For the past 16 months, Sundholm has divided his time between world relief, the partnership and the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church. "It was getting to be quite unmanageable," said David Stockamp of that arrangement. Stockamp is coordinator of church relations for the world mission department. Sundholm spent approximately half of his time facilitating church relations work on the west coast on behalf of world mission. "Between this job (world mission) and the ever-growing demands of world relief, Jim was hardly ever at home. I appreciated the inroads Jim made into many west coast churches and leadership level encounters."

"Jim Sundholm is an extremely effective communicator for world mission and world relief," said ECC President Glenn Palmberg of the change. "His words are supported by the integrity of his life of compassion and evangelism. This move will enable Jim to meet the growing demands of an expanded Covenant World Relief effort and address the medical concerns of the Paul Carlson Partnership. While he will not be officially a part of the world mission staff, he will continue to be an advocate for world mission and a strong partner between world relief and world mission efforts."