Covenant News

Minneapolis Church Honors Long-Time Covenanters

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 16, 2004) - Crosstown Covenant Church honored 20 individuals who have attended an Evangelical Covenant church for at least 80 years during its morning worship service last Sunday.

Honorees were given a plaque and a certificate at the service, which followed the theme "Fullness From Faithfulness," according to Pastor Paul Siwek. Ages of those honored ranged from the early 80s to 99-year-old Alice Bloom.

"It was a tremendous service," Siwek said. "These faithful servants received a standing ovation from all the other worshippers. An interesting sidelight to this story is that several of these people have sent their children on to Christian service. Some have become pastors, missionaries and leaders in Christian organizations. It was a day of celebration that these people and our church will long remember."

Ray Peterson grew up at First Covenant in Minneapolis and was confirmed there. The 84-year-old has been a parishioner at Crosstown Covenant for more than a decade. He and his brother owned a hardware store for many years. He knew many parishioners from the old Elim Covenant Church and when Crosstown merged with Elim and Park Avenue Covenant Church, he had already forged friendships with the merged congregation. A son, Bruce, is executive director of Covenant Pines Bible Camp in McGregor, Minnesota. A grandson, Christopher, is a youth pastor at an international church (Immanuelskyrkan) in Stockholm, Sweden, following his graduation from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago.

"The only time I didn't go to a Covenant church was when I was in the service for three years," Peterson said in stating why he felt such a kinship with the Covenant. "There were two others honored that I was confirmed with and the church is where most of my friends are. We always had good preaching and fellowship, so we didn't want to run around to anywhere else. We visited other churches but they weren't anything like ours. We were here with family."

Clint Rodquist grew up in Warren, Minnesota, and attended Teien Covenant Church. After he moved to Minneapolis, he joined Elim Covenant Church and was there until the merger of churches. The 86-year-old remembers how his church always provided help for an ailing father during his youth. Quality preaching and good fellowship were also important. "We heard the word, it was from the Bible, and not just someone's ideas," said Rodquist about his experiences in Covenant congregations. "And we really valued the small group experiences – it created a friendship that was beyond anything else."

For 83-year-old Esther Peterson, making Covenant connections led to a happy marriage, as well as other positive church experiences. She grew up at First Covenant Church in Minneapolis and eventually became a parishioner at Woodlake Covenant Church (now Calvary) in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, after marrying her late husband, Monroe. Esther's son goes to Crosstown Covenant and a grandson is youth director at the church.

"An advantage was that I married a man who was part of the Covenant," said Esther regarding her longevity in the Covenant. "We met at Minnehaha Academy – he was a musician who graduated from there. We didn't date at Minnehaha, but connected at a Good Friday service in Wisconsin."

To learn more about last Sunday's celebration, call Siwek at 612-724-3601.

Printable version of this page.