2015 Annual Meeting

The 2015 NWC Annual Meeting will take place April 16-18 at Salem Covenant Church, New Brighton, MN. We've got great speakers and events lined up this year! 

Lunch with Covenant Trust Company

Covenant Trust Company (CTC) would like to extend an invitation to pastors, staff and lay leaders of churches in the Northwest Conference to join them for lunch on Thursday, April 16, at 12:30 p.m. The lunch will take place at Salem Covenant, just prior to the start of the Ministerial Association Annual Meeting.

CTC representatives, Kevin Lawson and Steve Allison will be hosting a catered lunch from Famous Dave's. It will be a great opportunity to hear more about CTC and the partnership they have with the NWC. They will discuss how CTC can work with churches and other ministries as well as individuals, including a special benefit just for Covenant pastors. Additional focus will also be made on the new tools available for your own planning including Social Security options and full retirement planning. 

CTC values the partnership with the pastors, churches and ministries of the Northwest Conference. If you are interested in finding out more about how they can partner with your church or ministry, please contact Kevin Lawson or Steve Allison to register for this complimentary lunch and presentation. RSVP to Kevin or Steve at their contact information below. Space is limited, so please register early

Kevin Lawson, CFP®, 1-877-222-3960 or  kelawson@CovenantTrust.com
Steve Allison, ChFC, 1-877-768-1766 or srallison@CovenantTrust.com  

More Annual Meeting highlights:

Theme

Our theme this year is about fostering a healthy missional church culture within our region. We are convinced that God desires for every church to be faithful and fruitful in its context.

Congregational Vitality is about God's Spirit renewing peoples' ability to notice and experience God in their midst, and partnering with God in achieving His purposes in the world. This is why it is a NWC priority and something we are looking forward to exploring deeper together as we gather for our 2015 Annual Meeting.

Speaker

John Wenrich serves as the Director of Congregational Vitality for the Evangelical Covenant Church. In that role he works with regional staff throughout North America to provide ministry resources, guidance, and support to established churches. John also speaks internationally on the topic of congregational vitality and leadership.

View, download and share a video invitation from John Wenrich 

Ministry Fair

The "Celebration of Mission" Ministry Fair will take place throughout Friday afternoon of the 2015 Annual Meeting. Delegates and attendees will have an opportunity to learn about and interact with a whole host of conference-related ministries including representatives from our camps, Women Ministries, Covenant Trust Company, CHET and more.

Northwest Conference Authors

We are fortunate to have many great authors in our Conference, and this year's Annual Meeting and Ministry Fair will feature opportunities to learn more about their books, shake their hands, and perhaps take home a few new good reads!

May 18-19, 2015 // $30 per participant // Lake Beauty Bible Camp 

Take time to create a retreat center in your soul. Jesus invites us to come away and be with him for a time of quieting and empowering rest that we can carry with us into the storms of life and ministry.  

Retreat begins at 1 p.m. on Monday, and concludes at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

LEADER: Keith Meyer (Lead Pastor, Hope Covenant Church, St Cloud, MN) with Judy Swanberg (Associate Director of Pastoral Care & Development, Northwest Conference) as co-facilitator  

REGISTRATION: Minimum 10, maximum 20 / Confirm your reservation with Judy Swanberg by May 8 - judy@northwestconference.org 

FEE: $30 per participant - includes 3 meals, coffee breaks, and 1 overnight (+$10 if camp provides bed linens and towel) 

CHECKS: Payable to the Northwest Conference 

BRING: Bible, sleeping bag or bedroll, pillow, and towel

Download a flyer for more information 

Adventures in Leadership (June 20-27) promo materials available 

Nominate one or two of your students who have strong leadership traits for a transformational, weeklong leadership development experience. AIL is for select high school students and is based at Adventurous Christians camp. It's a powerful time of exploring Christian leadership principles and putting them into practice, all in a guided, challenging environment.

Information and materials are available on our AIL page.  

Youth Ministry 

Did you go to CHIC? 

As a CHIC alumni, you know how God works in high school students' lives at this triennial Covenant event. Would you help a teenager get to CHIC? It's expensive. $649 for registration + $205 for transportation makes it a challenge for a number of our kids. 

We want to raise enough money to fund 100 $100 scholarships to invest in students who desperately want to go but can't quite afford it. This CHIC, we're planning on over 1,500 people from the Northwest Conference alone. Please partner with us to get each kid who wants to go to CHIC to CHIC. Every dollar helps us reach our goal.  

http://www.youcaring.com/other/get-northwest-conference-kids-to-chic/265502 

Special Event 

Dr. David Larsen to speak at Plymouth Covenant Church  

Dr. David Larsen will be at Plymouth Covenant Church on the weekend of March 21-22 sharing four different messages from God's Word on the topic "Zechariah for Today."

• Saturday 6:30 p.m. - What is holding us back?
• Sunday 9:00 a.m. - The Thrust we Need
• Sunday 11:00 a.m. - When Jesus Came
• Sunday 6:30 p.m. - When Jesus Comes Again

Dr. Larsen was raised in Minneapolis, educated at Bethel College, Stanford University, Fuller Theological Seminary and North Park Theological Seminary. He was a pastor for 32 years (including First Covenant Church in downtown Minneapolis) before becoming the chair and professor of practical theology position at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  

Dr. Larsen is the author of 17 books and the Professor Emeritus of Preaching at TEDS. He loves the church and is eager to share about preaching, evangelism, pastoral theology, Christian spirituality and Bible prophecy.