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Canada First in Series of Conference Annual Meetings
CHICAGO, IL (April 6, 2002) - A new ministry initiative, changes in conference
and regional leadership and a new regional administrative paradigm are
among the topics highlighting the agendas of various conference annual
meetings that begin this weekend.
The Canada Conference is meeting this weekend in Surrey, British
Columbia, and the
Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska (ECCAK) will hold its annual
meeting April 10-14 in Bethel. Two other conference annual meetings, the
Midsouth (Rio Grande, Texas) and Southeast (Silverhill, Alabama) will
commence April 19-20.
During the weekend of April 25-27, the East Coast, Great Lakes, Midwest,
North Pacific, Northwest and Pacific Southwest conferences will hold
annual meetings. The Central Conference holds its annual meeting May 2-4
in Wilmette, Illinois.
Five conferences (Central, Northwest, North Pacific, Pacific Southwest
and Southeast) will unveil plans for a new ministry initiative called
Churches Planting Ministries, designed to encourage local congregations
to become engaged in community ministries to the poor and at-risk
populations. Although the Churches Planting Ministries initiative is a
conference-based program, it will receive denominational support through
grants and educational opportunities.
Two conference annual meetings will discuss top leadership changes. The
ECCAK region is seeking a replacement for outgoing field director Paul
Wilson. Meanwhile,
the Great Lakes Conference will vote on conference Executive Board
nominee Dick Lucco, pastor of Trinity Covenant Church in Salem, Oregon,
to replace retiring Supt. David S. Dahlberg
If Lucco is approved at the conference level, he will be installed at
the denomination's June annual meeting in Keystone, Colorado. Dahlberg
will be recognized for his 20 years of service as superintendent during
the Great Lakes annual meeting in Muskegon, Michigan.
The Pacific Southwest Conference will begin its annual meeting with a
celebration of 100 years of conference ministry. Church futurist Leonard
Sweet, a keynote speaker at the 2001 Pastors Midwinter Conference, will
be a guest preacher at the event in Irvine,
California.
At the Midwest Conference annual meeting in Shawnee Mission, Kansas,
delegates will discuss the possibility of dividing ministry
administration into three regional hubs. The central office and
conference superintendent would remain in Omaha, Nebraska, and offices
in the Kansas City area and either Colorado or western Kansas would be
headed
by an associate superintendent. A task force organized by the
conference's Executive Board two years ago has been evaluating the
proposal.
The 11 Covenant conferences and region also will discuss proposed new
rules for the Ordered Ministry, the first full revision of the rules
since 1973. The new rules are tentatively scheduled for a vote during
will be presented for a vote the denomination's Ministerium annual
meeting that precedes the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical
Covenant Church in June.
News coverage of the conference annual meetings will appear regularly
over the next few weeks on this Covenant news site.
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