132^nd Annual Meeting

April 30^th, 2022 – Harbor Covenant Church and Online

Visit the 2022 Annual Meeting Resources Page for related to the annual meeting including video recordings, interactive agenda, interactive annual report in English and Spanish, Superintendent’s Report slides, candidates for ordination video introductions, ECC’s Above All Else Annual Video, and virtual Ministry Fair.

Highlights from the Ministerial Association Meeting

Our Ministerial Association met in the morning of April 29 to cover business in supporting our pastors, staff and their families.  Five candidates for ordination and 50 licenses were approved for recommendation at the ECC Annual Meeting in June.

Highlights from the Annual Business Meeting

The 132nd Annual Meeting was attended by 125 delegates and general conferees for our first-ever hybrid meeting. Harbor Covenant Church showed incredible hospitality to those in person. Online delegates participated through Zoom.

Encounter Church, Bellevue, WA was recommended for ECC Membership.

Sunset Covenant Church, Portland, OR concluded its ministry and was removed from the roster of member churches. 

Superintendent Greg Yee shared his excitement for our current season of opportunities and fruitfulness as he highlighted our three mission priorities: Start Churches, Strengthen Churches, and Support Pastors.

• Greg invited Becca Worl, Vice-Chair, PacNWC Executive Board; PacNWC rep for the ECC Presidential Nomination Committee, to share about her encouraging experience with the thorough process. 
• Greg spoke about both the challenges and excitement experienced by churches throughout the conference, including the current challenge to accurately track attendance. We celebrated that 23% of our credentialed ministers are women and 12% are BIPOC. We have 30% of churches that are multiethnic/speak other languages. We had many generous donors over the past year.
• Local church giving was down by 3.57% overall, but because of proceeds from the closing of Sunset Covenant, we ended up 3.20% for the year.  We were reminded of our commitment to give 6½% to the denomination and 3½% to the conference.  If not there, please consider increasing your giving by 1/2% this year. 
• Under Start Churches, Greg highlighted the two planters that passed the Covenant assessment center.  One is in Seattle and the other in Tacoma.  Greg also reported the exciting results of our $30K gift to the Southeast Conference for church planting.  They are signing a new planter in Savannah, Georgia, and are working on leads in North Carolina and Florida.  Grace Bremerton concluded its ministry this past Easter and has voted to give themselves over to Harbor Covenant for a new Harbor multi-site campus.  Greg interviewed Pastor Leslie McCauley from Immanuel Spokane to share their journey of birthing The Garden Covenant Church, one of our newest plants.  It was a powerful story of intentionality, faith, and God’s incredible provision.  Greg also shared a desire to raise $100K this year toward church plants as a response to the fruitfulness in church planting that God has been showing us this year.
• Under Strengthen Churches Greg highlighted our resourcing through financial leadership, Church Chair exChange, grants, communication channels, and the new vitality church assessment tool Periodic Health Check (pH√).  Several things are returning including our young adult retreat Emerge (May), Unite West (July), and Journey to Mosaic (November).
• Under Supporting Pastors Greg highlighted the time of shifting from our long-standing, faithful generation of senior pastors to new, younger leaders coming into place.  We recognized the recent retirements of Sharon Anderson (Pine Lake), Mark Meredith (Pine Lake), Russ Blake (Crossroads Community), Paul Petersen (Bellingham), Keith Carpenter (Kent), Deena Jones (Arlington United), Mac Taylor (Monroe), Kent & Rhonda Egging (Bethany & Covenant Missionaries Sweden/Russia), Steve Bilynskyj (Valley), and Paul Duppenthaler (Countryside).

Brian Whitaker, PacNWC Executive Board Chair, proposed a revised budget for 2022 of $1,120,564 and $936,898 for 2023 which were both unanimously approved.

Elections for new members of the Executive Board, Youth Commission, Children and Family Ministry Commission, and Nominating Commission were held.  All elections were unanimously approved.  For a list of boards and commissions go to pacnwc.org and click on 2022 Annual Meeting.

Rob Mohrweis shared a report from Cascades Camp & Conference Center expressing their gratitude for the tremendous support the camp received during the pandemic that got them through. There remains a financial need and ongoing support in prayer and finances are deeply appreciated.  There is also growing excitement for this year’s camping season.  Rob expressed a need for male counselors and for lifeguards. 

Rob Bryceson, Asher Ernst, and Rodney McCauley extended an invitation to the 133^rd Annual Meeting on April 28^th – 29^th 2023 in Spokane, WA.

Please help connect people in your church to the Pacific Northwest Conference website, our monthly e-newsletter called The Catch, and our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.