Covenant News

Midwest Conference Names Benedict to Associate Role

OMAHA, NE (February 14, 2003) - David Benedict has accepted the call to become an associate superintendent of the Midwest Conference as part of a new model for administration at the conference level.

Benedict will be one of two associate superintendents in the Midwest Conference, working out of the Kansas City area and serving congregations in Kansas and Missouri, according to Supt. Kenneth Carlson. Benedict was selected by the Midwest Conference Executive Board and is expected to begin his duties in July. The conference's other associate superintendent, Rick Mylander, is expected to eventually serve from a Colorado location yet to be determined. Carlson will continue to work from the conference's central offices in Omaha.

The conference approved having three regional administrative locations during its 2002 Annual Meeting, as a way to better serve more than 80 congregations in five states spanning a distance of some 900 miles.

"During the past few years it has become obvious in the Midwest Conference that there has been a desire for more personal, face-to-face ministry between the conference superintendents and the local churches," Carlson said in a recent newsletter. "Our vast area and the diversity of churches has made it increasingly difficult for our superintendents to minister personally to each church. This will permit each superintendent to personally minister to 25-30 churches and will make travel much more 'do-able' and efficient."

Benedict brings much pastoral experience both inside and outside the conference. He has been the pastor at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Pomeroy, Iowa, since 1997 and has served in the Covenant for more than 20 years. He and his wife, Martha, have two children.

Before arriving in Iowa, Benedict served on the staff at Mercer Island Covenant Church and at Bellingham Covenant Church in Washington. He has degrees and credentials from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington; Seattle Pacific University in Seattle; Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia; and North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago.

For more information about the Midwest Conference and its new administrative paradigm, call Carlson at 402-334-3020 or email him at MIDCOVCON@aol.com.

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