Covenant News

Conference to Explore Multicultural Ministry

OAKLAND, CA (March 24, 2003) - First Covenant Church in Oakland will host "Doing Church in a Multicultural World," a conference sponsored by The Renewal Project, a Walnut Creek-based organization.

Speakers at the May 15-17 event will include Juan Carlos Ortiz, Dolphus Weary, Todd Spitzer, Adam Edgerly and Russell Yee. Worship, panel discussions and seminars are part of the three-day event.

Ortiz once was senior pastor of the largest evangelical church in Argentina and now leads the Crystal Cathedral's Hispanic congregation in southern California. He will preach at a Thursday evening service and lead a Friday afternoon seminar on pastoring in the Hispanic context.

Weary, executive director of Mission Mississippi, a racial reconciliation organization, will speak about racial reconciliation during a Friday morning session and will lead a Friday afternoon seminar entitled, "Churches Connecting Across the Racial Divide."

Edgerly served with the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church as director of Holistic Ministries and now serves a church plant supported by Newsong Community Covenant Church in Santa Ana. He will lead a Friday afternoon session on American Multiculturalism and later lead a seminar entitled, "Cutting Edge Urban Culture as Gospel Medium."

Yee, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary's Bay Area extension, will discuss how to reach the next generation of Asian Americans during a Friday afternoon seminar and then will lead a Friday evening session focusing on the subject of worship. Spitzer, pastor of an Oakland area church plant called Regeneration, will discuss how to plant and lead a church for the "20-Something" generation during a Friday seminar and will lead a Saturday morning session as well.

Other seminar leaders with Covenant connections include Paul Wilson, pastor at First Covenant Church in Oakland; Kelly Ballard, associate pastor at University Covenant Church in Davis; and Doug Stevens, a longtime Covenant pastor who is director of the Renewal Project.

Registration and other conference information is available by calling Stevens at 925-947-1490 or by emailing the organization at trpinc@pacbell.net.

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