The Saturday morning business session was a busy one for delegates at the 118th Covenant Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church as they approved 17 amendments to the Covenant's Constitution and Bylaws, approved a new model for local church governance and witnessed the presentation of a prestigious award in urban ministry

Arnold "Arnie" and Marilyn Bolin of Community Church in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, received the Irving C. Lambert Award for their significant contributions in urban and ethnic ministries. In introducing the Bolins, Max Lopez-Cepero, director of the Covenant's Ministries of Compassion and Justice, read a letter from Community Church that describes the Bolins as being "salt and light," noting their loving care for all people and the quiet humility in their work. President Glenn R. Palmberg then presented the Lambert Award to the Bolins (more on the Bolins can be found in a separate story on this Covenant news website).

"This is indeed an honor to us, an unexpected honor," said Arnie Bolin, noting that his experiences in urban ministry had led him to relationships with many wonderful people from many backgrounds. "There are two things that are true about each and every one of us," said Bolin. "We are all created in the image of God and we are all sinners for whom Christ died and nothing else matters. And as we meet and live, oftentimes in opulence that is a little embarrassing, we need to remember those brothers and sisters, those in need, those who are hurting."

After the presentation of the Irving C. Lambert Award, delegates approved the leadership team model constitution and bylaws paradigm for local church governance, giving local Covenant churches a third model - along with the Board and Council models - to choose from in organizing their local congregation.

Gary Walter, executive minister of the church growth and evangelism, told delegates that the leadership team model was field tested in several local congregations and was endorsed by the Council of Superintendents, the Council of Administrators and the Covenant Executive Board.

Much of Saturday's work by delegates involved 22 proposed amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws (they are posted in their entirety in the Annual Meeting section of The Covenant website at www.covchurch.org). The most discussed proposal was Amendment 13, which proposed restricting the executive minister of the Department of the Ordered Ministry from both presenting evidence in a case of clerical misconduct and then participating in the deliberations of the board on that case.

John Hunt of Evanston (Illinois) Covenant Church, who proposed the amendment, argued that the amendment would strengthen the role of executive minister by removing any appearance of a conflict of interest. Hunt said that currently, the executive minister could be accused of being witness, prosecutor and then judge in cases of alleged ministerial misconduct, leaving a pastor accused of misconduct without an advocate. Several delegates, most notably Ray Dahlberg, a former conference superintendent and former executive director of the Department of World Mission, said that it is difficult to seen as both "disciplinarian and care-giver."

The amendment was rejected after both Brad Boydston, president of the Covenant Ministerium, and Dave Kersten, executive minister of the Department of Ordered Ministry, spoke against it. Boydston noted that the ministerium had voted against the proposed amendment and Kersten voiced concerns that it would undermine the role of executive minister.

Kersten said that using jurisprudence analogies, such as prosecutor and judge, are not accurate in describing the work of the board, which is first and foremost one of pastoral care.

A complete list of action on amendments appears at the end of this story.

In other news and reports:

• President Palmberg presented a citation to John Notehelfer for his one year as interim executive minister of the Department of World Mission, lauding his pastoral care to administrators and missionaries alike. "John always says 'Yes' he when he discerns God's calling," said Palmberg in thanking John and his wife, Miriam, for their willingness to forego retirement for a year and for their role in helping to stabilizing world mission activities.

• Delegates defeated two local church constitution amendments regarding the role of member congregations and the manner in which individual members of a congregation can appeal indiscretions to regional, conference and denominational leadership.

Following is a list of amendments APPROVED by delegates:

• Preamble, Paragraph 2 (regarding the wording of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed)
• Constitution, Article VII, Section 7.2 (regarding the session of the Annual Meeting)
• Constitution, Article IX, Section 9.3 (regarding candidates for conference superintendent)
• Bylaws, Article VII, Section 7.8.iii. (regarding the availability of the proposed agenda of the ECC Annual Meeting at least 30 days prior to the meeting)
• Bylaws, Article VIII, Section 8.1 (regarding the Executive Board developing its own procedural rules)
• Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.2.b.i [1] (regarding the ability of Covenant Women Ministries to recommend candidates to the Board of Nominations)
• Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.3.b.i [1] (regarding procedure of how candidates are slated for the Board of Nominations)
• Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.3.b.i[3] (regarding wording of qualifications for the Board of the Ordered Ministry)
• Bylaws and elsewhere, Article X, Section 10.5 and elsewhere (regarding the name change of "Covenant Benefit Board" to "Board of Pensions and Benefits")
• Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.5.b.i (regarding how candidates for the now-named Board of Pensions and Benefits should be slated)
• Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.5.d (regarding further wording about the role of the Board of Pensions and Benefits)
• Bylaws, Article X, Section 10.5.f (regarding wording about the role of the director of pensions)
• Bylaws, Article XI, Section 11.2.d (regarding whether the ECC president should be allowed to appoint one member of the Council of Superintendents to serve as ex-officio member to the Board of the Ordered Ministry, North Park University, Benefits and Ministries of Benevolence)
• Bylaws, Article XII, Section 12.3.b.i[1] (regarding whether the Board of Trustees may recommend candidates to the Board of Nominations)
• Bylaws, Article XII, Section 12.3.b.ii (regarding how the Executive Board can suspend an appointed member of the North Park University Board of Trustees for cause, as well as what is deemed as cause for suspension)
• Bylaws, Article XII, Section 12.3.k (regarding the qualifications for regular, full-time North Park Theological Seminary faculty members)
• Bylaws, XVI, Section 16.1.b (which would change how the ECC Executive Board would propose amendments to the Bylaws - from now on, proposals to the amendments to the Bylaws must be in writing 90 days prior to the Annual Meeting. Before, it was 120 days.

Proposed amendments that were DEFEATED included: