other Income – $2.09 million External communication sales – $390,000 External rental income – $310,000

OMAHA, NE (June 28, 2018)— Twelve new churches from six conferences were welcomed into membership this morning at the 133rd Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST CONFERENCE

Iglesia Esperanza Viva Kent, Washington Pastor: Esau Del Arca Average Attendance: 130

In 2014, a Spanish-speaking ministry within a local King County church planted Iglesia Esperanza Viva (Living Hope Church). As it grew, the church began meeting weekly at Kent Covenant Church. After becoming familiar with the denomination’s vision and support for diverse ministries, it began the process of joining the ECC. The congregation continues to hold services at Kent Covenant Church.

Communitas Evangelical Covenant Church Spokane, Washington Pastor: Asher Ernst Average attendance: 165

Communitas was started in 2011 as an evening “church within a church” at a historic Presbyterian Church USA in downtown Spokane. The church always intended to plant as a separate congregation and did so in 2017 with 45 adults and 20 children. At the time, the congregation was looking for a denomination that embraced a desire to combine rigorous discipleship and biblical justice in a relational-oriented setting. The congregation connected with conference staff, who offered to coach the church. The congregation now meets Sunday mornings at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Spokane. The average attendance is 120 adults and 45 children. It has a strong ministry toward refugees, which includes an afterschool homework club for English language learners and a partnership with World Relief.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE

Iglesia Cristiana Shalom-Elohim Petaluma, California Pastor: Edwin Guzman Average attendance: 142

Iglesia Cristiana Shalom-Elohim began in 2013 with two families meeting at the pastor’s house. Within one year, rapid growth forced the church to relocate twice. The church is seeking a third site due to increasing growth.

Navegando Con Jesús Iglesia Del Pacto Torrance, California Pastor: Margarita Monsalve Average Attendance: 80

Navegando Con Jesús Iglesia Del Pacto launched as a Covenant church plant in partnership with the Covenant and PSWC in 2011. The church exists to reach the lost in the city of Torrance. Navegando takes a holistic approach to restoring people by introducing them to the Gospel and providing job skill training.

Iglesia La Jornada Concord, California Pastor: Jorge and Marlen Ramos Average Attendance: 140

Iglesia La Jornada launched as a Covenant church plant in partnership with the denomination and PSWC in 2014 under the leadership of Pastor Fil and Juana Nesta. It launched out of the Nueva Esperanza Covenant Church in Antioch. In 2018, Jorge Ramos was called to serve as pastor of the contemporary bilingual church.

CENTRAL CONFERENCE

New Abbey Covenant Church Gurnee, Illinois Pastor: EJ Ravago Average Attendance: 40

While serving as an associate pastor at a Baptist church, Pastor EJ Ravago felt the call and need to plant a church in the town where he’d grown up. After two years of praying and planning, New Abbey launched its first service in 2016. The church gathers at the local American Legion, which is located between Waukegan and Gurnee. There are sharp contrasts between the socio-economic levels and racial demographics between the two towns. A significant part of New Abbey’s vision and existence is to navigate all the complexities that shape and divide these communities. The church hopes to provide a context where true diversity and reconciliation can happen.

Peacemakers Korean Covenant Church Schaumburg, Illinois Pastor: Rev. Choi, Min Ho Average Attendance: 15

Peacemakers Korean Covenant Church is a community of Korean immigrant Christians whose primary language is Korean. Church membership consists mainly of first-generation Korean immigrants from the 1970's, second-generation Korean immigrants from the 2000's, and third-generation Korean-Americans born in the United States. On September 9,

OMAHA, NE (June 28, 2019) — Delegates elected new members to various boards with results announced during the afternoon business session of the 134th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Executive Minister of Love Mercy Do Justice Four-year term Paul Robinson

Executive Minister of Make and Deepen Disciples Four-year term Michelle Sanchez

Executive Minister of Start and Strengthen Churches Four-year term Paul Lessard

Executive Board Six-year terms Albert Armstead Byron Kaopuiki Lisa Olson Karen Almquist Stein Valerie Weyand

Two-year term Bryan Murphy

Board of the Ordered Ministry Five-year terms Steve Dawson Samuel Williams

Board of Pensions Two-year term Hugh Magill

Five-year terms Richard Moore Dorean Reed

Board of Benevolence Six-year term Tracy Hilts

Five-year term Linda Schoonover

Board of Trustees North Park University Five-year terms Andrea Dennis Dawn Helwig Marcia Jimenez Jodi Moore Kristian Werling

One-year term David Dwight

Board of Nominations Five-year terms Beverly Johnson (Southeast Conference representative) June Kenny (Great Lakes Conference representative)

Annual Meeting Secretary Two-year term Nilwona Nowlin

OMAHA, NE (June 28, 2019)—Delegates to the 134th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church approved the following candidates for Ordination to Word and Sacrament, Ordination to Word and Service, finalization of transfer of ordination, as well as consecration to missionary service.

Candidates for Transfer of Ordination

Jeremy J. Falk, Uptown Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois

William F. Johnson III, Cornerstone Church of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts

John A. Lloyd, Dolores Park Church, San Francisco, California

Jeffery S. Pate, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

Candidate for Commissioning

Cody D. Anderson, Faith Covenant Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Candidates for Ordination to Word and Service

Carlos E. DeVitis, Peninsula Covenant Church, Redwood City, California

Donna M. Harris, Minnehaha Academy, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Marcus W. Lantz, Covenant Youth of Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska

Megan L. Sizemore, Journeycare Hospice, Barrington, Illinois

Phillip P. Voland, Global personnel, Germany

Candidates for Ordination to Word and Sacrament

David P. Arnott, Navy chaplaincy

Phillip E. Beatty, Hartford City Covenant Church, Manchester, Connecticut

Curtis G. Beeson, The Rock Covenant Church, Manhattan Beach, California

Stephen D. Bjorlin, Irvington Covenant Church, Portland, Oregon

Karen E. Brewer, Atonement Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois

Michaile Murray Broadnax, Institute for Biblical Gender Equality, Munster, Indiana

James G. Candy, Ascent Community Church, Louisville, Colorado

David J. Capozzi, Brockton Covenant Church, Brockton, Massachusetts

Carlos A. Cevallos, Iglesia del Pacto de Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California

Mark Charbonneau, The Vine Covenant Church, Austin, Texas

Kendall C. Churchill, Calvary Covenant Church, Evansville, Minnesota

Cynthia R. Comiso, Highrock Quincy Covenant Church, Quincy, Massachusetts

Anna N. Cornell, Bloomington Covenant Church, Bloomington, Minnesota

Edward F. DeForest, Community Covenant Church, Eagle River, Alaska

Lisa C. Eastman, Providence Regional Medical Center, Everett, Washington

Karen Figueroa, Centro Hispano de Estudios Teologicos, Compton, California

Sara A. Fisher, University Covenant Church, Davis, California

Bradley D. Friedlein, Crossroads Evangelical Covenant Church, Forest Lake, Minnesota

Angelina E. Giancola, Highrock North Shore, Salem, Massachusetts

Thomas P. Greentree, Evangelical Covenant Church of Erickson, Erickson, British Columbia

Mitchell E. Haaby, Cedarbrook Church, Menomonie, Wisconsin

Brynn E. Harrington, Highrock North Shore, Salem, Massachusetts

Stephen R. Hoffman, Komstad Covenant Church, Beresford, South Dakota

Bum Yong Kim, Outpour Evangelical Covenant Church, St. Louis, Missouri

Leo T. Kim, New Life Covenant Church, Palatine, Illinois

Eric G. Landin, Batavia Covenant Church, Batavia, Illinois

Timothy C. Moore, Roots Covenant Church, St. Paul, Minnesota

Philips V. R. Nethagani, Abundant Life Covenant Church, Brampton, Ontario

Trinity L. Opp, Alexandria Covenant Church, Alexandria, Minnesota

Scott P. Parr, Christ Community Covenant Church, Arvada, Colorado

Ancy Susan Post, Metro Community Church, Englewood, New Jersey

Joseph T. Riffe, Church of the Redeemer, Bowie, Maryland

Tammy J. Roach, Alleluia! Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois

Noel P. Simms, Greater Faith Covenant Church, Riverdale, Georgia

Dean A. Soule, Community Covenant Church, El Cajon, California

Jessica L. Springer, Community Evangelical Covenant Church, Lenexa, Kansas

Laura B. Van Norman, Abbey Way Covenant Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Stephanie R. Voland, Global personnel, Germany

Kenneth J. White, Forest Park Covenant Church, Muskegon, Michigan

Mason A. Williams, Redwood Covenant Church, Santa Rosa, California

Andrew P. Wollitzer, Berkeley Covenant Church, Berkeley, California

OMAHA, NE (June 27, 2019) — The Evangelical Covenant Church honored clergy with “Lifetime Service Recognition” awards during the opening dinner of the 134th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

With so many ministers and missionaries who continue to serve in various capacities of ministry rather than retiring at 65, the ECC honors all clergy when they reach 65. Plaques were presented to clergy who were in attendance.

Clergy are honored at the conference level, and the denomination also provides recognition at the national level because many pastors retire from conferences in which they did not spend the majority of their ministry years.

The citation honors them for “lifetimes of faithful service and godly obedience.”

Marcelo M. Alvarado, Duarte, California Ellen Z. H. An, Alhambra, California Steven J. Anderson, Albert City, Iowa James W. Barefoot, Wasilla, Alaska Charles W. Barker, Altadena, California Samuel E. Bryan, Orlando, Florida Jeffrey A. Burton, Daytona, Minnesota Kevin J. Butcher, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan Kendall L. Carlson, Apple Valley, Minnesota Fred L. Carter, Los Angeles, California David William Clark, Porter, Oklahoma Williadean Crear, Birmingham, Alabama Ethel L. Davis, Alsip, Illinois William W. Dornbush, Sartell, Minnesota Harvey Drake, Jr., Renton, Washington Nancy L. Ebner, Indian Orchard, Massachusetts Peter C. Ekstrand, Chicago, Illinois James R. Fisher, Boone, North Carolina Kurt N. Fredrickson, Simi Valley, California Carrie L. George, San Pedro, California Arthur Vincent Greco, Novato, California David E. Greenidge, Tigard, Oregon Richard E. Hampton, Bellevue, Washington Todd S. Harris, Hutchinson, Minnesota Neil R. Josephson, Pitt Meadows, British Columbia Jacob C. Kim, Chicago, Illinois Rita Kay Lochner Scruton-Wilson, Glen Ellyn, Illinois William R. MacPhee, Torrance, California Larry A. Magnuson, Divide, Colorado Richard J. Moore, Sloan, Iowa Randy W. Murphy, Cincinnati, Ohio Timothy P. Musslewhite, Loveland, Colorado Richard G. Mylander, Coupeville, Washington Thomas W. Nelson, Dennis, Massachusetts Mary Ann Owens, Lithia Springs, Georgia Pamela E. Pangborn, Gross Pointe Park, Michigan Soudinh Penkay, Thailand Lawrence D. Pennings, Bothell, Washington Paul Andrew Peterson, Bellingham, Washington Thomas A. Peterson, West Chicago, Illinois Randy H. Rodenborg, Pierce, Nebraska David L. Scherrer, Westminster, Colorado Toni K. Schwabe, Wyoming, Minnesota Russell L. Sizemore, Wahoo, Nebraska Timothy P. Smith, Democratic Republic of the Congo Kenneth J. Sohriakoff, Little Canada, Minnesota Randall A. Surey, Moline, Illinois Kevin D. Swanson, Englewood, New Jersey Lon F. Swanson, Nome, Alaska Jo Anne Taylor, New Ulm, Minnesota Gary B. Walter, Palatine, Illinois Brian C. Wiele, Vancouver, Washington Jeffrey W. Woods, Turlock, California

FARGO, ND (June 19, 2019) – Kurt Lindquist, former medical missionary to Democratic Republic of Congo, died Saturday, June 15, 2019. He was 68.

He was born March 1, 1951, to Franklin and Margaret Lindquist. He was raised in what was then Zaire, where his parents served as Covenant missionaries from 1951 to 1970.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College and graduated from Rush Medical College. He attended North Park Theological Seminary for missions orientation.

Kurt married Linda Uthoff on August 6, 1983. They served as medical missionaries in Congo from 1986 until they were evacuated in 1997 during a civil war. He committed his life to teach African doctors and nurses surgical techniques and served as medical director for the Covenant’s work.

After the Lindquists returned to the United States, Kurt completed specialty training in vascular surgery at Providence Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, in 1998. Over the next 20 years, he served veterans and trained surgical residents at the VA Medical Center in Fargo.

They Lindquists continued to serve the people of Congo as medical ambassadors with the Paul Carlson Partnership and returned to the country twice to train local medical personnel.

Survivors include his wife and two sons, Jonathon and Daniel.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 22, at Salem Evangelical Free Church in Moorehead, Minnesota. Memorials may be sent to Paul Carlson Partnership for medical and development work.

GOLDEN VALLEY, MN (June 21, 2019) – Ivie Folden, widow of Covenant minister Albin Folden, died Monday, June 17, 2019, at the age of 102.

She was born January 20, 1917, to Alfred and Clara Elseth. She and Albin were married July 15, 1941, and she served alongside him in Covenant churches in Grand Forks, North Dakota; Bemidji, Minnesota; Worthington, Minnesota; Ellsworth (Bethel), Wisconsin; Cannon Falls, Minnesota; Pennock, Minnesota; Downey, California; Phoenix (West), Arizona; and Nome, Alaska.

She is survived by two sons, Richard (Karen) and Daniel (Joyce); son-in-law Charles Johnson; eight grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by Albin in 2004 and by her daughter Carol Johnson.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 22, at Covenant Village of Golden Valley where she had been a resident since 2002. A committal service is pending.

Memorials have been designated for Covenant Village Benevolence Fund or Evangelical Free Church of Newfolden, Minnesota.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation, or FFRF, dropped its litigation to have the clergy housing allowance declared unconstitutional.

TULSA, OK (June 19, 2019) – Retired Covenant missionary to Alaska Ralph Vernon Fondell died Monday, June 10. He was 95.

He was born on October 9, 1923, in Maxwell Township, rural Dawson, Minnesota.

He graduated from Dawson High School in 1941 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Upon entry, Ralph demonstrated an aptitude for mathematics and electrical science, which led him to eventually study electrical engineering.

Ralph was wounded on Guam during WWII when he was hit by a U.S. transport vehicle. After recovery, he was honorably discharged. He attended North Park College in Chicago and graduated with an associate’s degree in 1948.

He married Gertrude Franklin on September 3, 1948, at Dawson Covenant Church, where her father, Nathaniel Franklin, was serving as pastor.

Ralph subsequently earned his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and then attended North Park Theological Seminary.

The Fondells moved to West Virginia and Kentucky to help build and operate Christian radio stations in Appalachia.

In 1958, Ralph and Gert were commissioned as Covenant missionaries to Nome, Alaska. Ralph spent much of that year working with fellow missionaries there to build KICY Radio.

He served as the station’s engineer, program manager, then general manager. His voice was heard throughout Western Alaska. He became known as the “Voice of the Arctic.”

“Ralph was a steadfast and faithful witness and servant of Jesus Christ,” said Curtis Ivanoff, superintendent of the ECC Alaska Conference. “He was a person who overflowed with the joy of Christ, and the people of Alaska were blessed to have been recipients of such a kind and gentle man. Ralph has left an indelible mark on the ministry and life of the Alaska Covenant Church and ministries, especially KICY. I am sure that his voice echoes in the minds and hearts of many as we thank God for his life.”

Ralph and Gert lived in Nome, Eagle River, and Chugiak until 2018. Ralph served as chair of Covenant churches in Nome and Eagle River.

Gert preceded him in death on Valentine’s Day 2019. His eldest son, Daniel (Luanne), and an infant son also preceded him in death.

He is survived by daughters Kathryn Congdon (James) of Manley, Alaska, and Rebecca Carlson (Wayne) of Algonquin, Illinois; sons Stephen Fondell (Lynne) of Jenks, Oklahoma, and John Fondell (TrucLien) of Eagle River; daughter-in-law Luanne Fondell of Dawson; 16 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service for Ralph and Gertrude will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 31, at Dawson Covenant Church. Memorials may be directed to KICY Radio, P.O. Box 820, Nome, AK 99762.

Adriel Booker’s book, Grace Like Scarlett, offered balm for my heart and practical information around the unique needs of a parent and family experiencing a miscarriage.

CHICAGO, IL (June 7, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that may be of interest to others. Each Friday Covenant News Service posts five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Why the Beginning of ‘Up’ Still Devastates Us, 10 Years Later When I saw ‘Up’ in the theater 10 years ago, I remember looking around and seeing people dabbing their eyes. This article is an excellent reflection on grief as well as perhaps the best five minutes of film you’ll ever see.

From the article: “The scene’s lack of dialogue shows that love and loss need to be felt more than communicated. So much of our emotions are experienced in moments when nothing is said, and if we were to reflect on the most impactful times of our lives, most of them would probably find their most profound meaning in the silence of processing—sitting in the stillness of pain or awe or joy of a moment in time.” A Gun Killed My Son. So Why Do I Want to Own One? Gregory Gibson’s son was shot and killed by a fellow student at college. Gibson was a gun control advocate—and then, against his family’s wishes, he bought a gun and discovered the allure the weapons can hold. This nuanced, long-form article takes the reader on an emotional and intellectual journey that needs to be read until the end.

From the article: “Pro-gun people are always talking about fixing the mental health system, but concrete proposals are in short supply. Meanwhile, the mental health community is fiercely protective of patient privacy, and these interests can run counter to the reporting necessary for any background check to be effective. The salesman took my paperwork into the back room, where he checked the six-digit PIN on my firearms license against the computerized state database and ran my information through the F.B.I.’s national instant criminal background check system. Fifteen minutes and a few hundred dollars later, I was an official gun owner.” The Reason Millenials No Longer Use Doorbells A Twitter user suggested that someone write a story about how millennials are killing the doorbell industry. The Twittersphere responded. It’s not just millennials who are happy about the change. For God and Country: A Religious Revival Is Climbing the Charts The combination of God and country music is not a new one, but the current popularity of so many religious country songs has people wondering what’s different now.

From the article: “Of the songs fueling this revival, it's ‘God and Country Music,’ a track on George Strait's new album, that illustrates country and religion's longstanding relationship best. The industry veteran performed the ode to two staples of pastoral American living at the April 7 award show. ‘God and country music are like whiskey and a prayer/ Like Johnny Cash's arm around Billy Graham.... It's a dance between the sin and the salvation/ Come hell or high water/ There's two things still worth saving/ God and country music.’” Ikea to Use Packaging Made from Mushrooms The giant retailer is the latest business to use packaging made of mushrooms due to a new and growing trend inspired by concern for the environment. Actor Luke Perry was recently buried in a mushroom burial suit designed to biodegrade.

From the article: “Ikea’s green drive has already seen it launch a vegetarian substitute for meatballs as a more eco-friendly alternative to the Swedish dish served in its cafes, because of concerns about the greenhouse gas emissions from rearing animals for beef and pork.”

Janice Mae Eppard, wife of retired Covenant pastor Marvin Eppard, died Wednesday, June 5, 2019. She was 87.

“Listen to each other with empathy, patience, and respect. Offer to help and support anyone who is in need. Value each other with God’s love. Encourage each other to grow in faith, love, and wisdom.” That’s exactly what they are living into on the corner of Clay and Grove Streets in Thomaston.

They call themselves the Harbor Covenant Church. “A harbor provides shelter for boats in storms, facilities to repair boats, and it acts as a port where you can import and export cargo to the rest of the world. Jesus did those things, and that’s our mission—to be home, healing, and hope through Jesus Christ.” They have been holding preview services and will launch in August.

Ever since I first saw it, the 1999 movie The Big Kahuna has stuck with me.

Nowadays every flight between McAllen, Texas, and Dallas or Houston carries some Central Americans [...]

Pentecost and the Welcoming Love of God

Brad Johnson was looking forward to his camping trip last September. [...]

Discovering Christ in the crevices of creation

The Hope of Pentecost Amid My Brokenness and Doubt

I was stunned to learn that as recently as the 20th century, some infant girls in Korea, particularly those born into poor families, were not given names by their parents—ever. These nameless girls were born unwanted in a society that valued men over women. They were seen as a financial burden to their families, with no economic future of their own. Their relationship to the men in their lives defined their entire existence—they were known as the daughters of their fathers, the wives of their husbands, the mothers of their sons. Meanwhile, many of these same families would pay fortune tellers to select auspicious names for their baby boys, believing their name would determine theircourse of life. As a second-generation Korean American, I had been aware of the cultural preference for sons in Korea. I knew of my own family’s hope that I would be born a son, as the firstborn child of my father, who is my grandparents’ firstborn son. I had also become aware of the heart-wrenching tragedy of historic infanticide and abandonment of baby girls in Korea and elsewhere around the world, where cultural devaluing of women and the devastating effects of poverty sometimes converge into a state of hopelessness, leading families to destroy their infant girls. Even with this context, the thought of a baby girl being deprived of a name of her own left me completely shaken. She would live and breathe but would have no individual identity. She would coexist with others while being reminded daily of her lack of value to her family and to society. To the world, the Samaritan woman at the well has no name. But Jesus knows her. Learning about this reality of my ancestors’ homeland, as difficult as it was, allowed me to connect with greater depth to the Samaritan woman who encounters Jesus at the well in John 4. This woman, who is left nameless to us, represents the most marginalized of the marginalized. As a Samaritan, she is detested and seen as unclean by the Jews. As a woman, she is seen as legal property of men. We also learn she has lost five husbands, and that the man she is currently with is not her husband. This likely means she is living in a state of bondage, out of desperate need for survival. To the world, she has no name. But Jesus knows her. Even before initiating a conversation with this woman, he is fully aware of her day-to-day reality, which is dictated by racism, ethnocentrism, and patriarchy. By choosing to speak with her, he confronts these systemic manifestations of evil in the world. Jesus resists the injustice of the law by addressing her in public. He is willing to be accused of being ceremonially unclean by drinking the water she gives him. Jesus breaks through the systems of sin that leave her nameless by sitting with her, entering her reality, and offering her the gift of life. I mourn the rejection and dehumanization suffered by nameless baby girls, in Korea and elsewhere, in the past and present. I believe Jesus wept with them in their pain and powerlessness, as they grew into nameless teens and nameless women. I mourn the ways the same root sin of patriarchy also manifests in our country today, which coupled with the evil of white supremacy, renders many girls and women, particularly women of color, essentially nameless. In their namelessness, these women are seen as objects, resources, and quota-fillers. Namelessness can quickly lead to exploitation, as it lessens the humanity of the other. Namelessness says, “I could have known your name, but it is not worth my energy and time, so I will see you as I want to see you, defined by my standards.” We are all at risk of seeing others this way. But when this posture is adopted by those in positions of power, people on the margins suffer—through microaggressions, lost opportunities, and even abuse. Our names give each of us a sense of identity, sometimes even a sense of purpose. Jesus knows us so intimately, and calls each of us by name.

CHICAGO, IL (May 31, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Bill Buckner and the Absurdity of Scapegotism Life’s dramas and big questions are often literally played out in sports. What happened to Bill Buckner is a reminder of how often we want easy explanations and someone to blame when bad things happen. It also is a tragedy when someone is remembered for one mistake that overshadows a lifetime of achievement. When media outlets began Buckner’s obituary with a reference to his error, they received their own well-earned backlash.

From the article: “Being scapegoated is the very worst social stigma in all of male team sports. Even worse than a crime. In general, a male athlete can take ‘roids, snort coke, drive drunk, beat women, shoot guns, bet on games and even kill people, and redemption is usually a few apologies away, or a few wins. In a sports world where Buckner was exiled to Idaho, and Steve Bartman nearly had to enroll into a witness protection program, being a sports scapegoat is very serious business.” Redefining Unreached People Groups Redefining terms used by missiologists could have profound impacts on how evangelicals engage in missions.

From the article: “The complexity of the missions landscape, particularly with urbanization and globalization moving people to new contexts, has challenged whether one definition can capture the most urgent evangelistic needs. David Platt, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, has suggested ‘rethinking unreached peoples’ by including unreached places as well.” My Summers of Work, Revolution, and Love Award-winning author and educator Fae Myenne Ng was tasked as a nine-year-old with teaching English to her mother, who was a teacher in Communist China before fleeing the country.

From the article: “As a child, when I saw my mother working, I felt her loving. Mah taught me that love wasn’t only rebellious, it was also tenacious. If love for self, for family, or for work didn’t translate well, sacrifice still serves the story. Mah’s devotion to her own left-behind mother alongside mothering her new American children taught me the infinite ways to make a revolution. She made me an eternal summer of love, revolution, and work.” Cure for Hate: Former Skinheads Recall What Turned Them Around Former white nationalists share their stories of how they changed their thinking.

From the article: “Extremists leave their groups for a variety of reasons. But it’s not usually because they’ve suddenly realized that what they are involved in is morally reprehensible. The impetus is usually more mundane—dissatisfaction with the direction of the group, infighting, personal drama or even parenthood.” They Broke into House – And Cleaned It Was it a burglary or an innocent mistake?

From the article: “Roman looked around and saw that they neatly made the beds, vacuumed the rugs, and scrubbed the toilets. They even crafted ornate origami roses on the toilet paper rolls in his bathrooms, he said. Every room in his house was cleaned, except for the kitchen.”

A new Covenant Kids Congo (CKC) project could save a hundred lives each year by providing a consistent source of clean water to the local hospital. Currently the hospital only has access to clean water three hours a week.

Retired Covenant minister Larry D. Dieckman died Friday, May 24. He was 79.

Revealing the hidden trauma of moral injury

Retired Covenant pastor Burdette “Bud” Palmberg died Tuesday, May 21, while on a mission trip in Bali. He was 83.

Pastor Nandu Tadokha was praying for his attackers shortly before he died last month. The 58-year-old Hindustani Covenant Church (HCC) pastor was assaulted April 24 by religious extremists while he was walking home from preaching in one of the 10 villages he served, according to witnesses. Despite suffering severe internal injuries, he was able to walk to a hospital. He died several days later.

The “what ifs” seemed endless. One child asked if it might happen again. [...]

Fanchon Kelley served as a global intern at Immanuelskyrkan (Immanuel International Church) in Stockholm, Sweden, last summer. The Global Internships program through Serve Globally provides opportunities to learn, serve, and gain intercultural experience as interns work alongside national partners and missionaries. In June Kelley is returning to Stockholm for her second internship.

The next Embrace webinar, “Leading a Church in a Time of Sexual Questioning,” will be a conversation with Bruce Miller from noon to 1 p.m. (Central) Wednesday, May 29.

Enrollees in the Bethany Benefit Service health insurance plan can earn $200 through a new wellness initiative intended to spur participants to seek preventative care and make lifestyle changes.

The ethnically diverse audience was a rarity in this city where 87 percent of the 200,000 residents are white. They had come to the Gathering House Covenant Church and Café to hear poetry, a music trio, and a talk on racial reconciliation as well as celebrate Women’s History Month.

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos [...]

A video outlining key proposed changes to the Covenant Pension Plan and the implications [...]

Although the Melanie Center sustained significant damage to its building when Cyclone Idai destroyed 90 percent of this city nearly two months ago, the ministry of the Covenant Church of Mozambique continues to feed 100 children a day and has helped reduce the spread of cholera by serving as a vaccination site.

Lately I have been reading Michael Massing’s massive Fatal Discord, an account of the relationship between the sixteenth-century scholar Desiderius Erasmus and the reformer Martin Luther. Erasmus was a typical academic: happiest when surrounded by his books. He longed for peace and quiet to get on with his studies. As Massing puts it, Erasmus just wanted to be left alone. But Erasmus was also deeply concerned about the state of the Catholic Church—the corruptions of Rome, the ignorance and profligacy of the priests, and the greed that fleeced ordinary people and tarnished the reputation of the church. He was a reformer—with a small “r.” Like many who remained faithful Catholics throughout the explosive sixteenth century, he understood the frustrations of the learned as well as the disappointments of ordinary Christians. But he wanted gradual reform—a refining fire, not a conflagration. Luther was something else entirely. He too was a scholar, and he had great respect for Erasmus. When Luther began his German translation of the Bible, Erasmus’s Greek New Testament was at his elbow. Throughout his life Luther had been paralyzed by fear of the judgment of God. He had driven his confessors crazy dragging out every tiny sin he could imagine. His sessions in the confessional could last for hours. And then he discovered in Paul the liberating word of God’s grace. It was faith, not works, that saved; it was God’s work, not our works, that delivered. Luther, of course, shared Erasmus’s frustration with the corruption and profligacy of Rome. But unlike Erasmus he would eventually break with Rome. He would insist that the Bible, not the Roman curia, was the Christian’s authority for life. The hierarchy, he would thunder, was not entrusted with the singular privilege of reading and interpreting God’s word. Priests were not the only ones who could read and understand Scripture. In fact, the priesthood belonged to all believers, not just the select few who were ordained. Erasmus was for moderation and caution, for moving ahead with reform, yes, but not getting out too far in front of the people. Luther was to Rome “a wild boar thrashing around in the vineyard” of the church. It was an apt metaphor. Luther set loose forces he could ultimately not control. Chaos, even violence, followed in the wake of his reforming zeal. For Erasmus, Luther had many of the right ideas, but the wrong methods. For Luther, Erasmus was a source of great inspiration, but far too cautious and timid. Sometimes, perhaps, I was like Erasmus, too cautious and circumspect. Sometimes, surely, I was more like Luther, thrashing around like a boar.

It seems to me that both were right. As Massing writes, no one could do invective like Luther. The crudity and violence of his writing must be seen to be believed. And Erasmus, who had set much of this in motion with his work on the New Testament, was perhaps too enamored of his creature comforts to take the risks Luther did. Although Erasmus remained a faithful Catholic, more or less, his contribution to the Reformation was significant. He recalled Christians to the actual text of the Bible and gave them the ability to read it for themselves. Erasmus and Luther share the credit (or the blame) for the tens of thousands of Protestant denominations and sects today. This is my last column for the Covenant Companion. I have been writing this particular column for nearly 25 years, and my first articles are from the early 1980s. How do you sum up nearly 40 years of thought? Sometimes, perhaps, I was like Erasmus, a bit too cautious and circumspect. Sometimes, surely, I was more like Luther, thrashing around like a boar—or a bore! But I see in these two men a tension I have tried to live with: the need to speak at times with humility and at times with daring. We need to recognize our profound ignorance before the mystery of God and yet proclaim confidently the good news of his love and grace in Jesus Christ.

Facing hard truths about our throwaway culture

Valley Covenant will hold its Sunday service at a local school [...]

One of the more obvious ways I feel like my culture is at odds with evangelicalism is in our approach to power. I’m part of the hip-hop generation. For us, power is an ever-present topic of thought and conversation—who has it, who wants it, and why. One of my favorite songs growing up was called “The Power.” Aside from its popularity, it was, in a subtle bit of meta-commentary, notable for a power struggle between the two different acts that unwittingly collaborated on its release. Instead of “I’m of Paul, and I’m of Apollos,” my friends and I were all, “So do you listen to the Snap version or the Chill Rob G version?” This fixation on power was exhibit A in our apparent lack of it. We were obsessed with what we, for the most part, did not have. My exclusive private high school, however, was another story. There, it was de rigueur to behave as though power doesn’t exist. My friends and I enjoyed commonalities such as NBA basketball and TV shows, but conversation rarely drifted toward such topics as where we lived, what kind of cars our parents drove, or where we took vacations. It’s much easier to believe you are equal to someone in power if you’re never required to examine their field of options in life. That school was notorious for its anti-religious bias, which is why I find it a bit ironic that many of the churches and parachurch organizations I’ve encountered tend to work the same way. The culture of passive aggression masks the existence of power in everyday conversation. We use words like “family” to evince a milieu of commonality and acceptance, operating under the collective pretense that everyone who walks through the door is on equal ground—that is, until someone who’s not a member wants to vote during a business meeting. People in power often avoid talking about it because it makes them uncomfortable.

This isn’t a tirade against membership, I’m just saying that people in power often avoid talking about it because it makes them uncomfortable. And yet, the choice to avoid talking about it is itself an act of power, because it sets the agenda and defines the unspoken code of conduct for everyone else. This wielding of power happens in small, subtle ways that are easy to overlook. A lot of Christians today remind me of a man I’ll call Yosef. Scripture doesn’t tell us his name. But in Matthew 21, he’s one of the guys selling doves outside the temple whose benches were overturned by Jesus’s righteous outburst. We know it to be a righteous outburst because of our vantage point in history, but my man Yosef didn’t have that luxury. I’m guessing that in the moment, Yosef saw Jesus less as an aggrieved prophet and more as a criminal firebrand rabble-rouser. I’m over here trying to feed my family, Yosef might’ve thought. And this guy is trying to destroy my operation. What Yosef didn’t see was that his business was part of an exclusionary, predatory system that extorted money from the poor. I don’t think Jesus believed that selling doves was inherently wrong, but he knew that any kind of markup could make it difficult on those seeking to worship—which was especially ironic given that, as far as I understand, the whole idea of having the animals for sale in the first place was to make it easier to comply with the sacrificial demands of worship. Power is fundamentally about access and control—who makes decisions, who sets the budget, who gets to participate when, where, and how. As a veteran of church ministry, I get that there are always hard choices to make. It’s easy to justify consolidating power if we feel like those choices will enable us to more effectively preach the gospel and make disciples. But Jesus willingly emptied himself of power and privilege for the sake of identifying with and advocating for those who had neither. So if we consistently use our power to prioritize the preservation of our institutions and their resources over the well-being of the people God calls us to serve,

The COV Sparks downloadable discussion guide is now available for the May/June issue of The Covenant Companion. Based on articles from the current issue of the magazine, COV Sparks provides stimulating questions for Sunday-school classes, small-group discussions, and personal reflection.

Retired missionary Geneva M. (Noren) Christensen died Saturday, April 27, at the age of 93.

In light of recent abuses by leaders in Christian organizations, the Companion looks at reclaiming a healthy understanding of authority in the church.

Retired Covenant minister Diana Lynn Wymore died Thursday, April 18. She was 59.

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos {...}

The People’s Covenant Church is located on the flood plain of the lower Rio Grande in San Juan, Texas. It sits in what locals refer to as “the valley” comprised of two sections—the east side of the Rio Grande River, which houses 1.5 million residents in Texas, and the west side of the river in Mexico, which houses 2.6 million. The church was established in 1911. For many years it was an important part of the community. Then in the 1980s the local economy, which was primarily agricultural, faltered. The younger generation was leaving the region to look for jobs in other parts of the country.

"The church stopped growing and then started shrinking,” says Keith Hackland, chair of the church board. Hackland began attending the church as an exchange student from South Africa in 1967. He returned to the valley in 1997 and married his high-school sweetheart at People’s. “We were always involved at the church,” he says. In 2012 he joined the church board and became chair of the board two years later. In the early 1990s, the congregation joined the ECC. At the time, says Hackland, “There were hopes that the Covenant would wave its magic wand and fix everything.” But the church was still struggling. When they celebrated their centennial in 2011, only about 30 people were active members of the congregation. They began to pray about their next season of ministry. Rodney Sawyer came on as interim pastor, and Dale Lusk, who was serving as head of Merge Ministries, came on as associate pastor. The youth and children’s ministries began to grow. Starting with one student, the ministry grew as the church invested intentionally in the next generation. While still praying for a full-time pastor, the church hired Daniel Armendariz part-time to help with the students. Daniel and his wife, Cristal, were born and raised in the valley. Armendariz found Jesus through a Baptist Student Ministries collegiate ministry, and he was serving as an associate director for BS M. “At first, I had no desire to be a pastor, but God had been working in my life,” he says. “From our first conversation, Keith was telling me of the church’s strong desire to find someone from the community to be the pastor. In my head I was thinking, ‘Good luck with that.’ I thought I would be there for a few months, go back to my life, and ride into the sunset. But in my mind and heart something was happening.” Within the year, the church had invited Armendariz to lead the church as their pastor. He accepted the call last July. Now, more than 100 adults call People’s their church family, and an additional 40 to 50 children participate in weekly activities and programs.

The People’s Covenant Church San Juan, Texas Weekly Attendance: 100 Organized: 1990

A Call in the Wild Meeting God in the loneliness by Mike Coglan | April 16, 2019

I crave peak spiritual experiences. But I’ve found that even for a pastor, most of life takes place in the long valleys between the peaks. During one particularly long valley, I felt dangerously discouraged. Ministry had become routine and I didn’t feel God’s presence. I was desperate to hear God’s voice and to experience something more than the daily tedium. My favorite place of refreshment is the northern lake country, so I decided to retreat in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area along the Canadian border in Minnesota. Although I had been there many times, I had never gone solo. I planned a four-day trip. The first day was for self-examination and confession. Day two would be for renewal and recommitment. On the third day—the Lord’s Day—I would worship. I would travel home on the fourth day. I left on a Thursday and I felt the weight of loneliness hit me even before I left town. My wife, Laura, and I had an emotional goodbye because we both knew that this trip was important and a little bit dangerous. The 11-hour drive was lonely. The simple bunkhouse I slept in that night felt like a black hole. As I paddled away from the outfitter on a rainy Friday morning, I felt a mixture of fear, anticipation, and dread. I sublimated my anxiety into hard paddling against a strong wind as I attempted to get comfortable in a solo canoe for the first time. In just under an hour I was at my first portage—a sweaty half-mile walk with a canoe and backpack on my shoulders. At the end of the trail, I dropped the canoe and walked back the half mile to retrieve my other, heavier backpack. By midmorning I was again paddling across a four-mile lake, still facing the wind. I found my next portage and repeated three more hikes on another half-mile trail. With the portaging behind me, I had nothing but big water ahead. But open water has no protection from the wind. Whitecap waves were churning beyond my little bay. I paddled to a nearby island with a campsite to wait out the wind. As I approached the island, a bald eagle appeared, gliding down out of the sky right at me. He screeched loudly, and then sailed off across the bay. The campsite turned out to be comfortable and picturesque. After puttering around for a couple of hours I finally accepted that this was where God wanted me to be. It didn’t take long to unpack my gear and settle in. As I set up my camp, I talked with God about the trip. I probably sounded crazy talking out loud by myself. I believe that the Holy Spirit puts thoughts in your head. I think we have to pay careful attention when he does this. So on this trip, I spoke them out loud. Then I heard myself say something that surprised me. It came out of my mouth before I thought it. First and foremost, you must see to your own holiness. I repeated it. Then I said it several times. For the first time, it felt like I was having a real two-way conversation with God. I took out a spiral notebook, nestled into the cleft of a large boulder away from the wind, and began to pray and pour out my thoughts on paper. There is a lot of grief in the life of a pastor. I sin, yet I tell others how to live. I’m responsible for my own soul, and I’m responsible to many others. I feel grief when a person rejects God or a marriage falls apart or a child breaks their parents’ hearts. When that happens I feel like I have failed—if only I had taught better or prayed harder or stepped in at the right time. And these griefs pile up. Most are small; some are large. They accumulate and they need a way out. One of my goals for this trip was to go far enough away that no one would hear me cry. I did a lot of crying.

Is it hard to believe that God has a name for each of us? Doesn’t our Shepherd call his sheep by name?

I spent the afternoon inking out my fears and regrets. I took a hard look at patterns of behavior I’m not proud of. I confessed many flaws that afternoon,

Gather is much more than a business session. It is a time to worship God together [...]

When disasters happen domestically—whether fire, flooding, or mudslides —Love Mercy Do Justice works with local partners to help communities with short-term relief and long-term recovery. And Merge organizes short-term mission trips through Serve Globally so Covenanters can go and serve.

It took only a few moments for the Notre Dame Cathedral to change the life of Covenant pastor Don Johnson. [...]

“I think practitioners in the field are looking for knowledge that is immediately applicable [...]

Back To Where We Once Belonged How a trip to Colombia became a journey toward understanding identity and God’s true call. by Cheryl Lynn Cain | April 15, 2019

As a first generation Colombian American growing up in the suburbs, I learned at an early age how to adapt in order to fit in. Every day, I would leave my Spanish-speaking home with my very English sounding name and leave the world of empanadas and telenovelas (Spanish soap operas) and entered what I would call white space. That meant if I was in a group of white people, I would tone down my Latina side and push down anything that could be seen as too passionate, emotional, or different. If I found myself in a group of Colombians or people of color, I would abandon learned formalities for a more familial style of relating. For better or worse, who I was often became what I thought would be most accepted in a given situation. Either way, I never really felt fully myself. So last April, when I walked into Church of the Good Shepherd, a Covenant congregation in Joliet, Illinois, I geared up for the familiar moment of deciding which part of myself I could be. I was in my last semester of the MDiv program at North Park Theological Seminary and in the middle of the call process. In fact, I was interviewing for a pastorate out of state with an amazing community.

While serving in Colombia, Richard and Marlys Johnson began a Bible study in the home of Duva and Alvaro, a professional soccer player. Alvaro says he was as surprised as anyone that anything became more important to him than soccer when he gave his life to Christ. He and Duva still host the Bible study 25 years later. From left: Alvaro, Duva, Marlys, Richard, and Cheryl Lynn. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to remain close to home in the Chicago area. I had been active with North Park’s new School of Restorative Arts, which offers a master’s degree in Christian ministry to students incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison outside of Joliet. Home also meant continuing to support and facilitate projects as an advocate for the Love Mercy Do Justice mission priority. And it meant family support for one of our children with acute needs. As part of my discernment process, I was visiting local Covenant churches and upon the suggestion of a friend, I found myself at Good Shepherd that day. The service opened with the chair of the church making a final call for applicants for a position—they were looking for someone to work part-time, preferably bilingual, who could be a bridge between the Spanish- and English-speaking communities in the congregation and the neighborhood. The church was located just five minutes from Stateville. Suffice it to say, the announcement seemed like it was directed just to me. But that wasn’t the most powerful thing that happened to me that morning. When I met Richard and Marlys Johnson, I was reminded of a deeper call, not just to a potential position or ministry, but the call to be fully myself. At 82 years old, Richard was serving as the outreach pastor at Good Shepherd, where he had started an ESL program for anyone in the community who wanted to become more fluent in conversational English. After serving as Covenant missionaries in Latin America for 25 years, he and Marlys retired to the area to be nearer to family. But it was clear they hadn’t retired from loving their neighbor as themselves. That morning I learned that the Johnsons had lived in Medellín, Colombia, my mother’s hometown. And in an amazing coincidence, it turned out that our families had been neighbors almost 40 years earlier. Suddenly, the formal and familial, the reserved and emotional came together as my Catholic, Protestant, Vineyard, evangelical, part-white, part-Latina self and two Swedish American, Spanish-speaking missionaries whose family represents seven generations in the Covenant, embraced. Hearing the name of my mother’s hometown somehow reminded me I didn’t have t...

James Barefoot, associate superintendent of the Alaska Conference, travelled more than 1,500 miles to visit villages.

ANCHORAGE, AK (April 9, 2019) – James Barefoot was traveling about 30 miles per hour on his snowmachine in whiteout conditions across the ocean saltwater ice. He never saw the protruding piece of ice—until his vehicle slammed into it.

“I was thrown to the right of the machine and my helmet hit the ice,” says Barefoot, associate superintendent of the Alaska Conference. He suffered no injuries, but the accident highlights how dangerous his job can be as he visits churches that “are off the road system.”

The incident occurred on a 1,100-mile trip during which he visited six villages—some multiple times—in February and March.

Included in those travels was a trip of nearly 600 miles to deliver Mary Gandee her official call letter, inviting her to serve the Shaktoolik Covenant Church in an Inupiaq village of 260 people.

There were several days he rode 11 hours. “That’s a long day,” he says, laughing. Sometimes he wound up riding through water, so he made sure to pack the letter in an extra-large Ziploc bag so that it wouldn’t get wet.

James Barefoot traveled 600 miles by snowmachine to deliver Mary Gandee's call letter to be pastor of Shaktoolik Covenant Church.

“It was very special to have my call letter delivered in such a unique way,” says Gandee, who previously lived in Wenatchee, Washington. “The distance and endurance of the trip James took reminds me of the call here. His efforts remind me of all the prayerful and faithful people who have served before us in the region and made a way for us to be able to serve here.”

Barefoot had two other near misses. He had to maneuver the bouncing vehicle as it climbed and descended several small, tree-packed mountains. “Considering what we accomplished, ‘Polly’ (the name he gave his Polaris snow machine), and I feel quite fortunate to have only kissed one tree!”

In that incident his helmet hit the tree and saved his head once again. Barefoot noted, “‘Polly’ wears a little duct tape on her glasses (windshield) now, but we did break trail to Hot Springs!”

Then there was the third “very minor” event. “I was thrown to the left, and my left foot caught in the stirrup of the machine causing my leg to twist like a pretzel. I was actually surprised my leg did not break.”Barefoot says his accidents were no big deal. “Minor wrecks—such as being thrown from the machine— are common. You usually just land in soft snow. Riding a snowmachine between villages in Alaska is very rough riding, much like riding a dirt bike in the Lower 48.Although he says he is sore for days after returning home, a side benefit of these trips is that they keep him in good physical shape. “Getting a 600-pound machine unstuck in five feet of snow is a tremendous workout,” he says.

Barefoot says the travel is important as he meets to encourage and discuss business with church leaders in the Alaska bush, where some churches don’t have pastors. When he visits those congregations, he often preaches and serves communion.

On his most recent—and last trip—of the season, it rained for 150 of the 175 miles he traveled. “Very miserable!” he says.

Still, for much of the time, “It’s incredibly beautiful out there,” Barefoot says.

Barefoot has never been stranded in the wild, but he has had to change drive belts and spark plugs. If he ever were to encounter trouble, others would know about it quickly. A beacon sends a signal every 10 minutes and plots a point on Google Maps. The equipment can also enable him to send a text that he is OK.Climate change has reduced the number of months he is able to travel. He used to be able to start in December and ride into April. For the past five years, warmer weather has lengthened the routes he must take. He has been unable to travel over the Bering Sea between the Yukon area and Unalakleet because the ice was too thin. “In some places, the ice is completely gone,

The Stranger in the Woods left me with questions and connections that made this random purchase in an airport bookstore worth it. So take it from this stranger—this extraordinary book can speak to your life. And remember, the ways of God are often strange.

Alene S. Hunt, widow of Covenant pastor R. Stanley Hunt [...]

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them.

Retired Covenant pastor Russell “Russ” Carlson died Thursday, April 4, at the age of 63.

MAPLEWOOD, MN (April 5, 2019) – Former Covenant minister George Wold died Tuesday, March 26, at the age of 98.

George was born September 26, 1920, in Trail, Minnesota, to Benhard and Palma Wold. He graduated from Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He was ordained by the Covenant Church in 1957.

George married Ruth Ulring on July 12, 1944.

He served a three-point parish in Bigfork and Effie, Minnesota. He served as pastor of the Covenant Church in International Falls, Minnesota, starting in 1945, and served that

congregation for 29 years, until 1974. He subsequently took a pastorate with the Free church in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, where he ministered for 20 years. He then served two interims before becoming pastor to seniors at First Evangelical Free Church in Maplewood, where he ministered until he turned 95.

George and Ruth were residents of Covenant Village of Golden Valley, Minnesota.

Survivors include a daughter, Joyce Elkjer; a son, Mark Wold (Marilyn); five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by Ruth and a son, Daniel.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 6, 2019, at First Evangelical Free Church in Maplewood. Visitation is one hour prior to the service.

The next Embrace webinar, “Is the Gospel Good News for Gay People?” will be a conversation with Laurie Krieg from noon to 1 p.m. (Central) on Thursday, April 10.

The deadline for receiving nominations for the Theodore (T.W.) Anderson Award is Tuesday, April 30.

If all we hope for after we die is to live as disembodied souls floating in the clouds as part of a heavenly choir, I’m just not interested. I love pizza way too much to ever believe in that kind of eternal destiny. I love apple crisp way too much to even entertain the idea that heaven would deprive me of what is so wonderful and pleasurable about being an embodied person. I’m holding out for a resurrected body with taste buds intact.

Do you have a line of poetry that sticks with you? The Companion wants to know—What’s your favorite phrase from a poem or song lyric?

A familiar social media ritual happens in my Facebook feed every day. Someone will post a clickbait headline designed to shock, surprise, or inflame. Then people post their reactions. Many times those reactions, instead of being written comments or emojis, are animated GIFs. These GIFs are three-to-six-second-long bits of looping footage, often from popular movies or TV shows, meant to convey a specific emotion or idea in a vivid, condensed shorthand. Every time I witness James Harden tilting his head, Viola Davis grabbing her purse, or Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson clapping at an award show, I’m seeing my friends’ emotions amplified through an appropriated image. And just as often, I do the same in return. One of my favorite GIFs features the goateed actor Hassan Johnson with jaw agape as the camera dramatically pans to the left. I use this one a lot, sometimes even sarcastically, to feign shock. It’s funny. His face is all, “Whoa…what? Are you serious?” (You’ll likely see it under a GIF search for “wow.”) On a whim, I decided to look up its source. I knew the character was Roland “Wee-Bey” Brice from HBO’s The Wire, but I couldn’t remember the scene or why Bey was so surprised. As it turns out, it’s from season one where Wee-Bey and Stringer Bell are talking about some gang activity. Right before the moment of surprise, Bell (Idris Elba) informs Wee-Bey that the woman Bey and his partner had shot was an undercover cop, and because she had survived, she was likely to testify.

Now the Wee-Bey GIF seems much less appropriate to show my surprise over whether I’ve been playing Monopoly correctly.

Whoa indeed. What I had always seen as a lighthearted moment of mock surprise was, in its original context, a chilling moment of reckoning. Now that I know that, the Wee-Bey GIF seems much less appropriate to show my surprise over trivial matters like whether I’ve been playing Monopoly correctly. Seeing the image in its context has changed its meaning for me. As I reflect on biblical literacy in American culture, I think a lot of evangelicals use Bible verses in the same way my Facebook friends and I use GIFs. That is, we may get the general idea of the verse, but when it’s divorced from its original context, we lose some of its potency. For example, plenty of high-profile Christians love to quote Philippians 4:13. NBA sharpshooter and affable role model Steph Curry has even been known to write the words “I can do all things” on his sneakers, as an homage to that verse. But here’s the thing. When Paul wrote those words, he wasn’t talking about an athletic competition or any similar lofty goal. He was talking about money. Specifically, he was thanking the church in Philippi for supporting him financially, because he’d had times when he had to make do without such support. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (vv. 12-13, NIV). Curry isn’t wrong exactly—Christ does give him the strength to be an amazing basketball player—but the way he uses that verse indicates he doesn’t totally get what Paul is saying. If we want to inspire biblical literacy in our congregations, we must help people understand the Bible, not simply as a source of sound doctrine but as a tapestry containing an epic story. Because if you like a good story, then you won’t be satisfied with just a small snapshot—you’ll want to know how that part ties into the larger whole. And in this case, the whole is not just a story, but a person—the God of the universe who became flesh, dwelled on the earth, was brutally murdered, and yet somehow lived to tell about it. If we want to know this God better, we can’t be satisfied with learning his story in tiny, bite-sized pieces.

Merge, a ministry of Serve Globally, will help coordinate teams of Covenanters who want to help repair and reconstruct homes damaged by the historic flooding that has ravaged much of the upper Midwest, said Dale Lusk, director of global engagement.

CHICAGO, IL (March 29, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Woman’s Viral Thread Perfectly Breaks Down How Grieving Feels over Time When Lauren Herschel posted a series of illustrations on grief on Twitter two years ago, they went viral. The thread continues to draw comments and shares. Herschel got the idea from her physician when he offered an explanation on why grief can suddenly surprise us.

From the article: “Attempting to explain grief, and the ways mourning comes and goes at will, can be incredibly difficult. How do you sum up a sadness that is constantly shifting and often out of grasp? Death and loss, while normal, still don’t settle into our brains lightly, so it makes sense that we’re sent into a jolt of non-linear emotional grappling.” Lifeway to Close All 170 Christian Stores The nation’s largest Christian retail chain said its brick-and-mortar stores could no longer compete with Amazon and other bookstores. The chain, run by the Southern Baptist Convention, has occasionally made news for its content standards and refusal to sell books by such authors as Rachel Held Evans, Jen Hatmaker, and Mark Driscoll.

From the article: “But the trend away from brick-and-mortar shopping only grew worse. LifeWay hadn’t had sales exceed its operating expenses in more than a decade, Baptist Press reported, and the margin between the two grew from $2.3 million in 2010 to $35.5 million in 2017.” How Amazon’s Algorithms Curated a Dystopian Bookstore Amazon has played a role in destroying brick-and-mortar stores such as LifeWay’s, but this article contends that it also has enabled fringe groups to spread dangerous ideas.

From the article: “Once relegated to tabloids and web forums, health misinformation and conspiracies have found a new megaphone in the curation engines that power massive platforms like Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Search, trending, and recommendation algorithms can be gamed to make fringe ideas appear mainstream.” Can a Good Meal Bring People Back to Church? Some churches are going beyond potlucks to attract people to events where serious theology is discussed and community is enriched around the table.

From the article: “Small group discussions over home-cooked meals or theology nights at local bars break down barriers and adjust people's expectations for worship, said the Rev. Meredith Mills, who leads a ministry called Gastrochurch in Houston, Texas, which organizes monthly dinners around religious and spiritual themes.”

Physicist Marcelo Gleiser: “Science Does Not Kill God” Brazilian physicist and cosmologist Marcelo Gleiser was awarded the prestigious 2019 Templeton Prize, which seeks to bridge the humanities and sciences. Gleiser, an agnostic, says atheism is inconsistent with the scientific method because it is “belief in nonbelief.” He also says people with religious belief have nothing to fear from science. The award comes with a $1.4 million grant.

From the article: “The physicist focuses on making complex subjects accessible. He has written on climate change, Einstein, hurricanes, black holes, the human conscience—tracing the links between the sciences and the humanities, including philosophy….Gleiser has also explored in depth how science and religion both try to respond to questions on the origins of life and the universe. ‘The first thing you see in the Bible is a story of creation,’ he said. Whatever your religion, ‘everybody wants to know how the world came to be.’”

A church planter returns to his roots in West Virginia.

Conde-Frazier currently serves as the Coordinator of Relations for Theological Entities [...]

PRINCETON, MN (March 26, 2019) – A memorial service for Dorothea Berggren, widow of pastor Willard L. Berggren, was conducted at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, at the Karmel Covenant Church.

Dorothea died Monday, March 18, at the age of 87.

She was born December 4, 1931. She married Willard on August 16, 1952.

The couple served South Park Covenant Church in Rockford, Illinois; Mt. Washington Covenant Church in Jonesville, Virginia; Community Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Elim Covenant Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. After retiring, Willard served interim pastorates in Princeton and Harris, Minnesota.

Dorothea also worked in the University of Minnesota Department of Family Social Science before retiring in 1997.

Survivors include three daughters, Carol Holm, Barbara Rose-Brown, Virginia Kennedy; a son, Lowell Berggren; 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Flooding in Hornick, Iowa. (Photo by Rich Moore)

SLOAN, IA (March 22, 2019) – This is how small towns are.

Sloan is seven miles from Hornick, which completely flooded on Thursday, March 14, after a levee north of the community was breached due to the heavy rain and melting snow. All 150 homes in Hornick were damaged, as well as all of the businesses along Main Street, where waters rose as high as three feet. The entire town was evacuated.

Sloan officials posted a Facebook message on Saturday encouraging their 1,000 residents to donate supplies for Hornick. “Let’s HELP out our neighboring community of HORNICK. We will be collecting items to help with clean up. Drop items off at Chris Mitchell’s shop….There will be an enclosed trailer. Put the donated items in the trailer and write your name and items donated on the notebook inside the trailer.”

Officials hoped to have the truck filled by the following Tuesday. By Sunday, it had been filled five times, said Rich Moore, pastor of Sloan Covenant Church.

One resident walking by a farm supply store noticed they were having a closeout sale on steel-bladed snow shovels. He went inside and inquired how many the store had in stock.

When he heard a full pallet was available, the customer said, “I’ll take all of them,” Moore said. “He loaded them in his truck and took them to Hornick. The steel blades were great for shoveling mud.”

Residents of other small towns have called Moore, asking if they could stay at the church so they can help in Hornick.

“Absolutely,” he tells them.

CHICAGO, IL (March 22, 2019) – The Evangelical Covenant Church has established two separate funds to help people respond to the flooding disasters in the Midwest and Mozambique. Local congregations in the Midwest also have been providing assistance in their areas, including places that still are difficult to travel.

Love Mercy Do Justice has set up the Midwest Flood Response Fund. Covenant World Relief donations can be designated through the CWR Emergency Response Fund.

The “bomb cyclone” caused catastrophic flooding across the Midwest, resulting in casualties and severe damage in Nebraska and Iowa. Historic flooding continues across parts of the Mississippi and Missouri river basins, and flooding remains a threat across parts of the Northwest and Northern Plains.

The Mead (Nebraska) Covenant Church is working with the Saunders County emergency response team. The congregation has committed $5,000 of ministry funds to help purchase equipment that will aid with cleanup, said pastor John Schnell. They also plan to provide long-term cleanup and rebuilding assistance to several families.

A motorist on his way from Colorado to Iowa who was stranded was invited to stay at Salem Covenant Church in Oakland, Nebraska, for two nights. He was unable to travel in either direction because two bridges had been wiped out.

The Sloan (Iowa) Covenant Church is working with the Iowa Disaster Relief coordinator of the United Methodist church to provide assistance in nearby Hornick. A levee north of the community broke last Thursday, and all 150 homes as well as local businesses in the area were damaged, some by water that reached as high as three feet. Pastor Rich Moore said the church will host a cleanup crew this weekend and may host others in the coming weeks and months.

Several churches already have begun raising funds. Faith Covenant in Essex, Iowa, is providing bottled water and food from its pantry to people in need of immediate assistance.

Travel remains difficult in many areas. Joel Wentworth, pastor of Rosedale Covenant Church in Bristow, Nebraska, serves two area congregations. Because bridges have been wiped out, he now must travel 120 miles from one location to the other.

“We are grateful for those who have responded seeking to help the victims of this historic flooding,” said Tammy Swanson-Draheim, Midwest Conference superintendent. “We invite all Covenanters to partner with us in demonstrating Christ’s love through bringing relief to suffering in the most vulnerable of communities across Iowa and Nebraska. I am grateful for the way Covenanters band together to come alongside brothers and sisters in times of crisis. Know that your generosity and prayers are greatly appreciated.”

Across the world, Cyclone Idai wiped out 90 percent of Beira, a city of more than 500,000 people, on March 14. News reports today quote residents as saying they had seen 300 to 400 bodies along the road outside of the city.

About 85 percent of the denomination’s 176 churches in Mozambique suffered some level of damage, said Covenant missionary Alex Viana, who is in the United States but hopes to return to the nation next week.

Shattering False Redemption Sharing the Hard Stories of Our History by Leeann Younger | March 21, 2019

This year our church plant will celebrate our ninth Easter Sunday together. (Can we can still be called a church plant?) Every year we conclude our Easter worship celebration with a feast. It’s one of my favorite days at Cityview Church, a reflection of who we are as family united in Jesus. We come from different neighborhoods with different stories, but there’s always room for one more person at the table. As I move through Lent, I’ve been captivated by an Easter Sunday story that seems worlds away from the joyous celebration I am anticipating with my church family. Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about it. In 1873, white men in Colfax, Louisiana, concluded their Easter Sunday observation by massacring approximately 100 African American men. They fired a cannon into a local courthouse intending to kill the black men guarding the place where laws protecting their newfound freedom were being passed. The black men who escaped the cannon blast were captured, marched to a nearby cotton field, and executed. This event, referred to by townspeople as the Colfax Riot, launched similar acts of violence in other towns. Each uprising had the same purpose: to reassert the power and authority of white southerners over former slaves. The men called themselves “Redeemers.” They called their movement “Redemption.” And their actions paved the way for the Jim Crow and lynching eras in American history. The first time I heard this story I was baffled. I couldn’t imagine churchgoing men celebrating the Resurrection with their families, knowing that they would soon be agents of death and destruction. These men chose the theologically powerful word “redemption” to describe what must have felt like a God-given mission. They wanted their old order of life back. They rejected the prospect of living alongside black people as equals.

There is a redeemer who is able to set us free from the many faux “redeemers” in our lives. Our work is to tell the hard stories of our history so that we can understand the true depth of our captivity.

Prior to the end of slavery, the daily lives of these men and their families reinforced the idea that black men and women were created by God to be subservient. As a result, they could only see the social and legal changes that followed Emancipation as evil, as a perversion of God’s plan. This preference to keep black people subservient was also reinforced in worship. Consider this slave catechism, published in Frederick Douglass’s newspaper in 1854. Q. Who gave you a master and a mistress? A. God gave them to me. Q. Who says that you must obey them? A. God says that I must. Q. What book tells you these things? A. The Bible. The catechism was an especially effective spiritual training tool because most slaves couldn’t read. It depicts a world that the “redeemers” fought to get back. It is hard for me to imagine men and women of God training slaves to learn and live by such an obvious lie. Their imaginations were held captive by a false gospel—a gospel that sanctioned one group of God’s image bearers to have dominion over others who bore the same image of God, only in darker skin. It might be difficult to believe, but the church gave its stamp of approval to the doctrine of white supremacy by training families to accept this worldview as God’s design. I thank God that slave catechisms, lynchings, and Jim Crow are things of the past. Even so, we who call ourselves God’s people for the most part remain divided by race, both in church and at home in our neighborhoods. We must remember that some of our brothers and sisters in church with us today are the grandchildren of those who lived with the terror of being snatched from the street and strung up like cattle. Some of us are the grandchildren of those who brought picnic lunches to the town square to watch this happen. All of this history shows up in the pews when we s...

The church where Melanie Center children and staff sheltered from Cyclone Idai suffered the loss of a few shingles.

BEIRA, MOZAMBIQUE (March 19, 2019) – Children and staff at the Melanie Center, a ministry of the Covenant Church of Mozambique, are safe, and the local church where they sought shelter sustained only minor damage when Cyclone Idai ripped through the area, destroying 90 percent of the city.

“The church continues to provide shelter for church and community members,” said Alex Viana, Covenant missionary to Mozambique. He is scheduled to return to the country on Monday.

The structure is the denomination’s newest building and was built with rebar/steel reinforced walls and a steel-framed roof rather than the traditional wood-framed roof, Viana explained. Most structures here are not reinforced with rebar.

About 85 percent of the denomination’s 176 churches suffered some level of damage, Viana said.

The home of a staff member located 90 feet away was destroyed.

Idai battered Beira last Thursday night as nearly a Category 3 storm. According to recent news coverage, “The Red Cross said 90 percent of Beira was damaged or destroyed. The cyclone knocked out electricity, shut down the airport and cut off access to the city by road.”

Doctors Without Borders reported that "medical activities in Beira hospital, in local health centers, and throughout the community have ceased completely."

Although only 84 deaths have been officially confirmed, President Filipe Nyusi said after flying over the area that, “everything indicates that we could register more than 1,000 deaths.”

The storm killed at least 56 people in Malawi before it struck Mozambique. It is wreaking havoc in Zimbabwe, where flash floods have killed at least 100 people and hundreds more are missing, according to the government.

In parts of the country, helicopters were rescuing people from their rooftops.

The denomination and Melanie Center are featured in the current issue of the Companion.

Covenant World Relief is now collecting donations for upcoming relief efforts. CWR will be partnering with trusted organizations and local partners on the ground who are collaborating in the larger response. They will provide updates as more information is available. To donate to Mozambique relief efforts, visit the CWR Disaster Response online giving page and note “Mozambique” in the honor/memorial box.

Record flooding that has ravaged much of the Upper Midwest turned [...]

MADISON, WI (March 18, 2019) — The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals declared the clergy housing allowance constitutional, overturning a lower court’s decision on Friday.

Under the law, a “minister of the gospel” doesn’t pay income taxes on compensation that is designated part of a housing allowance. In 2017, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) sued the government, arguing that the law discriminates against secular employees. “Minister of the gospel” has been understood to mean any clergy.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb had ruled in FRFF’s favor, agreeing that the housing allowance violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

The panel of three judges, however, said the law was constitutional based on a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which stated that for the statute to be legal, “it has a clearly secular purpose; has a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and does not foster an excessive entanglement between church and state.”

The court ruled Friday that the clergy housing allowance does not sponsor religion but keeps the government from forcing the church to support the state and does not compel the church to promote religion on behalf of the state.

Circuit judge Michael Brennan wrote in the opinion that, “FFRF claims Section 107(2) renders unto God that which is Caesar’s. But this tax provision falls into the play between the joints of the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause: neither commanded by the former, nor proscribed by the latter.”

The FFRF is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the group said it has not yet made a decision.

It is the second time the Seventh District has overruled Crabb on the issue. In 2013, she agreed with the FFRF when it attempted to have the clergy housing allowance declared unconstitutional, but the three-judge panel overturned her decision the following year.

Religious organizations have contended that eliminating the housing allowance would make it impossible for many houses of worship to afford clergy.

Brown’s research on leadership reads like a series of stories from a friend. Her witty insights and personal failures invite us as readers to consider our own stories, the ways we have led with courage and vulnerability, and the new paths we must take forward. This book has challenges and encouragement for anyone who desires to lead with their whole self, in or out of the workplace.

CHICAGO, IL (March 15, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Captain Marvel and the Rise of Women Warriors Greg Morse wrote on the Desiring God website that the latest film incarnation of Captain Marvel is another example of evil feminism threating the planet. He wrote, “Am I nitpicking? It is a movie after all. I wish it were. Instead of engaging the movie’s ideology as mere fiction, a fun escape to another world, we have allowed it to bear deadly fruit on earth. Along with Disney, we abandon the traditional princess vibe, and seek to empower little girls everywhere to be strong like men. Cinderella trades her glass slipper for combat boots; Belle, her books for a bazooka. Does the insanity bother us anymore?”

Women fought back.

From the article: "Kelly Ladd Bishop responded, 'Morse says himself that the movie is about the heroine finding her ‘identity as a woman.’ He quotes the president of Marvel Studios as saying that she’s a woman who has been held back ‘from being able to pursue the kinds of things she wanted to pursue.’ Things she, a woman, wanted to pursue. It’s about learning to live into her identity and to overcome artificial boundaries placed on her simply because of her sex. She isn’t trying to be the same as men; she’s trying to be herself!'" The 1970s Movement to Reclaim Pretzels for God Although you wouldn’t guess it from the title, this actually is a Lenten story.

From the article: “Since pretzels are made with a simple recipe of flour, water and salt, European Christians in the Middle Ages ate them during the 40-day fast period of Lent when eggs and dairy were forbidden….During this period, the pretzel also began showing up in medieval religious art and prayer books, including an 11th-century depiction of the Last Supper.” In the 1559 painting The Fight Between Carnival and Lent, the figure representing Lent haa bread and pretzels on his cart. Hilarious, Illogical Toddler Meltdowns These are great fun, but perhaps they’re also a way to consider our own meltdowns over things that are absurd, if not imaginary.

From the article: "My toddler lost it because the imaginary door on his imaginary fire truck wouldn’t open, and he was stuck inside."

"My daughter lost it because she wanted a twin sister (she has a twin sister)."

"Our 1.5-year-old son had a meltdown because I wouldn't let him pour his apple juice on the cat." Couples Who Play Board Games Release ‘Love Hormones’ This falls in the category of, “People really study this?”

From the article: “I’ll be the first to admit that when I’ve played games with my significant other, particularly competitive and confrontational games like miniature wargames, sometimes the games we play end up being rather heated. But it turns out that while we were having a lengthy discussion about how different rules interacted or if the last move we made was legal, we were also strengthening our relationship through the release of a ‘love hormone,’ at least according to the findings of a recently published Baylor study.”

Waffle House Vistas In this photo essay, photographer and writer Michael Cash hopes to show that a lot more is happening at this icon of the South than cheap food. According to him, it actually is a place to reflect and consider both the beauty and inequities of life. It sounds sort of like church with a waffle breakfast every Sunday.

From the article: “At its best, Waffle House creates a sense of belonging unlike most other places. Waffle House does not care how much you are worth, what you look like, where you are from, what your political beliefs are, or where you've been so long as you respect the unwritten rules of Waffle House: Be kind, be respectful,

Former Covenant missionary to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Jean (LeVahn) Larson died Sunday, March 10. She was 91.

The painful passage of a family fleeing persecution and the power of Covenant voices

Staff and children who live at the Melanie Center, a ministry featured in the current issue of the Companion, are finding shelter at a local Covenant Church of Mozambique building as Cyclone Idai batters the area.

It is perhaps commonplace to think of life as a blur. Lent asks us to slow down, to pay attention.

Pastor Carol Shimmin Nordstrom writes in her February devotional of the Covenant Home Altar about overhearing staff at a coffee shop talking about what they were waiting for—finishing college, the season opener for a college sports team, etc. She was surprised when a customer added that he was waiting for God to take him home to heaven.

The Companion wants to hear how readers would answer this question. A new job, a family wedding, a child to return home, a diagnosis, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation? What are you waiting for?

Send your responses to editors@covchurch.org, or post your comments here.

Practicing the Easter journey

The Big Q How do you engage with the season of Lent? March 8, 2019

I try to give up attitudes and behaviors I think God wants me to give up: anxiety, demeaning thoughts about others, materialism, short snide answers, and frustration when people or situations don’t go as I’d planned. It’s head and heart work—which I find much more difficult than giving up chocolate. Vicki Marxen Oshkosh, Wisconsin

One year I fasted from speeding, even a little, while driving. It was a really good way to confront why I think those signs don’t apply to me. Susan Gillespie Chatham, New Jersey

I did a social media fast one year. I found that I was much more relaxed and happy. Jamie Danesi

A few years ago, after enduring some extremely painful moments in life and ministry, I decided to ignore Lent. Not pastorally—our church still observes the season—but personally. I think life offers enough opportunity for pain and sacrifice. We live on this side of Easter. Too often, observing Lent feels like trying to get back onto the other side of the cross, focusing on who we were before Christ’s atoning work. Observing Lent, we can easily slip back into moralizing, attempting to create feelings of guilt, and works righteousness. I’d rather just celebrate the hope of resurrection and all it calls us to—year-round. Dan Whitmarsh Lakebay, Washington

I have fasted one (sometimes two) days a week during Lent, using the “hungry” feeling as a cue to prayer. That was beneficial to my spiritual growth for several years. One year, I interpreted “give it up for Lent” as an encouragement for applause—raising a cause to rejoice each day. Last year, I expanded that idea, adding a spiritual practice to my devotional time each day by following the services of morning and evening prayer (there are several websites offering this, such as methodistprayer.org). I think it also helps to remember that in many Christian traditions, it is a season for catechesis—preparing for baptism or confirmation. Renewing our baptismal vows can be a valuable way to celebrate Lent. Jo Anne Taylor New Ulm, Minnesota

For the last few years I’ve given up email spam for Lent. I unfollow, unsubscribe, report junk—whatever it takes to get all the unbidden commercial junk out of my inbox. The practice of intentionally reducing the noise in my inbox has been incredibly beneficial to my productivity and my peace of mind. It’s amazing how quickly it builds up after one year of doing life. Chris Logan Berlin, Connecticut

For the last ten years or so, I’ve entered into the same discipline for the season of Lent: I don’t turn on music in my car. It’s not that I think music is bad. On the contrary, I think it’s one of the best things in life! That’s how I figured out what might be particularly good for me to sacrifice for a season. On top of that, I’m not very good at silence. So turning off the music turns on a quiet space for listening. And then once a week, I pump the jams on Sundays (the feast days). Loudly. Christy Bouris Chicago, Illinois

I volunteered at my son’s third grade school Valentine’s Day party. On the ride home, he asked his friend why he wasn’t eating any of his candy. His friend explained he gave it up for Lent, that Catholics have to suffer in Lent to remember that Jesus suffered. My son sighed and said, “I’m glad we are Covenant. That’s a religion where you can eat anything you want.” Joan Palmquist Wolford

On Ash Wednesday, our church asks people to pray about what they feel led to either add or subtract as a Lenten spiritual discipline. Peyton Johnson Plantation, Florida

I think the point of Lent is to give us extra time to focus on Christ. So instead of watching TV for hours, you spend that time reading your Bible and praying. But we shouldn’t need a special time of year to do that. We should always be seeking after Christ and giving up things that pull us away from him. I think giving up certain food is missing the whole point. Josiah King Shawnee, Kansas

The COV Sparks downloadable discussion guide is now available for the March/April issue of The Covenant Companion. Based on articles from the current issue of the magazine, COV Sparks provides stimulating questions for Sunday-school classes, small-group discussions, and personal reflection.

When faced with the desperation of hurting children in Mozambique, two couples took action. Whole communities have changed.

The next Embrace webinar, “Race, Sexuality, and Intersectionality,” will be a conversation with Branden S. Polk, CEO and founder of Arrowhead Advising, LLC.

CHICAGO, IL (March 1, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. World’s Biggest Bee Found Alive

Most people probably would use different words than “incredible” and “breathtaking” if a “flying bull dog” with “giant wings” flew past them, but if you’re a scientist who thinks the creature is extinct, it’s a whole different story. What sounds like an apocalyptic nightmare might actually be a small sign of hope.

From the article: “‘It was absolutely breathtaking to see this ‘flying bulldog’ of an insect that we weren't sure existed anymore, to have real proof right there in front of us in the wild,’ said natural history photographer, Clay Bolt, who took the first photos and video of the species alive. ‘To actually see how beautiful and big the species is in life, to hear the sound of its giant wings thrumming as it flew past my head, was just incredible.’” An Italian Town Fell Silent so the Sounds of a Stradivarius Could Be Preserved The chief conservator at the Violin Museum in Cremona, Italy, feared that the sounds of some of its most prized instruments not be available for posterity. So the museum set about recording the instruments to preserve the music for future generations. That meant recording every possible note that can be played on each instrument. They brought in world-class musicians to help achieve the technological and performance feat, but the willingness of local residents to stay quiet was also essential.

From the article: “A rumble passes as a woman drags a suitcase across cobblestones. Then, the hiss of a street-sweeper machine. It's what you'd expect in a city of 70,000 people, with a bustling open-air market and a population of typically boisterous Italians. If they're close enough to the concert hall, the noise they make is audible to the 32 hyper-sensitive microphones during recording—and potentially disastrous.”

Why Are So Few Male Students Studying Abroad? College officials who believe in the importance of students having international experiences are trying to figure out how to get more men to study abroad. Only a third of the more than 300,000 college students who studied overseas in 2016-17 were male. When men do study abroad, they tend to go to different places, for different reasons, and at different points in their academic careers than their female counterparts. As school officials try new approaches, there could be lessons for churches in how they approach ministry with young adults.

From the article: “Samantha Brandauer, who runs Dickinson College’s study-abroad office, told me she has experienced this first hand. In her past job at Gettysburg College, she teamed up with a colleague to convene student focus groups on why men didn’t go abroad and what the college could do about it. What she discovered was a ‘bro mentality’ among men in college—a culture where male students don’t want to leave their friends to study abroad and are heavily influenced by their classmates in making choices about what to do in college. ‘Part of this is a messaging problem because the way we talk about study abroad as a transformative experience just doesn’t resonate with college-age men,’ Brandauer says. ‘They don’t want to be transformed.’” Food Mysteries Solved Life is filled with deep, philosophical questions. The questions addressed in this article are not among them. But you may have wondered about at least some of these things. For example, how did that staple of the church potluck—deviled eggs—get its name?

From the article: “To get to the bottom of this, you have to start at the beginning. Which came first: the devil or the egg? The devil, actually. In the late 18th century, to ‘devil’ a food meant to cook it with a spicy seasoning or ov...

A memorial service for Nancy (Selin) Ramgren, wife [...]

Services are pending for Gertrude “Gert” (Franklin) Fondell, who served as a missionary to Alaska, where her ministry included a daily radio program on KICY radio. She died February 14 at the age of 92.

A new $950,000 grant awarded to Swedish Covenant Hospital will enable the health care provider to expand a program that has been successful in helping staff to recognize undetected signs that someone has been a victim of domestic violence, sexual abuse, or human trafficking.

CHICAGO, IL (February 22, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Remembering Why Curiosity Should Be Boundless This article brings to mind the words of Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel in his book Who Is Man? “Knowledge is fostered by curiosity; wisdom is fostered by awe. Awe precedes faith; it is the root of faith. We must be guided by awe to be worthy of faith. Forfeit your sense of awe, let your conceit diminish your ability to revere, and the world becomes a market place for you.…A return to reverence is the first prerequisite for a revival of wisdom, for the discovery of the world as an allusion to God.”

From the article: “Dropping food dye in milk isn’t just about watching something cool; it’s about standing there and letting something completely unexpected happen. The first astronauts walking on the moon were taking the same adventure as toddlers bounding into the snow for the first time.” As Families Arrive En Masse, Border Agents Offer Snacks, Medical Checks Covenanters who work in border areas say it is important that these stories be told.

From the article: “I don’t know any agent worth their salt that hasn’t...gone home at the end of the day, sat down on the couch, didn’t turn on the lights, didn’t turn on the TV, but just sat there and thought about the day,” Border Patrol Agent Jacob Stukenberg said during the tour of the Tucson sector. Today, we are adding a sixth link: A reporter for the Deseret News writes in “Churches, ICE Coordinate Humanitarian Assistance” that ICE is working with some churches to provide assistance.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said the churches play an important role. “Where there's not enough resources or enough people or enough volunteers or enough government employees to help, it’s always been the faith-based community that typically not only provides backup but actually demonstrates leadership,” he said. “It has been these sanctuaries where people can find shelter and food assistance to follow the gospel message of Matthew 25 to help the least of us.” Alexa Responds to Minister’s Sermon: Orders Toilet Paper You might think this story is from a satirical site, but sometimes truth is even better than fiction.

From the article: “Brookman, a minister for Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, was delivering a Sunday message from 1 Corinthians 12 when his sermon illustration nearly resulted in the purchase of $28 worth of toilet paper.” The Dodgy, Vulnerable Fame of YouTube’s Child ASMR Stars Millions of people are watching videos of young children whisper, make tapping sounds, or chew so that the viewer can experience ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), a “low-grade euphoric” tingling that can go down the scalp, neck, and upper back due to certain sounds. It also can be an experience of deep relaxation. There are many types of triggers, which can include sound of rain, or crumpling paper but also listening to someone speak in a soothing voice. Bob Ross, the soft-spoken painter who had a show on PBS, has been called an “inadvertent pioneer” of ASMR because at least some viewers would experience it while watching the episodes. Many people in the “ASMR community” are quick to say it is non-sexual, but porn sites have been adding videos, and the desire to listen to young girls make the sounds raises serious questions of objectification.

From the article: “On June 3, 2018, Makenna Kelly, a 13-year old from Fort Collins, Colorado, uploaded the video that propelled her to internet stardom. Entitled ‘Eating Raw Honeycomb – EXTREMELY Sticky Mouth Sounds’, it featured the teen chewing fistfuls of pure honeycomb directly in front of a microphone for 16 minutes. In the following months,

Gustafson (center) and her Hawkeye teammates celebrate their win over Maryland. Photo: University of Iowa Women’s Basketball

IOWA CITY, IA (February 21, 2019) – When Megan Gustafson led the Iowa Hawkeyes to an 86-73 come-from-behind victory over the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins on Sunday night, she demonstrated once again why she is one of the best basketball players in the nation.

The 6’ 3” senior poured in 31 points, pulled down 17 rebounds, and blocked five shots. In other words, it was an average night.

Gustafson, whose family attends Mission Covenant Church in Poplar, Wisconsin, leads all NCAA divisions in scoring with 27.4 points per game. She also is the most accurate shooter in Division 1 this season, scoring on 70.2 of her attempts from the field.

She continues to set records. Already she is the school’s all-time points leader with 2,516 points and is set to surpass the school record for scoring. She set the current record last year with 823 and has 713 this year with three games still to play.

But she does more than shoot. She is fourth in rebounds this season, averaging 13.1 per game and has 24 double-doubles. Her 1,320 career rebounds also are a school record.

Gustafson also has won the Big-Ten Player of the Week 20 times, including ten this season, both new conference records. She was named Big Ten Player of the Year last season.

In a Companion story last March, Gustafson, who has participated in several ministries including Athletes in Action, said her faith has helped her keep her accomplishments in perspective. “I don’t play for myself,” she said. “I’m playing for someone bigger than myself: God, my teammates, my family, and coaches, so that definitely helps keep me grounded.”

Saturday’s victory moves the No. 8 Hawkeyes into a tie atop the Big Ten (21-5, 12-3) and will almost certainly move them up in the national standings.

All funerals and memorial services are hard in their own way. Loved ones cry, friends struggle to speak suitable words, and family members hold up the best they can under the weight of sorrow. Every funeral hurts. —But some burn.

Carole Johnson, wife of Covenant minister and president emeritus of Covenant Trust Company LeRoy Johnson, died Sunday, February 17. She was 81.

Retired Covenant pastor Thomas Gene Klasen died Friday, February 15. He was 74.

Instead of the once common practice of holding a funeral service within days of someone’s passing, services are increasingly scheduled weeks and even months after a death, says Gary Kindberg, who attends Zion Covenant Church and is president of Lind Funeral Homes in Jamestown, New York.

The experiences on the recent Journey to Mosaic (J2M) trip were “gut wrenching” and the conversations sometimes difficult, but participants’ desire to learn from one another also instilled hope, they said.

CHICAGO, IL (February 15, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. The 50 Best Sports Movies of All Time Anyone who has ever heard a sports reference during a sermon (and what churchgoer hasn’t?) knows that sport is about more than competition. Some of our largest questions of meaning are part of the games. The authors of this article provide more than a list of movies—they explain the reasons for each of their picks. The list itself invites good-natured debate—for example, do they make the right choice for their top pick? (Answer: Yes. You can argue with that, but you won’t win.)

From the article: “It is strange that sports movies are considered a genre since, all told, they really are just a setting. It’s like saying that ‘desert movies’ are a genre, or ‘ocean movies’ are. The best sports movies are independent of the sport they’re depicting, with universal stories that should appeal to anyone whether they love the sport or not. Though loving the sport does help.” Plummeting Insect Numbers Threaten Collapse of Nature Scientists, activists, and others engage in plenty of discussion about how to talk about issues of climate change. Some stories make the problem seem so overwhelming that people are paralyzed into inaction. That’s why more emphasis is being placed on telling what can be done at a local level to make a difference.

From the article: “Insect population collapses have recently been reported in Germany and Puerto Rico, but the review strongly indicates the crisis is global. The researchers set out their conclusions in unusually forceful terms for a peer-reviewed scientific paper: ‘The trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting life forms on our planet.’” The Quest for the Multigenerational City Austin, Texas, is a city that prides itself on being weird. But, as in many other cities, Austin residents tend to interact only with members of their own generation. This writer set out to disrupt that pattern. The church would do well to heed the lessons she learned.

From the article: “I hadn’t lived in the same city as my parents since I was 22, the same year my last grandparent died. In Tucson, a city of snowbirds, I hadn’t noticed the generational homogeneity in my life—the fact that I wasn’t close to a single person over 60 who I wasn’t related to. But when I got to Austin and wanted to learn more about this city, I decided I needed to spend some time with people who had been here a while.” Abuse of Faith An investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News revealed that since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have been accused of sexual misconduct with at least 700 victims. Meanwhile denominational leaders resisted reforms. (Stories like these are why people should support their local newspapers.)

From the article: “SBC churches and organizations share resources and materials, and together they fund missionary trips and seminaries. Most pastors are ordained locally after they've convinced a small group of church elders that they've been called to service by God. There is no central database that tracks ordinations, or sexual abuse convictions or allegations.”

The Absolute Best Way to Cook Bacon, According to Sooo Many Tests Don’t say we don’t give you practical how-to tips.

From the article: “Ask the person to your left and the person to your right how to cook bacon, and you'll likely get two completely different answers. Type the very same into Google, and the search engine will proffer over 250 million results. From stovetop to oven to microwave, each with its own series of endless sub-permutations, there are about as many ways to cook bacon as there are,

Carol Sands, widow of Covenant pastor Dewey Sands, died Wednesday, February 6. She was 84.

Waheed’s poems give readers permission to sit with their pain and hold themselves gently in it. Readers are given permission to listen to the Spirit and work for their own thriving and the thriving of all in the spaces God has placed them.

The Big Q When did a total stranger go out of their way for you? February 11, 2019

I experienced a flat tire on a lonely country road while working as a county public health nurse. A kind young man stopped and offered to change the tire for me. When I tried to pay him, he responded, “No, just tell your husband to help my wife when he finds her in a similar situation.” I will never forget his random act of kindness. Sandie Anderson Olathe, Kansas

When they adopted me. Jim Condap Swanzey, New Hampshire

When I was a junior in high school, two of my best friends and I set out on an adventure riding our bikes up the North Shore of Lake Superior. The first night it rained so hard that our tent was virtually floating by morning. We could not get a fire started to even think about eating. There was a resort across the highway so, swallowing our pride, we crossed over to ask about a place to eat. The innkeeper said she’d noticed us trying to wring out our wet clothes and told us to bring her our belongings—she’d dry them for us. While we waited, she cooked us a wonderful hot breakfast. We thanked her and headed up the highway. Hours later, the rain was back. Soaking wet, we rode to a police station with the intention of asking to sleep in a cell for the night. Before we could enter the building, a squad car pulled up and when the officer heard our story he took us to an empty house he’d recently purchased but had yet to move into. He told us we were free to sleep in the house and even to use the new mattresses in the back bedroom. He turned on the electricity and heat, gave us the key to the house, and blessed us before he left! Mike DeLong Brookfield, Wisconsin

My wife, Phyllis, is battling Alzheimer’s and I am living with prostate cancer. When we do our grocery shopping, I walk down the aisles holding on to the shopping cart to keep my balance. Phyl walks slowly behind me and looks over all the shelves. I take her hand sometimes just to keep us moving. On one trip there was a bit of a wait in the checkout line. When our turn finally came, Phyl had wandered over to another line, delaying two other shoppers. The clerk had already bagged our groceries, and as I tried to bring Phyl back to our line and pay our bill, a good Samaritan handed over his own credit card and paid for us. I tried to thank my newfound friend, but he was already out the glass doors and into the cold autumn air. Westley Polender Wheaton, Illinois

Several years ago, within the span of about three months, my mother passed away, I lost my job, and we had to move. Our daughter was attending a private school and without my income the cost was way beyond our reach. An anonymous friend donated the full amount of her tuition for that school year. Although I’ve always suspected who it was, I’ve never known for sure. Debbie Kemper Deerfield Beach, Florida

I dropped my phone in an airport, and I didn’t notice until after I’d already boarded my plane. A woman found my phone, saw the flight information on the lock screen, and realized my flight was about to take off. She tracked down my gate (on the other side of the airport!) and literally ran my phone up to the gate attendant, who dashed onto the plane and handed it to me just before the door closed and we took off. It was a small thing, but she went out of her way to save me a huge headache. Rebekah Eklund Baltimore, Maryland

Six of us were out to eat several years ago. We were the last customers in the restaurant and when the waiter came to give us our bill (or so we thought), he said, “We don’t have a ticket for you tonight because someone paid your bill.” Cheryl Ramirez Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

I took my motorcycle out to Yellowstone a few years ago. It was my first time riding through the mountains, and another more experienced rider got on the road right behind me. He could see that I was a little nervous, so he rode behind me and kept the traffic from riding up on me and pushing me to go faster....

CHICAGO, IL (February 9, 2019) – The inauguration of Mary Surridge as president of North Park University will be celebrated with a week of activities February 11-15.

On Monday, students, faculty, and staff, including Surridge, will run a 10K to raise $10,000 for scholarships.

Wednesday will include a special worship service, academic symposium, and the North Park women’s basketball game against Elmhurst college.

An arts showcase will be held Thursday night.

The inauguration ceremony will be at 2 p.m. on Friday in the campus gymnasium. Surridge was called to be school’s tenth president at the Covenant’s Annual Meeting in June 2018.

The academic symposium, women’s basketball game, and Inauguration ceremony will be live streamed at www.northpark.edu/live

CHICAGO, IL (February 8, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

Glory Be & B: Why Tourists Are Paying to Camp Out in Church “Champing,” or camping in churches, is a new and growing travel experience in England. Although the accommodations may not be luxurious—chilly limestone arches and bats literally in the belfry—they do provide a unique atmosphere. I love the headline for this article, and according to the link, another version was called “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bed.”

From the article: “This year, 18 disused churches are inviting the public to sleep on camp beds squeezed between pews or beneath stained-glass windows. Almost 2,000 people champed in 2018; enquiries suggest demand will be even higher this summer. And, although the is responsible only for churches that are no longer used for worship, there is growing interest from functioning churches in champing as a way to raise money for repairs and to open their buildings to the community.” Officers Sing and Dance to Calm Patient with Autism Walker Hughes, a 33-year-old man with autism, was taken to the hospital when he had a strong reaction to his medications that turned violent. Because one of the public safety officers on duty, Sgt. Keith Miller, has a son with autism, they responded in an atypical fashion. Miller has also trained others to listen for clues on how to approach each patient.

From the article: “For two and a half hours, the officers coaxed and cajoled. They danced. They sang children’s songs. They sang James Brown. They harmonized on the ‘Mr. Rogers’ theme song. ‘Walker loved it,’ Ellen says. ‘He was kind of mystified and charmed and started smiling. They were men his size who considered him a real person. It’s scary when people don’t think you’re a real person. You have autism and you can’t talk — but you’re a person. It’s scary to be treated like a lion from the zoo. We’ve been to the doctor and the hospitals a million times and I’ve never seen anything like these guys.’” Three Philosophers Set Up a Booth on a Street Corner It’s not the beginning of a joke. Three philosophers set up an “Ask the philosopher” booth at an entrance to a New York subway station. People of all ages, including a six-year-old girl, stopped to ask deep questions.

From the article: “During the quiet I reflected for a moment on what had just happened. A group of strangers had descended upon us not to make fun, but because they were carrying around some real philosophical baggage that had long gone unanswered. If you’re in a spiritual crisis, you go to your minister or rabbi. If you have psychological concerns, you might seek out a therapist. But what to do if you don’t quite know where you fit into this world and you’re tired of carrying that burden alone?” How Energy Bars Became America’s Favorite Snack Food The exponential growth in brands, sales, and types of “energy bars” has actually changed our culture. One observer has referred to it as “the snackification of the way we eat.” Businesses have had to adapt their marketing as well as the ingredients and flavors. As one expert said, “Clif won out over PowerBar for the same reason that fresh-squeezed orange juice wrecked Tang: consumers wanted a product that looked and tasted more like real food.” Perhaps that’s a word for the church.

From the article: “Next time you find yourself in your favorite natural grocers on the hunt for Peruvian chia seeds and California oat milk, take a detour down the bar aisle and stop to take it all in. Carefully laid out in front of you are upwards of 35 brands and 150 individual products: Clif, Epic, Kind, Larabar, Luna, Picky, ProBar, RX, Tanka, Skout, Soyjoy, Taos Mountain, Zing—perhaps dozens more.

The Character of Virtue Letters to a Godson Stanley Hauerwas Eerdmans, 205 pages

Reviewed by Don Johnson | February 6, 2019

Grandparenthood overwhelmed me and took my heart hostage. From November 2016 until August 2018 I had the unique privilege of spending every Friday night through Saturday afternoon with an alternating set of grandchildren (there are two sets). During that time, I was able to observe the wonder and mystery of their development—from lying on the ground to rolling to crawling to standing and walking. I watched their language form and vocabularies expand. I prayed with them over meals and at bedtime. And I would snuggle with them Saturday mornings while their parents got some much-needed extra sleep. Because their parents invited me in, I was an honored guest observing emerging personalities. I confess that I am a much better grandparent than parent. When my children were young, I was so busy at the church and at home there was always a list of things that needed to get done. I felt like I was pushing kids through tasks and cleaning up messes. Not so as a grandparent. I make messes with them. When we return from the beach or park, we are always messier than when we left. So it is with the eyes and heart of a grandfather that I read Stanley Hauerwas’s book The Character of Virtue: Letters to a Godson. The compelling beginning is from the author’s friend Samuel Wells who asked Hauerwas not only to be the godparent of his son Laurie but also to write his son one letter per year on a Christian virtue. Hauerwas is an American from Texas who is writing to Laurie, who is English. Every chapter begins with the anniversary date of Laurie’s baptism and the year. The book is composed of fourteen chapters on virtues: kindness, truthfulness, friendship, patience, hope, justice, courage, joy, simplicity, constancy, humility (and humor), temperance, generosity, and faith. The closing chapter, a reflection on the nature of character, is written with the knowledge that these letters were becoming a book. The chapters are a personal, intimate, and vulnerably honest conversation from an older man to a child he hopes to know. As he writes, Hauerwas proposes that every virtue has a vice to either extreme of it—the virtue lies in between. The virtue of kindness can slide into the vice of sentimentality. Truthfulness can be compromised into lying, friendship can devolve into shallowness—Hauerwas writes, “Americans are friendly, but we aren’t good at being friends.” Hope can slide into either optimism or cynicism. Often the chapters are a devotional reflection on New Testament texts that make a theological argument for these virtues being foundational to the life of a disciple. One cannot read The Character of Virtue without being aware of Hauerwas writing to Americans who see truth, virtue, and character under assault from the highest levels. While not going political, Hauerwas calls for courage and bravery to speak the truth regardless of personal cost. I could not help but reflect personally that in my pastoral desire to remain politically neutral (a longstanding Covenant position), I wonder if I have not compromised on some virtues so that I could remain professionally safe. This book would be a powerful tool for a small group to read together and discuss. While the first letter was written in 2002 and the last one in 2017, this book is as timely as any could be for us today.

Through practice, I’ve learned to use those very moments as markers to look for God’s presence. I’ve added “found moments” to the spiritual practices I pursue, and they have become as important to my spiritual health and connection with God as planned times of prayer, silence, or reading Scripture. The difference is that I don’t put them on my schedule—I let the Holy Spirit remind me to find the time throughout my day.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force

CHICAGO, IL (February 1, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. Into the Dark This brilliant, engrossing story describes what went on behind the scenes as experts tried to figure out how to do the impossible—rescue 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach from deep inside a flooded cave. Few options for effecting a rescue were available, and the one eventually chosen was described as “madness.” The odds of success were near zero.

From the article: “Anaesthesiology requires more training than most branches of medicine; there is always some risk that when a patient is put under, he or she will never wake up. When the patient is a child, the risks are greater. When the child is yanked along underwater for hours through a dark, cold cave, the risks are incalculable—no one has ever done anything like this before.” Why It’s Wrong to Label Students ‘At-Risk’ Ivory Toldson, professor of counseling psychology at Howard University, argues that using the term “at-risk,” rather than an effective way to describe students who demonstrate lower levels of academic success due to nonacademic factors, is in fact potentially harmful. The author of No BS (Bad Stats): Black People Need People Who Believe in Black People Enough Not to Believe Every Bad Thing They Hear about Black People doesn’t just describe the dangers of the term—he also offers alternatives.

From the article: “Of all the terms used to describe students who don’t perform well in traditional educational settings, few are used as frequently—or as casually—as the term ‘at-risk.’ The term….is often applied to large groups of students with little regard for the stigmatizing effect that it can have on students.” The Gospel in Every Sign Language The Passion Conference held last month raised nearly $500,000 to help fund Bible translations for the deaf.

From the article: “Sign languages, with an estimated 400 different versions used around the world, have been considered the final frontier for Bible translation, according to Wycliffe Bible Translators. American Sign Language is the only one that has a full New Testament translation.”

Photo credit: Newport Brain Treat Lab

How Electric Therapy Is Curing Navy SEALs of PTSD The headline may be overstating the case—“cure” can be a relative term—but this new procedure could change how mental health disorders are treated.

From the article: “What Tony and several other former U.S. Special Operations Forces personnel received…was a new treatment for brain disorders, one that might just revolutionize brain-based medicine. Though the FDA clinical trials to judge its efficacy and risks are ongoing, the technique could help humanity deal with a constellation of its most common mental disorders—depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, attention deficit, and others—and do so without drugs. And if its underpinning theory proves correct, it could be among the biggest breakthroughs in the treatment of mental health since the invention of the EEG a century ago.”

White Gold: The Unstoppable Rise of Alternative Milks Some say that the latest trend in milk is just, um, nuts as alternatives made from a variety of nuts, hemp, quinoa, and peas, just to name a few, are growing. (Milk seems to be getting a lot of attention lately. “Super milk” may help rescue the dairy industry.)

From the article: “To converts, almond and oat milk are the next wave in a fundamental shift towards a more conscious, sustainable way of living. To critics, they’re little more than cleverly marketed nut juice with additives—a symptom of everything that’s wrong with modern food culture. And so a strange battle has emerged, between an industry trying to replace something it says we don’...

In our house we don’t usually give things up for Lent, but several years ago, my husband decided to stop driving over the speed limit for the forty days leading up to Easter. He reasoned that slowing down might give him more reflection time in the car. But the other cars on the road were no more intent on practicing patience, and by the second week our kids were begging for him to let mom do the driving. In the end we were mostly just glad to return to driving that extra five miles per hour over the limit that we all know won’t get us pulled over. But it did cause me to consider other ways I could clear out space to prepare for Easter.

Ash Wednesday is a month away, and the Companion wants to hear what spiritual practices Covenanters engage in during Lent. Do you make space for a Lenten devotional, enter into a spiritual discipline such as prayer or fasting, or find ways to serve others? How do you observe Lent?

Post your response here or email editors@covchurch.org. We'll publish a selection of responses in our next issue.

DENVER, CO (January 30, 2019) – Attracting and enlisting volunteers can be a challenge in the church, but developing intentional systems can help, said Angela Yee, ECC executive director of ministry development, in her presentation on “Creating a Thriving Service-Oriented Culture” at the 2019 Midwinter Conference on Friday.

A church may have a culture of serving, but there is a high probability that people will leave if an intentional system isn't available for them to use their gifts or pursue their interests, Yee said.

Other churches may have clear systems, but lack a strong culture of serving, Yee said. As a result, people stay, but little gets accomplished.

https://twitter.com/Cov_Church/status/1088832966740963329

Yee identified four systems to help recruit volunteers. Which system to choose depends on where a potential volunteer is in their church involvement: committed, curious, clueless (regarding possibilities), or complacent. Yee previously served as executive pastor of Hug Church, a Covenant church plant in Fullerton, California, and as director of mission and ministry at Saddleback Church in Irvine, California.

Click here to see video of her talk and other plenary speakers. For more videos from Yee click here.

I was intrigued about the idea of walking a labyrinth and had made some half-hearted online searches to find one near me. But my first encounter was much different than I had imagined. I was co-facilitating a workshop, and my partner started the day by handing out a sheet of paper with a labyrinth printed on it. We were instructed to trace our finger along the path while listening for how God might speak. To say I was skeptical is an understatement. However, I decided to keep an open mind and give it a try.

Recently I heard a pastor describing his efforts to reach marginalized people in his community with the good news. He cited this story and made a startling statement: “Sometimes in order to get people to Jesus you have to mess with the structure.” These entrepreneurial men didn’t let propriety stand in their way! They messed, quite literally, with the structure.

DENVER, CO (January 23, 2019) — In his first address to a Midwinter Conference as ECC president, John Wenrich announced the creation of a new staff position to promote the development of women leaders, saying that although the denomination voted in 1976 to ordain women, there is “a gap between our espoused values and our lived realities.”

Justice and leadership development were themes woven throughout Wenrich’s report, which outlined his vision for six new “focal points” of ministry:

Leaders developing leaders Churches planting churches Fostering the flourishing of women Disciples making disciples through evangelism Mission from everywhere to everywhere Responding to God’s call to do justice and love mercy

All Covenant ministry, including any new initiatives, he said, will bear fruit only through the power of the Holy Spirit, which he called the “Blazing Center.”

“The Holy Spirit is the blazing center of our mission, because the Holy Spirit brings the fire and passion to know God and to make him known,” Wenrich said.

Before introducing new initiatives around each focal point, Wenrich identified the Covenant’s foundational commitment to advancing the mission through the multiethnic mosaic of churches. “Let me be clear: advancing the mission through the multiethnic mosaic of churches is not simply one of the vision focal points. Instead, it is a collective commitment to Jesus’s kingdom vision.”

Wenrich announced the addition of a sixth element to the Five-Fold Test, the document created in 2004 to help the denomination live into this commitment: Practicing Solidarity. “Practicing solidarity asks, ‘In what ways are we standing with and advocating for the multiethnic mosaic of churches and ministries on mission? How are we sharing in the suffering and joys of others on both an individual and communal level?’” he said.

Leaders Developing Leaders

The future of the ECC will depend on developing leaders at all levels, Wenrich said. “If we want more servant leaders, we need more intentional systems to develop those servant leaders. In so doing, we fund our future.”

Two initiatives will help do that.

1) The ECC President’s Book Club will launch February 1. “Our goal is to encourage a culture of learning and accountability among our Covenant leaders, both clergy and lay, around the subject of leadership,” Wenrich said.

The first book will be Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend, by Andy Stanley. Discussions will occur in a dedicated Facebook group, and participants will discuss a different section of the book every several weeks.

2) Wenrich also announced “30 for 30”—a name he admitted to borrowing from the ESPN series of the same name—which will create a new cohort of 30 individuals under the age of 30 every two years for leadership development.

Each cohort will visit five missional churches in different contexts. The pastoral staff of those churches will provide training. A retreat will be held at Covenant Offices, and each participant will have a mentor and a small group of peers. A replicable pipeline model will be developed for local churches and conferences, as well as the denomination.

Churches Planting Churches

Wenrich, who previously served as executive minister of the Start and Strengthen Churches, said, “We are setting a God-sized goal of planting 500 Covenant churches in the next 10 years.” Of those, 100 will be in underserved areas.

He added that more than 60 percent of current ECC church plants are multiethnic and led by pastors of color. In 2018, 25 percent of the church planting agreements included women in lead or co-pastor roles.

Fostering the Flourishing of Women

“One of the distinct markers of the ECC is that we are both evangelical and egalitarian,” Wenrich said. “But we can and must do better in fostering the flourishing of women.”

He added, “As president, I want to apologize to my female colleagues for how the church has been complicit in oppression and...

Whenever I hear Austin Channing Brown interviewed about her book I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, one of the first questions she is asked refers to the opening line of her book: “White people can be exhausting.” It’s more than just a provocative first line—it sets the tone of the book. It’s a signal to readers that Brown is not going to dance around the truth in this space.

DENVER, CO (January 18, 2019) – The main sessions of the Midwinter Conference will be livestreamed on the event’s website and Facebook page.

The conference runs from Monday through Friday at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. All times are Mountain.

6:30 pm Monday: Opening Dinner and Celebration

9:30 am Tuesday: Plenary Session 1

3:30 pm Tuesday: Ministry Update with John Wenrich

7:00 pm Tuesday: Worship

9:30 am Wednesday: Plenary Session 2

9:30 am Thursday: Plenary Session 3

7:30 pm Thursday: Worship and Communion Service

8:30 am Friday: Creating a Thriving Service-Oriented Culture

The livestream is being sponsored by Covenant Living Communities and Services, the fifth largest not-for-profit senior living and service organization in the country. It is an affiliate ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Also, be sure to follow the entire event on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and share your experiences with the hashtag #Midwinter2019.

Some ministers who are not able to attend this year are gathering together to have watch parties. “We can learn and worship and converse and connect,” said one. “Consider hosting or participating even if it is for one of the provided streaming sessions of Midwinter.”

Photo credit: Dan Pancamo/flickr

CHICAGO, IL (January 18, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles

and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution Scientists always hypothesize, consider, test, reconsider—it’s how science works. What we all can know and proclaim is, “How marvelous are the works of the Lord!” We behold that God loves beauty. We are grateful and filled with wonder.

From the article: “If there is a universal truth about beauty—some concise and elegant concept that encompasses every variety of charm and grace in existence—we do not yet understand enough about nature to articulate it.…Beauty is the world’s answer to the audacity of a flower. It is the way a bee spills across the lip of a yawning buttercup; it is the care with which a satin bowerbird selects a hibiscus bloom; it is the impulse to recreate water lilies with oil and canvas; it is the need to place roses on a grave.” Declining Religious Practice Is Bad for Disaster Recovery In the wake of disaster, faith-based organizations generally are the first to respond with funds and on-site volunteers. They also traditionally have been the organizations that stick around for the long-term recovery. But the decline in religious practice in society has meant a decline in giving and fewer people available to offer assistance.

From the article: “Local faith communities have such an important role that no other disaster relief organization can play. They have established relationships and networks, and they know who is most vulnerable,” said Jamie Aten, executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College.

Why Brillo Pads and a Million Other Things Are Kosher Most people think that only food items prepared a certain way can be certified as kosher, but the certification is applied to a range of everyday products, from Brillo pads to clocks.

From the article: “Even most kosher-keepers rarely notice kosher symbols on sponges, dishwasher soap and the like, according to (rabbi Jason) Miller. ‘Mainstream America comes in contact with so many products like a Brillo box on a daily basisand simply overlooks this small symbol on the box,’ he said. When Miller points kosher symbols out to non-Jews, some guess they are trademarks, while others suspect the symbols have to do with the government.”

Sorry, but the Enneagram Won’t Solve Our Collective Problems When someone asks, “What’s your type?” these days, they’re most likely referencing the Enneagram, the self-knowledge tool that has exponentially increased in popularity in the past decade. In the Covenant, anyone seeking ordination takes the test, and many teams at Covenant Offices have taken it. But I don’t know anyone who thinks the Enneagram is a tool for establishing social justice or is the panacea to our community ills.

From the article: “I find the Enneagram helpful as any tool for self-knowledge is helpful, but self-knowledge can only go so far. The way in which we use the Enneagram fails because we don’t simply need better tools to work on ourselves, we need ways to collectively work together. Self-knowledge is no substitute for collective action.” Newly Released Inmates Matched with Welcoming Hosts A California nonprofit has started a pilot program in which it pays homeowners and renters who agree to rent a room to a returning citizen. One aim ofthe Homecoming Project is to help break down fear and stigma of people who have been incarcerated while also helping them to re-enter society successfully.

From the article: “‘We take a hard look at people’s pasts,’” says the program's coordinator, Terah Lawyer, who, as a formerly incarcerated woman, knows about the challenges of transitioning back home.

We are called to be part of the body. We need connection. So how do I navigate the parts of church that feel in opposition to my nature?

Covenant World Relief is encouraging donations to address the crisis in Yemen, which has led to “unprecedented humanitarian needs,” according to the United Nations.

As a seminary student, I knew that the majority of Covenant churches were in rural communities, but when the time came for me to accept my first call, I was looking everywhere but a rural setting. I wanted adventure. I wanted to create change. I wanted opportunity. And where in the world is Ceresco, Nebraska?

CHICAGO, IL (January 11, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed. 50 Things Turning 50 This Year Fifty years ago, Paul McCartney was out of step with the rest of the Beatles as they crossed Abbey Road while Neil Armstrong took one small step for man and a giant leap for mankind on the moon. Neil Diamond sang of his love for “Sweet Caroline” and Johnny Cash lamented how hard it was to be “A Boy Named Sue.” The Brady Bunch joined us in our living rooms while the original Star Trek ended its mission to explore strange new worlds. Why Do Christians Want to Post 10 Commandments, Not Sermon on the Mount? Pastor and author Andy Stanley asks why Christians push for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public spaces rather than the one commandment we received from Jesus: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).

From the article: “While Jesus was foreshadowed in the old covenant, he did not come to extend it. He came to fulfill it, put a bow on it, and establish something entirely new. The ‘new’ Jesus unleashed made the faith of first-century believers formidable. Their apologetic was irrefutable. Their courage, unquestionable. And the results were remarkable. Dear Christian reader: Why? Why? Why would we even be tempted to reach back beyond the cross to borrow from a covenant that was temporary and inferior to the covenant established for us at Calvary?” Religion Is as Important as Ever Sociologist Eboo Patel writes that failing to include religion in our cultural conversations—whether in young adult novels or in diversity training on college campuses—ignores the fact that religious identity is not just personal. “It’s a civic issue, part of our common life together.”

From the article: Donna Freitas “highlights that writing about sexuality or race in young adult novels is much more readily accepted than writing about faith. Religion, she says, is the last taboo in young adult literature—the identity about which we ought not speak.” In Rehab, ‘Two Warring Factions’: Abstinence vs. Medication Drug treatment facilities are becoming more open to using medications to help patients overcome addiction, but strong resistance remains.

From the article: “More than 70,000 people in the United States died of overdoses in 2017, and opioids were the main driver. But nationally, 49 percent of the nearly 3,000 residential programs that treat opioid addiction still don’t use any of the medications proven to save lives….Even so, that is an improvement over 2016, when 58 percent weren’t using any of them.”

This Cessna 414 is the smallest of Judah 1's three aircraft. World’s First ‘Christian Airline’ to Cater to Missionaries The Federal Aviation Administration has accepted Judah 1’s application to move from being a private operator to a full-fledged airline. Founder and CEO Everett Aaron says the company will be “the first and only Christian airline.” It will only fly passengers who are members of mission teams. It will not charge fees for luggage and cargo, which it also promises will never be lost. The airline hopes to have a fleet of 20 aircraft over the next five years.

From the article: “Sometimes, according to Aaron, missionary cargo like Bibles have been known to get stolen as well. ‘I found out Bibles are one of the largest black market items in the world. People steal Bibles and sell them.’”

Dan Johnson was pursuing his second bachelor’s degree at North Park College when Hilmar Covenant Church invited him to join their staff as a full-time music director. The position was to be a one-year appointment as the church discerned whether to make it a permanent role.

Reality hit me a little more than six years ago when our doctor said, “This is Alzheimer’s.”

The nation’s election board, CENI, declared early this morning that opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi had won last month’s presidential election. However, the Catholic Church, which is influential in the country, had deployed 40,000 election observers and said the results did not match their tallies.

There’s a legal doctrine that I’ve learned from the equivalent of several years of law school from watching legal dramas. It’s known as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” ... Over the last few years I’ve come to see this as another handy metaphor to describe the failings of American evangelicalism.

Leading Character What qualities define a good leader? Covenant pastors share lessons learned from the trenches. January 9, 2019 As we focus on developing new and future leaders in the Covenant, the Companion consulted Covenant ministers about what they’ve learned on the subject. We went to Facebook and asked, “What’s the most important leadership principle you have learned in the course of your ministry? And what have you learned about leadership from your own mistakes?” Here is a selection of responses we received, all used by permission. "Watch for where God is moving in your community, in the lives across the table from you. Call it out. Join them and empower them to follow God’s nudges. Quietly do the heavy lifting of preparing the space, laying the groundwork, being consistently present so that when people are ready to encounter Jesus or invite friends to Jesus, we’ve done all we can to remove barriers or make connections." Kirsten Wagenius | St. Cloud, Minnesota

"Recognize, name, and address the anxiety in the system. Lesson learned: I can be the source of anxiety." Devyn Chambers Johnson | Springfield, Virginia

"Listen—to the Holy Spirit, to people. Exegete—the culture and your community as well as the Bible passage you are teaching or preaching. I’ve learned that it’s not about me. And I’ve learned who I can trust and to trust them and share leadership with them." Jane Spriggs | Monticello, Minnesota

It is important to develop a culture of trust where giving feedback is done in a spirit of care and unconditional acceptance. I’ve learned that it is completely okay to say, “I don’t know, let’s figure it out together.” Be sure to understand a problem before coming up with solutions. Dieula Previlon | Carrollton, Texas

"To be a good leader is to be a good listener and a lifelong learner." Debbie Montzingo | Mountlake Terrace, Washington

Learn to lose well. Winning is easy, but losing leadership arguments is a great test of character, and I’m still on the curve. Don N. Johnson | Black Mountain, North Carolina

Erwin McManus says, “Leadership is about creating environments.” I really like that. The environment we create can foster so much good or so much bad. It can allow the people around us to flourish or to flail. Chad McDaniel | Arvada, Colorado

"A great sense of humor, tolerance of stupidity (both my own and others’) and really thick skin! Cut yourself some slack, and don’t assume you are indispensable." Eva Cudmore | Cromwell, Connecticut

"Be humble and kind. Listen. Say you are sorry." Kurt Fredrickson | Simi Valley, California

"Healthy, trusting relationships are the most important capital a person can have. So invest in those relationships. A corollary is, learn to love everybody, but don’t spend too much time chasing after perpetually disgruntled people. From my mistakes I’ve learned to trust myself more. But I also need good people around me who can speak hard truth when I need to hear it." Dan Whitmarsh | Lakebay, Washington

Leadership requires suffering. Know who you are—and aren’t. Brian Hui | Union City, California

"Leadership as a spiritual gift must be diligently leaned into while allowing the Holy Spirit to form it according to his fruit so that it is indeed an act of service. Leading well is an act of service to others, shaped by continually becoming more of who Jesus made us to be while avoiding the risk of making servant leadership about oneself and one’s personal desires. Whether in a position of leadership or not, whether with the gift of leadership or not, it is most energizing and fruitful when it is the result of abiding in the Vine." Joel Rude | Blue Jay, California

"If you want to have influence, you need to develop trust. Many leaders limit their influence by seeking power instead of trust. This tends to backfire and keep individuals from having the influence they desire. Also, avoid triangulation not conflict.

CHICAGO, IL (January 7, 2019) — The Make and Deepen Disciples (MDD) mission priority is accepting applications for the newly created position of director of discipleship. The position will oversee three areas:

Develop a coaching system for churches to design their own intentional discipleship pathways. The person will work with others on the MDD team to advance discipleship efforts across all ages, including specialized areas such as spiritual direction, worship, and prayer. Cast a vision and provide leadership for multiple church-wide discipleship initiatives. Help develop curriculum. The director will convene teams to create new discipleship resources and experiences to strengthen the entire church. Embrace is a recent example.

“We believe that God is about to mobilize a fresh movement of missional discipleship in the Evangelical Covenant Church,” said Michelle Sanchez, MDD executive director. “Our vision is to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus by mobilizing a multiethnic movement of disciples who make disciples across all ages.” To read a full job description and apply for the position, click here. To nominate a candidate, please fill out this online form.

CHICAGO, IL (January 7, 2019) – Memorial services have been set for Covenant ministers Janet Thornbloom and Edwin (Ed) Hallsten Jr.The memorial service for Thornbloom will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 12, at North Park Covenant Church in Chicago. She served as a missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo for 44 years.She died on Monday, December 3, 2018, at the age of 79. A previously published obituary can be read here.The memorial service for Hallsten will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 19, 2018, at Bethesda Covenant Church in Rockford, Illinois. His ministry included pastoring Covenant congregations and serving as associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at North Park Theological Seminary.Hallsten died Thursday, November 1, at the age of 87. A previously published obituary can be read here.

The COV Sparks downloadable discussion guide is now available for the January/February issue of The Covenant Companion. Based on articles from the current issue of the magazine, COV Sparks provides stimulating questions for Sunday-school classes, small-group discussions, and personal reflection.

Erin Chan Ding, whose career has included [...]

CHICAGO, IL (January 4, 2019) — Steve Klimkowski has been appointed to serve as the new executive director of finance, ECC president John Wenrich announced today.The executive director oversees all financial matters of the ECC, including serving as treasurer, and provides oversight of benefits, insurance, and financial services and resources. Klimkowski will start his new position on Monday.Paul Hawkinson, executive director of finance/corporate treasurer, will conclude his service by June. Over the next six months he and Klimkowski will collaborate to facilitate a smooth transition for this mission area that interfaces with multiple ministry teams, affiliates, and constituents at large. After Gather, Hawkison will continue to serve in an advisory role in order to bring key affiliate and pension projects to fruition.“Steve combines financial expertise and missional awareness,” Wenrich said. “He is a man of integrity, a team player, and has a heart for pastors and churches. We are blessed to add such a faithful and fruitful leader to our team.”Klimkowski has more than 20 years of experience in investments, finance, and executive leadership. He is currently the president and chief executive officer of Double Honor Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity he founded to help alleviate financial need among evangelical pastors.Prior to that, he worked as the CIO for Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, COO for the University of Chicago’s Office of Investments, and as senior vice president at ABN AMRO / The Chicago Corporation heading up fixed income and risk management.“I am a mission-driven person,” Klimkowski said. “I have spent the past two decades helping two major Chicago-based nonprofit organizations to steward their financial resources and risks toward the achievement of their missions and goals. It was satisfying and rewarding work; however, there was a growing desire in me to serve God and the church more directly and more explicitly. It is a ‘kingdom dream’ come true—to quote my pastor, Lars Stromberg—for me to serve the ECC as its executive director of finance.”Klimkowski is a member of Hinsdale (Illinois) Covenant Church, where he currently serves as interim worship director.“I love the Evangelical Covenant Church,” he said. “I want our church to continue to thrive and grow into every heart and every corner of the earth. I also am vitally concerned about the long-term financial health of pastors and their families. I want all ECC pastors to be able to serve faithfully, fruitfully and with joy without worrying unduly about their finances and future.”Klimkowski earned his bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Illinois and a master of business administration in finance degree from the University of Chicago.He is married to his college sweetheart, Alana, and they have four children.

CHICAGO, IL (January 4, 2019) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.Indian Women Form ‘620km Human Chain’ for EqualityWomen between the ages of 10 and 50 had been forbidden to enter a temple in India until the Supreme Court overturned the ban. Now they are permitted to worship in the prominent Hindu temple. But protestors have barred their access. So on New Year’s Day five million women of all ages joined hands to form a 385-mile chain to protest gender inequality.From the article: “One young demonstrator, Kavita Das, told BBC Hindi: ‘This is a great way of saying how powerful women are, and how we can empower ourselves and help each other. Of course, I support the move to allow women of all ages into the temple....Those who want to pray must have the right to pray.’”The 1% Now Owns Half of All the Wealth in the Entire WorldThe richest people on earth now possess 50.4 percent of all household wealth. What is our response to the injustice of that inequity?From the article: “Wondering if you’re in this elite club? You’d need a total of $759,900 in assets, after debts have been subtracted. What about the top 10%? That’s a little easier: you’d only need $68,500. And the top half: Count yourself in if you have $3,210.”Bowling Partners Not Bothered by Age Gap of Almost a CenturyThat anyone over the age of 100 is still playing any sport is pretty amazing. That he has a nine-year-old partner makes the story even more wonderful.From the article: For Jacob and Jim the time spent together was not just about sport, but for closing the generational gap. “They sit next to each other between ends and just chat away — they are like mates,” said club president Pat Schram. “Just before afternoon tea last Saturday Jim said, ‘Will you get me a beer?’ and Jacob said, ‘I'm not allowed to yet.’ It's just delightful.”Faith on the HillThe new Congress is slightly more religiously diverse than in the past, but it still is not representative of the country’s makeup.From the article: “By far the largest difference between the U.S. public and Congress is in the share who are unaffiliated with a religious group. In the general public, 23% say they are atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular.’ In Congress, just one person—Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who was recently elected to the Senate after three terms in the House—says she is religiously unaffiliated, making the share of ‘nones’ in Congress 0.2%.”Food Critic Drops Column Name He Calls Disservice to ImmigrantsFor the past six years Tim Carman has published a column in the Washington Post called “$20 Diner.” But now he confesses that the title helps confirm deep-seated biases about how much people are willing to pay for certain kinds of food.From the article: “By writing about immigrant cuisines under a cheap-eats rubric, I have perpetuated the narrative that they should always be thought of as budget-priced. I’m reminded of a conversation I had with David Chang when he was preparing to open Momofuku CCDC in 2015....He was unspooling long, profanity-laced sentences about diners who won’t pay $17 or $18 for a bowl of ramen, no matter how costly the ingredients he used for his noodle soup.”

Saturday is the application deadline for the position of executive minister of the Start and Strengthen Churches (SSC) mission priority.

The newest leaders at Covenant Offices share their interests, priorities, and vision for the future through interviews with the Covenant Companion.

Maxine A. Schermer, widow of Covenant minister George H. Schermer, died Saturday, December 29, 2018. She was 97.

As Greater Faith grew, so did their call to serve their community in Clayton County. Noel says, “I was preaching mercy, love, and forgiveness but it just wasn’t enough. I was preaching to people who had their electricity turned off, or they had felonies on their records and couldn’t get jobs. I realized the justice piece was critical.”

The congregation began to partner with Healing Communities of Georgia, a network of nonprofits, state agencies, and faith-based organizations working to bring restoration to returning citizens, their families, and victims of crime.

When they conceived the idea for their podcast, Jack Hawkins, pastor of Canyon Springs Church, an ECC congregation, and worship director Jonathan Schmitz figured Ten Steps Further would be 10 episodes of foundational Christian information. But a year later, the podcast is still going strong. Topics have ranged from discussions on the shooting in Las Vegas, racism, marriage relationships, to ancient wisdom.

No one on my mom’s side had ever gone to college, and I thought, “Wow, I could be the first one.”

Let the Trap Say Amen is relevant yet also prophetic. It is deeply grounded in the sounds and struggles of contemporary culture, yet the words urge listeners to seek a hope beyond one’s present circumstances.

This week we focus on clean water. Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for healthy communities, socioeconomic development, energy and food production. Digging a well can improve the health of a community as well as improve economic and education opportunities.

The film The Polar Express is a fantastical tale of belief and doubt, wonder and rationality, confidence and timidity, of seeing with the eyes and searching with the heart.

This week we highlight the ministry of the Hindustani Covenant Church’s work with women and girls who have been trafficked.

Today we highlight how even a single cow can provide sustainable income and food in India and Kyrgyzstan. A dairy cow can produce as many as three gallons of milk a day and up to 5,000 gallons—or 80,000 glasses—in its lifetime.

My friend Kim and I were sitting with our toes in the sand, watching our boys climb up the ladder and slide-splash into the lake. The weather was a glorious seventy-eight degrees in western Minnesota, following a cold snap that had killed all the mosquitos. It was a unicorn day at Lake Beauty Bible Camp. A kind of day where, like light through a prism, I caught a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven.

Serve Globally will host a dinner for Covenanters attending the Urbana Student Missions Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, next month.

The Evangelical Covenant Church in the United States has no connection with the Early Rain Evangelical Covenant Church, which is suffering a crackdown from the Chinese government, said Al Tizon, executive minister of Serve Globally.

A memorial service for retired Covenant missionary Iris Jensen will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 16, at Arbor Oaks Bible Chapel.

A local TV news station broadcast an extended feature on Community Covenant Church and the way it responded to the needs of its neighbors after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the area on November 30.

Today we highlight empowering girls through education in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When girls gain skills, knowledge, and confidence they break the cycle of poverty and help strengthen societies.

There are so many stories of Christmas. ... And then there’s the one where the overly sincere parents try to bludgeon gratitude into their children.

Today we highlight Crescendo, a ministry of Make and Deepen Disciples that focuses on equipping pastors, staff, and church leaders to unleash the potential of boomers and beyond to engage in the work of God’s kingdom. Coaches and resource specialists engage leaders in planning ministries that target these age groups.

Today we highlight the difference two goats can make in a person’s life. Dineshbhai is a small-scale farmer who received two goats from Covenant Social Service (CSS) in the tribal community of Vyara, India.

Today we highlight domestic disaster response. In recent years, historic storms, fires, and flooding have devastated large portions of the United States. Donations from Covenanters have enabled the denomination to work with local partners to provide short-term relief, and long-term recovery.

Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. Today we highlight “I Am,” the Covenant triennial gathering by women for women.

Donations to support women in ministry will assist in equipping women pastors to meet the challenges of seeking call and serving churches, through continuing education and the Thriving in Ministry Initiative.

Today we highlight micro-enterprise training. With small loans and job skills training, individuals and families are starting small businesses to generate income in order to afford nutritious food, access better healthcare, and receive invaluable education for their children.

The January-March 2019 issue of the The Covenant Home Altar devotional guide debuts a new design.

CHICAGO, IL (December 14, 2018) – Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. Through the free annual catalog, Covenanters can partner with brothers and sisters around the globe to give gift donations that will help serve communities and advance God’s work in many areas.

Through creating pathways to living wage employment, ministry for marginalized youth, programming for those who are incarcerated as well as for returning citizens, and other economic and educational empowerment ministries, the ECC partners with local churches to respond to individual, family, and community needs. An expanding ministry is working with churches to develop community-centered enterprises (social enterprises), which are local businesses that seeks to generate self-sustaining revenue while also addressing a community concern.

Social enterprises developed by churches include the award-winning 5000 Pies takeout restaurant and Fleurish Industries.

This and other missional gift-giving options are available now through CovenantCares Gifts for Mission. Please join us in advancing the mission.

Today we highlight mentoring rural pastors. Different ministry contexts require different ways of leading and relating to the community. For pastors who have not experienced rural settings before, making the transition to this context can be a challenge.

The Evangelical Covenant Church has been awarded a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders.

CHICAGO, IL (December 12, 2018) – Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. Through the free annual catalog, Covenanters can partner with brothers and sisters around the globe to give gift donations that will help serve communities and advance God’s work in many areas.

Today we are highlighting Advocacy for Victims of Abuse (AVA). The church can play a vital role in helping to change attitudes around sexual harassment by acknowledging the stories of people who have been victims and also publicly addressing the issue of all types of verbal, sexual, and physical abuse.

The rise of the #MeToo movement has demonstrated the importance of ministries such as AVA, which provides resources as well as contextualized training for regional coordinators and local advocates. An AVA component is now being developed at CHET, the Covenant’s Hispanic Training Center, to spread the ministry to Hispanic pastors. There are AVA-trained leaders in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico.

Your gift will help make it possible to expand the number of AVA trainings. This and other missional gift-giving options are available now through CovenantCares Gifts for Mission. Please join us in advancing the mission.

The next Embrace webinar will be from noon to 1 p.m. (CDT), Thursday, featuring a conversation with Jill Slattery on “Sexual Discipleship: Shifting the Paradigm.”

Covenant ministers Dominique Gilliard and José Humphreys earned first-place honors in the InterVarsity 2018 Book of the Year Awards.

Sessions from the recent symposium at North Park University “Being Well: Connecting Church, Faith and Health” are now available for online viewing.

Josef Rasheed is the regional coordinator for Africa with Serve Globally. In that role he facilitates, coaches, and serves as a resource for missionaries/global personnel, national partner organizations, and Covenant churches.

Today we highlight Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE). One way Develop Leaders partners with local congregations is by making grants available to help clergy pursue holistic, Christ-centered development, lifelong vocational and biblical formation, and opportunities for renewal.

A memorial service for Lillian May Johnson, widow of [...]

Although there is often a danger of rebel violence, [...]

LMDJ seeks to serve congregations and conferences through collaborative efforts

The journey reflects the African proverb, “If you want to go fast [...]

Congregational Vitality has helped churches of all sizes to dream bigger [...]

The aftershocks just keep coming and coming, and [...]

CHICAGO, IL (December 6, 2018) – Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. Through the free annual catalog, Covenanters can partner with brothers and sisters around the globe to give gift donations that will help serve communities and advance God’s work in many areas.

Today we highlight Legacy, an initiative that offers new opportunity to reach out, engage parents, empower kids, and develop thriving children’s ministries. Legacy includes half-day events for local congregations that bring together pastors, church leaders, and children’s leaders to assess, celebrate, and dream about how to effectively minister to and with children. Each church decides on a plan that works best for their context.

Legacy also provides resources as well as coaching for local congregations.

Children who do not feel valued in the church are more likely to leave when they are older. When children are engaged in the life of the church, they are more likely to continue deepening their walk with Jesus when they are older.

This and other missional gift-giving options are available now through CovenantCares Gifts for Mission. Please join us in advancing the mission.

CHICAGO, IL (December 6, 2018) – Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. Through the free annual catalog, Covenanters can partner with brothers and sisters around the globe to give gift donations that will help serve communities and advance God’s work in many areas.

Today we highlight our ministry with immigrants. As a historically immigrant church, we can continue to learn about and respond to the current immigration issues with compassion and justice.

Our response includes offering legal assistance because immigrants often are vulnerable to fraud perpetrated by people who have promised to help them pursue legal pathways to citizenship.

Help Covenant churches establish legal services and provide comprehensive immigrant outreach in support of our neighbors.

Participants were surprised by what they learned and felt. Johnson said that one response [...]

Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. ... Today we are highlighting the work of the Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM) in building vital bridges in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CHICAGO, IL (December 4, 2018) – Retired Covenant missionary Janet Thornbloom, who ministered to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo for 44 years, died Monday evening. She was 79.

In addition to serving Congo, she also worked 18 years as an investment coordinator with National Covenant Properties.

She was born February 15, 1939, in Evanston, Illinois. She earned a bachelor of arts from North Park College.

Jan married Bob Thornbloom on August 13, 1960. The couple first traveled to Congo in 1963.

Jan taught reading and writing to women, taught English as a second language to high school students, managed the technical services office, and tutored missionary children at the Ubangi Academy. She also worked with women to develop micro-enterprise businesses.

At the Annual Meeting in 2007, she and Bob received multiple standing ovations during their retirement ceremony. Jan told the gathering, “Every person has been given one life to make a difference in the world. One must choose carefully to be sure it will be significant. If you are fortunate, you can make this difference where your dreams exist and your heart lives.”

She continued, “Congo is where our dreams existed and our hearts lived. But time marches on. We’ve come to a point where our focus is changing, but this change does not narrow our horizons. The horizon of life remains constant as long as one has open eyes to see it and walk toward it.”

“Jan was a compassionate, tireless, persistent advocate for the people of Congo she loved,” Curt Peterson, former executive minister of Serve Globally, said today. “I was especially moved by her efforts to help organize and resource the Widow’s Program in Karawa in recent years that helped women develop business enterprises to provide for themselves and their families with dignity. Jan and Bob were missionaries for life, whether in Congo or from a distance. We remember Jan today with heartfelt gratitude to God in celebration of her self-giving life.”

"Jan and I were close neighbors for most of 30 years," said retired missionary Eileen Thorpe. "We shared a common life. Our children became like one family. I admired her as a mother and as a servant of Jesus who deeply loved the people of Congo. She also was a wonderful host as she welcomed guests from around the world with grace."

Geneva Christensen, who served in Congo for forty years, recalled "Jan did a remarkable job of raising three kids while also playing an important part in advancing the ministry. She used in many skills in numerous area, including helping to manage the well-run garage and mechanical assistance operations.

Her last several years of missionary service were done remotely from Chicago as she helped administrate projects in Congo while also working for National Covenant Properties from 1995 to 2014.

Her desire to serve others was evident while she worked at NCP, said president Steve Dawson. “She made such an impact with customers that even approaching five years after her retirement, they would call to speak with her. She was more than a valuable member of our team—she was our friend and she will be missed by many.”

Survivors include her husband Bob; two daughters, Beverly Hawkins (John) and Twyla Becker (Chris); a son Mark (Dena); and four grandchildren.

Services are pending.

Applications are being accepted for the position of executive minister of the Start and Strengthen Churches (SSC) mission priority through January 6, 2019.

Today we highlight how you can help plant a new church. Planting churches [...]

Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire is highlighting daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. ... Today we highlight the opportunity to help ministers in the midst of crisis. Studies repeatedly show that ministers experience more stress and demands than ever before. That stress is amplified when they suffer a catastrophe, family illness, or emotional challenges.

Online early registration is now open for “I Am,” the Covenant triennial gathering by women for women.

CHICAGO, IL (December 2, 2018) – Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire will highlight daily gift selections from the CovenantCares giving guide. With the free annual catalog, Covenanters can partner with their brothers and sisters around the globe to give gift donations that will help serve communities and advance God’s work in many areas.

Today we are highlighting the Bezalel affordable housing project, which is named for the person Moses appointed to build the ark of the covenant and tabernacle as well as teach artisan skills (Exodus 35:30-35).

Since 2016, the ECC has been acquiring and renovating homes for community families through the ministry of the local Covenant Church. So far, 20 homes have been rehabbed and 20 families now have access to safe and affordable housing in Dolton, Illinois, a south Chicago neighborhood, and the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, where 39 percent of the residents live 200 percent below the federal poverty level.

The change in the Dolton community has been so dramatic that local homeowners who had put their houses up for sale pulled them off the market because they had newfound hope for the neighborhood. For more on the project, read “Partners in Community: No Place Like Home.”

More than homes are being rehabbed. The projects are teaching employable skills to people from the neighborhood who might otherwise struggle to find work. Your gift of $50 through Covenant Cares will help enable Love Mercy Do Justice to expand the program to transform houses, neighborhoods, and lives.

This and other missional gift-giving options are available right now through CovenantCares Gifts for Mission. Please join us in advancing the mission.

Throughout the Advent season, Covenant Newswire will highlight [...]

More than 120 people turned out for a rally in the town square organized by Covenant pastor Derek Walles in response to a racist incident. A severed pig head was left on the doorstep of an apartment building where four Muslim families live with a that read, “Go back to where you came from!”

Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos [...]

James Barefoot was standing in a commercial building at 8:30 this morning that “felt like it was coming down.” [...]

Alaska Conference superintendent Curtis Ivanoff said [...]

“Bearing the Wait: An Advent Companion,” the new devotional guide from the editors

Long before the 3-M company invented Post-it Notes, God was already prompting his people to jot down reminders of important events. The Hebrew word zakhor, which means remember, appears 169 times in the Hebrew Bible. The call to remember, along with the admonition not to forget, appears so frequently in the book of Deuteronomy that some scholars say the text puts forth a theology of memory for people of faith.

Shirley (Palmer) Hamblen, wife of retired Covenant pastor John Hamblen died Thursday, November 15. She was 72.