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Great Lakes Recommends New Church
YOUNGSTOWN, OH (April 27, 2004) - The Great Lakes Conference adopted a new
constitution and bylaws last Saturday as 88 participants from 38
churches attended the conference annual business meeting at First
Covenant Church.
The adoption of the new constitution and bylaws brings these documents
into alignment with constitution and bylaws of the Evangelical Covenant
Church (ECC) that were revised a few years ago, said conference chair
Ken Larson of Faith Covenant Church in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Delegates also re-elected secretary Brian Kyle, pastor of the
Evangelical Covenant Church of Whitehall, Michigan; Chuck Beckstrom of
First Covenant Church in Jamestown, New York; and Teresa McCarty of
Saranac Community Church in Saranac, Michigan, to the conference
executive board.
Life Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church of Canton, Michigan was
recommended by conference delegates for membership into the ECC, pending
approval at the June Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. Pastor Alex Rahill
began the church plant last summer and more than 200 are now attending
on a regular basis, according to a recent email update. Along with the
increase in worship attendance of 65 from last year, the congregation
has recorded nearly 70 commitments or recommitments to Christ and an
increase in small group participation to about 90 people.
In addition to the growth of Life Church, Associate Supt. Larry Sherman
reported that six churches are receiving denominational appropriations
and four others from the conference are considering adoption into the
denomination. Easter worship service attendance at the new church plants
totaled 1,143 and conversions over the past year exceeded 200, Sherman
said.
Along with the addition of one new church, delegates also approved the
dissolution of two congregations: Calvary Evangelical Covenant Church in
Erie, Pennsylvania, and Grace Evangelical Covenant Church in Holland,
Michigan. Another congregation, Mission Covenant Church in Sheffield,
Pennsylvania, has disaffiliated, said Larson.
Superintendent Dick Lucco discussed a revitalization effort in the
conference called "Dream Again," which helps congregations redevelop
their ministry efforts. He also updated the conferences on the Churches
Planting Ministries initiative, reporting that more than $30,000 has
been allocated for various efforts.
Harvey Carey, church planting pastor of Citadel of Faith Covenant Church
in Detroit, preached at Friday night's worship service. He preached on I
Corinthians 12:12-27, focusing on the verse, "You are the Body of
Christ, each one of you is a member of it." Carey spoke about the fact
that although we are different, "we are of one bloodline - that is Jesus
Christ. Jesus transcends culture, and diversity is something that man
cannot solve, but only Christ can." He lauded the Covenant's willingness
to embrace diversity, which he said makes him "a Covenanter for life."
Destiny Covenant Church of Detroit, a new church plant under pastor
James Gibson, brought Marcellus and Sherita Smith to lead worship.
The conference officially opened its event with a Friday morning worship
service at First Covenant. Art Greco (bottom photo), ECC director of
prayer and evangelism, preached about lay leadership development in the
church. He also led a prayer and evangelism session as one of several
leadership workshops that were conducted following the opening worship
service. Larson said the focus was on training lay leaders in the
congregations, a departure from the usual pastor-centered workshops that
occur at many annual meetings.
Lucco led a seminar on the dynamics of turnaround churches. Sherman
discussed leadership development while Robin Sweringa and Jody Eidnes
took participants through a natural church development checkup. Pastor
Robert Hoey of Messiah Church in Detroit, Michigan, co-led a Churches
Planting Ministries session with Jim Monkmeyer.
The Great Lakes Conference sponsored a Pastor's Day on Thursday with a
luncheon as noted speaker and pastor Knute Larson of The Chapel in
Akron, Ohio, gave the keynote address. He preached on "Lessons On
Leadership" using the acronym LEAD (Lesson, Example, Alliances, Dreams)
to show the valuable components of how to help leadership develop. The
conference's ministerial association also conducted business as Tom
Sharkey of First Covenant in Youngstown was voted in as president of the
ministerial association.
"I think there was a very good spirit there, starting with the new
format," said Larson. "From what I heard of the delegates, people were
very encouraged with the leadership seminars and with the worship
service on Friday with Harvey Carey. It was one of the better annual
meetings I've been to."
"We completely reformatted the whole gathering and I felt like the lay
leadership training day went better than I expected," said Sherman.
"There were 150 people at the seminars at one time or another and that
was really good. And having such a dynamic speaker as Art Greco and
Harvey Carey in the evening was a joy."
From October 5-7, Great Lakes Conference pastors will hold their fall
retreat at the Lakeside Conference Center in Lakeside, Ohio. Next year's
conference annual meeting will take place April 22-23, said Larson. A
site has not been finalized. To learn more about the Great Lakes
Conference, visit the conference website at www.greatlakes.cc.
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