March 23, 2016

Join us for our first Finance Connection 
Monday, April 18 at 7 p.m.
 
Send your local church volunteers and paid staff working in the area of financial tasks to a conversation about the philosophical, as well as technical, aspects of serving well as leaders in this crucial area of ministry.
 
Join us in person at the Northwest Conference office on Monday, April 18 at 7 p.m. or via web-link from wherever you are. The first gathering will identify topics for future conversations and learning. Join us!
 
Contact Sandy Norris at sandy@northwestconference.org or 651-707-6617 for more details.  

2016 Annual Meeting
CWR's Project Blue bringing interactive learning experience to Annual Meeting
 
The 2016 NWC Annual Meeting will take place April 28-30 at Lakeview Covenant Church, Duluth, MN, and we've got great speakers and events lined up!
 
Project Blue was launched at CHIC2015 in partnership with Covenant World Relief. Through Project Blue, we will have the opportunity to do three things:
  1. Become aware of the need for clean water and sanitation around the world.
  2. Become engaged in the issues of injustice that exist in the world due to the lack of clean water and sanitation.
  3. Work together to raise funds for the work that Covenant World Relief is doing to provide clean water and sanitation.
On Friday afternoon during the 2016 NWC Annual Meeting, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a Project Blue workshop, as well as learn more about the initiative during our "Celebration of Mission" Ministry Fair. To learn more about Project Blue, visit CovChurch.org/ProjectBlue.

Lodging Options + Reservation Deadlines
Country Inn & Suites / Standard Room: $129 / Suite: $149 or $159
4257 Haines Rd. / 218.740.4500 / website
Reservation Deadline: March 28

Edgewater Resort & Waterpark / $149
2400 London Rd. / 800.777.7925 / website
Reservation Deadline: March 28

Hampton Inn / $119 - $159
310 Canal Park Dr. / 218.720.3000 / website
Reservation Deadline: PASSED

Theme: Serve Globally
While correlating to one of the mission priorities of the ECC, our 2016 theme primarily emanates from the historic commitment that NWC churches have had to proclaiming the good news of Jesus around the world. Join us as we celebrate the good things that are being done to do just that through our churches and people!

Speaker: Al Tizon
Al Tizon is Executive Minister of Serve Globally, the international ministries arm of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
 
Registration
For more details as they become available, and to register online, visit our 2016 Annual Meeting page.
 
Youth Ministry 
MOVE: Unsung / April 15-16 
Minnehaha Academy 

In this culture of Instagram fame and Snapchat celebrities, God still uses the average person to do amazing things. Bring your high school students for this incredible life-changing two-day event focused on compassion, justice and service.

Hector Saucedo (remember him from CHIC Basecamp?) is our speaker and Blue Oaks is leading worship. Cost: $30 for students and $20 for adults. Registration materials are online on our MOVE 2016 page.

Children & Family Ministry
NWC Family Go: Serve registration open! 
Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  |  First Covenant Church, St. Paul
 
Dear Northwest Conference families,

Reality #1: Parents have an immense impact on their kids' faith.

Reality #2: Families are busier than ever.

We want to help you manage these two realities by inviting you to NWC Family Go: Serve, a one-day service-minded ministry event for families. Serve and learn together, while making a tremendous impact on your kids' faith development.

Register Now  |  Go:Serve Event Page  |  Go:Serve Promo Video

Schedule
9:30 a.m.  Check-in begins
10 a.m.  Morning worship
11-2 p.m.  Ministry sites and lunch rotation
2 p.m.  Closing worship and debrief at First Covenant Church
3 p.m.  Head home

Register online by May 2, then come with your family vehicle and some spending money for lunch at Hmongtown Marketplace. And also bring an attitude of curiosity and an open mind, expecting that God will do great things.

Joining you in the journey,

Go: Serve team members
Kara Stromberg, Northwest Conference Director of Children & Family Ministry
Amy Long, Redeemer Covenant
Todd Kardell, Redeemer Covenant
Donovan DeGaetano, First Covenant, St. Paul
Kari Jacott, Linwood Covenant
Tina Wallace, Crossroads Church, Woodbury

Chaplain's Connection offers opportunities to connect, listen, encourage, plan

Friday, April 1, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 
Northwest Conference, 3106 47th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN
 
WHAT TO EXPECT: We will have lunch together, receive an update from
NWC Superintendent Mark Stromberg, and then participate in an interactive presentation
by Joel Jueckstock and Kyle Vlach.

The title of their presentation will be: "Claiming a Substantive View of Presence"

RSVP: Please RSVP to Paul Anderson at PRAnderson@Covenantretirement.org
by Monday, March 28

GOALS: Connect - Listen - Encourage - Plan

CHET Northwest Conference 
Two CHET Workshops coming very soon  
 
CHET Northwest Conference will be hosting two workshops in Spanish for CHET students, but all are invited. Cost is $25 for each.
  • Criando Hijos en Dos Culturas led by missionaries Nils & Erika Clauson this Saturday, March 26
  • Lidere desde Adentro led by Pastor Marcelo Balbi on Saturday, April 2

8:30 a.m. Registration,
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Workshops
Minnehaha Academy, 3100 W. River Pkwy., Minneapolis
 
Contact Greg Ellis if interested at 763-843-2231 or greg@chetnorthwestconference.org.

Evangelical Covenant Church  
New NWC Pastors Evangelism Cohort

As a lead pastor, do you both see the need and have the desire to increase your personal evangelism temperature? Is this also a need within your church?
 
In conjunction with the "Make and Deepen Disciples" emphasis in the Evangelical Covenant Church, the Northwest Conference is working with Beth Severson, the ECC Evangelism Team Leader, to facilitate a cohort of lead pastors who are interested in growing in their effectiveness in evangelism, both personally and within their churches. A prerequisite is to have a real eagerness to make this more of an overt priority in your walk with Christ, even as we believe that this could be a great "next step" for those wanting to become more active in the area of Intentional Evangelism.
 
The cohort will meet with Beth Severson and another evangelism coach once a month for 3 hours and will include lunch. The group will work on an implementation plan throughout the year with the expectation that lead pastors will grow in personal evangelism and lead their churches to vector toward evangelism using an influence strategy that involves key leaders in the church.
 
The cost of this initial pilot cohort is $500 for the first year, which will be comprised of 9-10 meetings. There is the possibility of some scholarship funds to help defray a portion of the cost for some of the participants. The goal is to have commitments from lead pastors by June 1, so that the cohort could be launched this coming September.
 
One Covenant pastor who has been involved in such a cohort in another regional conference throughout this past year described his experience this way ...
 
"This Evangelism cohort is transformative! I have shared about Jesus almost my whole life, but this is giving me a tool that I didn't have before. I'm engaged in ways that I have never been engaged before. And my church has said to me, "There has been something different about you in the last couple months, what is going on?" And what's going on is that finally a light bulb came on in a new way. It wasn't that I didn't love God, it wasn't that I didn't love the Church, it wasn't that I didn't love the lost. But I'm doing evangelism in an intentional way with brothers and sisters who are in this cohort. So, if the cohort comes to you, take advantage of it. This is something that will change your life, your church and our denomination. I think it's going to go beyond our denomination to touch other people and other denominations. In fact, my colleagues in my local ministerial group said to me, 'Dude! There is something different. What are you doing? Can you teach us what you've learned?'"
 
If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity for growth and learning, please contact Superintendent Mark Stromberg at the NWC office.
To see the full NWC Calendar, visit northwestconference.org/events/

April 15-16, 2016
MOVE - Minnehaha Academy, South Campus, Minneapolis, MN
 
April 28-29, 2016
Ministerial Association Annual Meeting - Lakeview Covenant Church + First Covenant Church, Duluth, MN
 
April 29-30, 2016
Northwest Conference Annual Meeting - Lakeview Covenant Church, Duluth, MN

May 7, 2016
Go:Serve - First Covenant Church, St. Paul, MN
 
June 18-25, 2016
Adventures in Leadership - Adventurous Christians, Grand Marais, MN
 
August 4-6, 2016
MUUUCE - Crossroads Church, Woodbury, MN

Northwest Conference, 3106 47th Ave. S.  |  612.721.4893  |  northwestconference.org