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.

Join the Pacific Northwest Conference Annual Celebration Livestream on April 29th and 30th!

Friday Night Celebration Service

A Special Time of Prayer and Worship

April 29th @ 7:00 PM

Saturday Morning Annual Meeting

132nd Annual Meeting of the Pacific Northwest Conference

April 30th @ 9:00 AM

Visit the 2022 Annual Meeting Resources Page

• Annual Report
• Delegates Packet
• Agenda with Media Links
• Highlights
• More

By Dawn Taloyo, Associate Superintendent, PacNWC

Coming April 29 at the PacNWC Annual Meeting:
Trauma Healing Care with Abby Wong-Heffter and Wendell Moss

In the fall, West Hills Covenant hosted Wong-Heffter and Moss to help lead their congregation through sessions related to trauma and healing. Read here Pastor Stephanie Mathis’ reflection and endorsement.

HOW DO WE HEAL? 

This past year, we received a grant for Narrative-Based Trauma Healing. We had, like many other churches, gone through difficult times in the pandemic: ongoing violence and hate towards Black and Brown people; death; loss; mental health challenges; divisive politics and conversations; deconstruction; and the list goes on. We began to ask the question, “How do we heal”? And as we began to study healing trauma, we saw throughout the Scriptures a trauma-informed, caring God who in times of suffering and pain doesn’t shame us by asking, “What’s wrong with you?” but rather in compassionate solidarity wonders, “What happened to you?”

Abby Wong-Heffter (Asian) and Wendell Moss (Black), trauma therapists and teachers at the Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, have been integral to our transformative healing and health. We hosted two Healing Trauma events with them, one open to all and one specifically for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) on racial trauma. They have done group therapy for our BIPOC affinity groups. They have given us a framework of understanding what happens to our body and behavior when trauma happens as well as embodied tools and practices for healing and resilience.

Personally, as a pastor, I have seen God’s healing and growth in me as well as the church. People are beginning to understand their triggers better and respond with more reflection rather than reactivity. People who have experienced trauma in churches are coming and finding a place of both hospitality and hospital because of the trauma-informed care training we received from Abby and Wendell.

Abby and Wendell come with a wealth of experience, knowledge, humility, compassion, and wisdom that can be healing, first and foremost, to you as leader-humans, and secondly to your church communities.

Follow this link for more information and to register for the PacNWC 2022 Annual Celebration

By Claudio Carrasco, Pastor, Iglesia Creekside

We started this project two years ago when churches were closed due to the pandemic. We knew (our worship team and I) that we could not just go home and do nothing, so I started to produce the music for Psalm 50, record voices, and plan a video shooting. We recorded in three different locations; The Dunes in Othello, Columbia River mountains, and Everett Shores.

The original video’s release was delayed a couple of times for different reasons. When the war in Ukraine started, I knew that was the right time to release it. We finished the video with English and Ukrainian subtitles.

Psalm 50 is a message of salvation for everyone who cries out to the Lord. These are words of love and security for all those who have made a covenant with JESUS. We pray that many could be blessed by this much-needed message in these times.

Visit the Iglesia Creekside Web Page to learn more about the church and to contact Pastor Claudio.

Mary Hendrickson, ECC Director of Missional Vitality, Start & Strengthen Churches, invites you to her workshop at the PacNWC 2022 Annual Celebration; Taking Your Church’s Temperature. This workshop features the new Periodic Health Checkup.

pHcheck is an assessment tool for congregations. Churches are given overall scores in three key indicators of church health: Missional Identity, Vision, and Leadership. In addition, sub-scores are generated in each category giving invaluable tools for planning by church leaders. Resource links are also provided for each church health area of assessment enabling quick access to tools to strengthen areas of growth. Email mary.hendrickson@covchurch.org to schedule an assessment.

Visit the PacNWC 2022 Annual Celebration page to register

By Stephanie Rosic

Portland Covenant Church canceled our church service, but this time it wasn’t for Covid, or a surprise snowstorm. That Sunday, the church congregation and residents of King Community, where Portland Covenant is located, gathered together outside to serve the King neighborhood, while also honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his life of leadership, service, and commitment to justice. 

Equipped with buckets, bags, and pickers, 75 volunteers hit the streets to clean up their neighborhood and community. Walking up to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School the group was instructed by longtime Portland Covenant member and Founder of Neighbors helping Neighbors, Terrance Moses. As someone who has served the houseless community for years by picking up trash from the houseless and disposing of it on their behalf, Terrance was uniquely equipped to aid the greater King community in leading those gathered for this task.

Spread out over a 25 square block area, congregants and residents walked together, collecting trash along the way. Cars pulled to the side, rolling down their windows to thank those that were making the place they lived in cleaner, safer, and more beautiful. Residents came outside to greet those collecting trash, eager to learn the reason behind this undertaking in their neighborhood. As people slowly returned to Portland Covenant to drop off their full buckets, we gathered to eat lunch together and share stories from our experience. At the end of the day, participants had collected 600 pounds of trash from the King neighborhood streets.

Canceling service may seem like a difficult choice in this current climate. But grace and love propel us not only into the streets but to think practically today about acts of service for the communities we all live in. With souls motivated by love, and hearts full of grace, even beautifying a few city blocks becomes a radical act of service as we honor the place and the people we live among.

Visit Portland Covenant Church’s Facebook Group to see more pictures from the event

Visit the Portland Covenant Church website for more information about the church