Covenant News

Jim Lundeen Chairs Nobel Neighbors Organization

CHICAGO, IL (August 18, 2002) - Jim Lundeen, the original director of Compassion, Mercy and Justice for the Evangelical Covenant Church, is the new chair of the board for Nobel Neighbors, a community organization located in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Lundeen served the Evangelical Covenant Church from July 1995 until this past July, working under Covenant Ministries of Benevolence (CMB). He was the executive director for Uptown's Habitat for Humanity from 1984 until coming to CMB and was dean of admissions of North Park University (then College) for more than two decades, helping found North Park's nationally renowned Urban Outreach Program and even serving as dean of students for a time.

Rob Hall, who works with the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism, served with Lundeen in both Urban Outreach and Habitat for Humanity. He appreciated the passion Lundeen brought to Urban Outreach during its early years and his continuing desire to care for those often uncared for in society.

"I think Jim (Lundeen) helped provide the vehicle for students who were tired of sitting around talking about ministry; he gave us a chance to actually do it," said Hall. "College students are primed for this kind of opportunity and since many of us grew up in the suburbs and in rural areas, the opportunity to interact with people with another kind of experience was a way to live out the gospel.

"I always thought Jim respected us as students," Hall continued. "He was willing to give you a lot of room to do a project, to succeed or fail based on your own merits. And you could clearly see that he felt passionate about these ministries. He was old enough to be our father, but he didn't treat us like kids. It was a peer relationship."

Advocacy for the underserved has consistently been a hallmark of Lundeen's ministry. The denomination recognized those traits, too. Jim and his wife, Janice, were given the Irving J. Lambert Award for significant contributions to urban ministry during the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"We and the denomination are thankful for Jim (Lundeen) and his work," said Harold Spooner, executive vice president of outreach ministries for CMB. "The recent Sankofa journeys that are taking place and continue to take place at North Park and with the denomination were started by him; the whole development of Compassion, Mercy and Justice was pioneered by him; and he has been a significant contributor to how the denomination continues to move in efforts for compassion justice and mercy."

Nobel Neighbors was founded in 1985 and has grown into an association of block clubs with a focus on housing and public safety. At one point, the group identified 140 abandoned buildings in the area and helped win a major community investment commitment from Bank One. The organization recently was awarded funds to help rehab the final abandoned building in the area. Nobel Neighbors also assists residents victimized by predatory mortgage lenders and is working with state regulators to enforce new regulations against predatory lending.

For more information about Nobel Neighbors, email the organization at nobelneighbors@aol.com.

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