The student leaders and the adult leaders in your high school ministry are invited to a one-day leadership training day on Saturday, Oct. 8, at Bloomington Covenant Church.

S.A.L.T. (Student Action Leadership Training) is for senior high students (grades 9-12), youth pastors and adult volunteers. Tiger McLuen is our keynote speaker - he'll be talking about leadership lessons from Joshua. In addition, we have a great line up of workshops for both student and adult leaders.

The cost is $20 and includes lunch and snacks. Adult leaders come for free!

To download more details/registration forms, click the links below:

S.A.L.T. 2011 Student Brochure

S.A.L.T. 2011 Youth Group Brochure 

You can also check out the website at http://nwc-cov.org/children-youth-family/salt.

It's not too late to sign up for the Town and Country Commission's Workshop just before the Ministerial Retreat at Arrowwood Resort (Sunday night Oct. 9 and Monday morning Oct. 10). 

This workshop will focus on the pastor's leadership role in setting the vision and purpose for the church. Mark McCloskey, lead faculty at Bethel Seminary's transformational leadership program, will be leading the sessions. This is the second in a five-year program to strengthen the leadership skills of town and country pastors.  

There is no charge for the workshop, but you need to pre-register (Sunday night sleeping room is not covered). Go to https://nwc-cov.org/affiliated-ministries/town-and-country for more details and the registration form.  If you have any questions, call Randy Young, chair of the Town and Country Commission, at 218.692.1854.

Your time to meet with God, restore intimacy with your spouse, deepen friendships, and re-connect with your own heart is fast approaching! Our Oct. 10-12 annual retreat is for all Northwest Conference pastors, ministry staff and spouses. This year's format will feel more like a retreat than a conference. We'll hear rich teachings from the Scriptures, and have plenty of room at Alexandria's upscale Arrowwood Resort to commune with God and others in beautiful indoor and outdoor settings. We begin with registration from Noon -1:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10, followed by the opening session with our speakers at 1:30 p.m.; we conclude the retreat Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. with a Noon checkout.

Character is critical for those in ministry! Unfortunately the demands that fill our calendars and overwhelm our lives often rob us of the time it takes to develop character. We can become masters of self-deception. Larry and Barbara Magnuson, your retreat facilitators and directors at SonScape Retreats in Colorado, will talk from their hearts as well as from the Scriptures about the need for character in pastors, missionaries and their spouses. Colossians 3 will be our guide as we explore four key phrases: "since," "put to death," "clothe yourselves" and "be thankful."

As Covenanters, we are a "devotional" people, a "connectional" people and an "in it together" people. This annual retreat is one of our best opportunities as ministers and servants of the Gospel to reinforce these connections with God and one another, find time for spiritual direction if you so wish, and provide a support network for you to thrive in ministry.

Here are three requests we have for you:

One: Make an invitation! Think of Northwest Conference pastors, spouses or ministry staff person who you haven't seen for awhile, or someone new to ministry or to our conference. Encourage them to attend, and arrange a time to visit or pray together during the retreat.

Two: Please don't let finances keep you from attending! Everyone's ministerial dues help provide for scholarships so that everyone can attend. The basic scholarship is $100 per person for pastors and spouses who attend the entire retreat. For those who attend only one day, the scholarship is $50. There may be other factors the scholarship committee will consider, which may affect the amount of scholarship dollars awarded. And again, these are scholarships for those truly with need, rather than "discounts."

A second category of scholarship can go beyond the $100. However, these require documentation from your church demonstrating need. If you are interested in either of these, you may download the Retreat Scholarship Application Form from the conference website (www.nwc-cov.org) or contact Rich Theilen, conference retreat scholarship committee, 651-271-3271 or theilenfarm@yahoo.com.

Three: Please get your registration in to us-even this week would be wonderful! We have to make arrangements with the hotel and conference center based on the number of those participating, so your speedy registration helps us enormously!

Costs for two night's lodging, five meals, coffee breaks, meeting rooms and recreation at Arrowwood is $329.27 per room (single occupancy/per person/entire stay/all inclusive); $230.94 per person (double occupancy/per person/entire stay/all inclusive). For those not staying at Arrowwood, we ask that you share meals with us and purchase a one or two-day meal package. All prices include a $30 per person program fee for all registrants.

Space is also available for those who want to arrive a day earlier or stay a day later. You can download a copy of the Arrowwood Lodging Reservation form from the Northwest Conference website (www.nwc-cov.org) under "Affiliated Ministries" and the "Ministerial Association" page. After sending in your registration, Arrowwood will send back a map for directions and further information on the resort.