More than 50 people have been involved in at least one move, said parishioner Mark Carlson, who helps coordinate the ministry. Originally, Covenant Movers was begun as a way to help parishioners. Since then, the "movement" has spread to newcomers in the community - some are now attending the church. One parishioner has donated the use of his enclosed trailer to help the ministry, which usually provides about a dozen helpers per move.

"People were moving to different houses within the community and some of us volunteered to help," said Carlson. "Then we knew of some folks that were moving back into the community and we helped them, too. And elderly people moving to a local manor (retirement center) have asked us for help. It connects people to the congregation and people like doing this. We have signup sheets and when we don't have enough, we phone our core group of people."

Pastor Todd Van Zee said that many newcomers who are assisted offer to help when others move into the area. "We figure that we can move a whole family in about three hours," said Van Zee. "We have an inside crew, outside crew, packing crew and loading crews. We only ask that a vast majority of your stuff be already packed. We've noticed that the greatest desire (for newcomers) is friends. This gives a family an automatic connection." For more information, contact pastor Todd Van Zee at 218-485-4800.

Moose Lake Covenant is one of many Covenant congregations whose members are doing great things in and outside of their communities. The following roundup of ministry activities was gleaned from the more than 200 local church newsletters reviewed each month by the Department of Communication, grouped by conference and region:

CANADA

• Strathmore, Alberta: Hope Community Covenant Church's Ben Josephson was named a Canada West First-Team All-Star setter in men's volleyball, a first in the history of Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley, British Columbia. Josephson finished the year averaging 9.82 assists per game - good enough for seco nd place in the conference. Head coach Ron Pike said of Josephson, "In his five years at TWU Ben has epitomized what it means to compete and strive to be better every day. His loyalty and commitment to the TWU Men's Volleyball program have been evidenced in his tireless pursuit of bringing TWU into the CIS elite."

CENTRAL

• DeKalb, Illinois: Hillcrest Covenant Church has been using "Outreach Bags" as a way to welcome friends and newcomers to the church. The bags are filled with a cookie mix jar, brochure and a small scripture frame. The bags are available in the narthex and are maintained by the Outreach committee. Another way to educate the community about the church and its faith story is through Hillcrest's Internet website. Parishioner Carol Hegberg, who writes a weekly article for the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, is using her skills to write about "Christians You Should Know." A host of personalities are documented on the site, including some of the key figures in the Evangelical Covenant Church's early history. The archive is being updated on a biweekly basis. Hegberg has also written a Christmas play for the church, edited devotional materials and recently wrote a novel, Pen Pals. For more details about the church and its ministry innovations, call pastor Todd Anderson at 815-756-5508 or visit the church website at www.hillcovch.org.
• Naperville, Illinois: Naperville Evangelical Covenant Church youth Sarah Specht placed seventh last month in a Level 10 gymnastics all-around competition in Ohio. The all-around is a combination of scores from four individual events. Competing for the Midwest Academy of Gymnastics based in Warrenville, Specht won the parallel bars individual event with a score of 9.375 (of a possible 10). In January, she placed second in the all-around in an event in Lansing, Illinois. Last year, Specht qualified for the Region 5 championships in Dimondale, Michigan, under the auspices of USA Gymnastics.

EAST COAST

• West Peabody, Massachusetts: Barbara Osterfield of Community Covenant Church was honored as Teacher of the Month recently at Peabody High School. Osterfield is a social studies teacher and was nominated by a student at the school.
• Riverside, Rhode Island: The Evangelical Covenant Church of Riverside has made mission work to Africa a team effort, with a number of members in that area recently. John Wright and his daughter Melissa signed up for a five-week mission to Kenya at Tenwek Hospital. Julie McMurry recently returned from Mali where she was doing AIDS research. Dr. Bob and Carol Wenninger have spent many years at Mukinge Hospital in Kasempa, Zambia, and will soon retire from that ministry. Sara Cowan spent a semester in Uganda, working at a nutrition clinic as part of her education at Brown University. And Terri King led a short-term mission trip to Mozambique last summer.

ECCAK

• Joel Caldwell, son of Mat-Su Covenant Church's interim pastor Ray Caldwell, was featured by the Anchorage Daily News for his work with Arctic Barnabas, a nondenominational organization that provides support to various church missionaries and pastors and their families throughout the state. Arctic Barnabas Ministries has assisted those working in the Alaska Bush and rural areas of the Canadian Yukon and Russia. It is based in the Kenai Peninsula, which is near Anchorage, and includes 10 staff members. The organization serves in ways ranging from repairing machines for pastors at local churches to fetching a pastor's family's favorite foods for a home-cooked meal, according to a recent Associated Press article. Caldwell (who founded Arctic Barnabas in May 2000) previously served with Missionary Aviation Repair Center in Soldotna, which has assisted ECCAK in numerous functions. He also helped get his father interested in Covenant ministry, according to ECCAK representatives.

GREAT LAKES

• Allegan, Michigan: Christ Community Church hosted an All-Community rally February 16 as townspeople in Allegan protested a proposed casino in nearby Wayland. About 250 people from 25 churches participated. Pete Hoekstra, the area's congressman, state Sen. Patty Birkholtz and state Rep. Fulton Sheen were also in attendance and spoke about the issue. All have opposed the proposed casino, which is currently on land designated for a Native American tribe. The rally received regional television and newspaper coverage. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has not yet decided to sign the compact to approve the casino. The Allegan Chamber of Commerce approves the casino while the neighboring Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is against the casino. Currently, there are 19 casinos in Michigan and another 17 are being proposed.

MIDWEST

• Decorah, Iowa: Kelley Johnson, youth ministry intern at Decorah Covenant Church, was named a recipient of a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship for the 2002-03 academic year. Johnson, a student at Luther College in Decorah, is one of 79 undergraduate college students in 37 states and Washington D.C. selected for the scholarship. The Cooke Scholarship identifies idealistic, intelligent and involved students and helps them carry out their dreams to build a better world. Johnson is pursuing French and is studying in Senegal this spring. She is scheduled to graduate from Luther College in spring 2004 and hopes to promote justice and peace issues in the field of international relations.
• Savonburg, Kansas: The Evangelical Covenant Church of Savonburg hopes to use chicken pens to assist ministry all over the world, according to pastor Jack Kyle in a recent email. Kyle and others were in a brainstorming session one Sunday night during a worship service. "I had been raising chickens in larger pens and so I brought up the idea about making a smaller pen that might be able to feed a family in a poor country," he said. "From there, we started designing a new chicken pen on the overhead and the youth began construction. We have had letters of interest from various missionaries and World Missions and we have corresponded with them." The chicken pens are two to three feet high and five to seven feet in diameter, depending on space restrictions. Each side has adjustable castor wheels for easy movement and the shelters have nesting boxes and roosting bars, along with a ventilation visor. The prototype can house six to 10 chickens, although ideas for smaller pens are being considered. For more information about the chicken pen project, call the Midwest Conference office at 402-334-3020 and request a recent newsletter that profiles the ministry. Kyle can be reached by email at jkyle@savonburg.org and the project is also on the church's web site at www.savonburg.org/pen/chickens.html.
• Shawnee, Kansas: Community Covenant Church began a capital campaign drive on February 2 for a new facility located about four miles from its current site. The capital campaign concluded with a banquet March 9. The church hopes to raise $3 million and begin building on a 12.2-acre site this fall. Community Covenant Church has a membership of 605 under pastor Tom Anderson. For more information on the project, call 913-631-0215.

NORTH PACIFIC

• Portland, Oregon: First Covenant Church parishioner Leonard Hallock received the Louise Frederickson Award from the church for his many years of service and his efforts to cross over generational boundaries in the name of Jesus. The 85-year-old Hallock has had an association with First Covenant since 1943. Leonard and his wife, Esther, were Covenant missionaries for two years in Congo and Leonard helped the Covenant mission by building the Zulu Dam and building a hydroelectric project in Africa. He and his wife also were integral in managing a retreat center in the village of Molalla. Hallock's skills in teaching Sunday school - both in Africa and in Portland - were noted by the church. In Africa, he was known as Paka Na Zulu (Old Man from Zulu) and they called him "Uncle Leonard" as well. He also taught French to secondary students in Africa. While he worked in construction after returning to the United States, he taught junior high Sunday school at First Covenant. He often used African fables and artifacts to communicate God's love.
• Bellingham, Washington: On March 2, Bellingham Covenant Church celebrated a prayer and scripture writing event at the site of its new building, which now has framing for the facility. Parishioners prayed for the new building and wrote scripture verses on the frame as a way to consecrate the building for God's future ministry. Roofing is nearly complete and water, sewer and natural gas lines have been installed. Doors and windows were to be installed on the building's exterior. Groundbreaking for the new facility occurred last August. A work party was conducted on March 1 to further complete the construction effort, which the church hopes to complete next summer. The one-floor, 30,000-square-foot building includes a sanctuary that seats 400, a gymnasium, a youth center and an administrative area.
• Lakebay, Washington: Lakebay Community Church recently received $80,000 from the North Pacific Conference to build a new facility. Pastor Chuck Wahlstrom said an architect has been hired to begin designing the facility. The church hopes to begin the process of building the first phase of the 10,000-square-foot project by the end of the year. Lakebay Community Church was founded in 1929 and became a Covenant church in 1994. Wahlstrom has been the pastor of the congregation of 140 since it became a Covenant church. For more information about the church and its future building project vision, visit the church website at www.integrity.com/homes/LCCC/index.htm.
• Selah, Washington: Selah Covenant Church has made a bid on a 7.8-acre piece of property for a new facility, said pastor Marc Strobel. Preliminary designs are being prepared and the congregation has provided feedback on what aspects of the facility are important to the congregation. The church hosted an October capital campaign, "Second Century," including a banquet. Pledges of $188,000 have been committed as the congregation continues to move forward following an August 2001 fire that destroyed the church's annex building next to the sanctuary. Because the fire destroyed the church's education facilities, the congregation decided to move to an area school in order to have both worship and Christian education classes at the same site. The congregation has re-settled back into its sanctuary. It conducts three worship services during the week for 270 in combined attendance. "There isn't a lot of land available in town and we want to stay in this area, so this is a blessing," Strobel said of the nearby property, which the church hopes to purchase before Easter.

NORTHWEST

• Dawson, Minnesota: The congregation of Dawson Covenant Church celebrated the next stage of construction of its new facility on January 26 with a tour of the new church building following the morning worship service. Pastor John Norland said that his congregation hopes to move into a new building in July. "This was a great time for us to be here together again, to see what's been done and to praise God for the progress," he said of the tour. Construction began on the new facility last fall and the building is framed, shingled and insulated. Crews are working on interior finishing with sheetrock and electrical and plumbing work. Building committee chairman Duane Haugen acknowledged the cooperative work of the building committee and the tremendous number of volunteer hours contributed to the project by members and friends of the church. In addition, women and families have donated meals to the work crew. "We're truly blessed by God's hand in this work," said Luanne Fondell, who served as chair of the congregation while the building project got started.
• New Richland, Minnesota: Vista Evangelical Covenant Church parishioner Ken Eaton was recently featured in a local newspaper for his work teaching area children about farming corn. Eaton, who has written books about farming, lectures students about "The Miracle of Corn" at the grade school level and hands out kernels and ears of corn as part of his presentation. Eaton lives in Waseca, Minnesota, with his wife, Harriet. The 78-year-old has been farming for 57 years.
• Worthington, Minnesota: First Covenant Church is in the midst of a construction project for a 5,000-square-foot addition to its building with hopes of being able to move into its new offices in the spring. The $690,000 project, which had a groundbreaking last September, will also include new Sunday school classroom space and space for its preschool. That part of the construction isn't finished yet, according to church staff.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

• San Leandro, California: Creekside Covenant Church is planning on its first worship service later this month for a 23,000-square-foot facility that includes a sanctuary and community center. A dedication service will be held later this spring, said office manager and facility manager Sharon Wallace. The $5 million project planning began five years ago after the church decided to purchase a well-known restaurant where the facility now stands. Creekside Covenant, under pastor John Bruce, has more than 300 in average worship attendance in the East Bay of Northern California. For more information, call Wallace at 510-430-0607 or visit the church website at www.creeksidecommunity.org.