Goodwin preached at a centennial worship service on Sunday, with centennial theme, "Light On A Hill," taken from Matthew 5:14-16. More than 225 attended worship service, with many coming as a result of a neighborhood canvassing effort by the youth group. The youth were also active in energizing Sunday's worship service - a children's choir sang a special song on Sunday morning and children and teens were among a group of parishioners singing "I Was There To Hear Your Borning Cry."

The centennial celebration began with an open house on Friday. On Saturday morning, the church had a ministry-and-mission breakfast, with the Covenant Women Ministries group from South Lake Stevens Covenant Church serving as hosts. Many parishioners gave testimonies during the event about how they had been called into various forms of full-time ministry through their involvement with First Covenant.

About 200 attended an evening banquet and worship service on Saturday evening. Mark Novak, superintendent of the North Pacific Conference, was the guest speaker at that service. An anniversary choir of 40, including many visiting from out of town, also sang that evening.

"It was incredible," said pastor Bill Goodwin of the 100th anniversary weekend. "We had a (centennial) committee of eight people that has been serving for a year and one of them - a high school (student) named Marissa Foley - carried as much weight as any of them. And over 75 people in the past six weeks did something to contribute to making this event happen. We had 15 responsible for remodeling the bathrooms, for example."

Goodwin added, "But this event wasn't only nostalgic; it was a chance to cast a vision for what God wants for us in the future."

First Covenant of Everett began ministry in 1902 when a group of elderly women and young people from the area began meeting in homes for worship, according to the church's 50th anniversary booklet. They rented the Odd Fellows Hall for worship services and Ben Swanson, who had been a pastor in Sweden, was the key preacher and lay leader for the congregation. In June 3, 1903, the church officially organized as the Swedish Evangelical Mission Church of Everett with 11 charter members.

The church's first full-time pastor, J.J. Huleen, began ministry with the congregation in 1904 and the church dedicated its first building on June 20, 1908. Walter W. Johnson (pastor from 1936-1950) helped the church move from worship services in Swedish to English, and led the congregation toward officially becoming a Covenant congregation in 1947. The church now has an average attendance of about 125, says Goodwin.

First Covenant has also helped start the other Covenant congregations. South Lake Stevens Covenant Church began through an extensive Sunday school program at First Covenant Church, and both Monroe Covenant Church and Martha Lake Covenant Church were assisted in their early years by First Covenant.