North Park community members gathered for the Covenant Midwinter Conference.
Last winter鈥檚 annual Covenant Midwinter Conference, held in Jacksonville, Florida, was imbued with a festive spirit as North Park community members joined fellow Covenanters for the annual conference for a variety of activities, including worship, breakout sessions, relationship-building, and hearing from people across the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). 鈥淭here was the excitement of being able to gather and lots of laughter,鈥� said Baily Warman, director of North Park Theological Seminary (NPTS) Admissions. 鈥淥ne of our alumni, Eric Landin C鈥�09 S鈥�17 told me 鈥業鈥檓 having fun in ministry right now,鈥� and that was so refreshing to hear after the difficulty of the last few years.鈥�
One of the weekend鈥檚 highlights was honoring Debbie Blue S鈥�96 with the NPTS Distinguished Alumni Award.
Later that week, Dennis Edwards, seminary dean and vice president for church relations, led the conference through an intentional reflection on how God had been at work during the week of Midwinter.
In the days prior to Midwinter, the ECC hosted the NextGen Conference, a reworked version of the Youth Worker Connection. This new conference incorporates young Covenanters who are involved in other aspects of the church besides youth ministry.
The NextGen conference featured North Park-led worship and breakout sessions on topics like outreach innovations and how to be a trauma-informed youth pastor.
North Parkers played other key roles in the conference, including Matthew Lundgren C鈥�97 S鈥�01, who led worship for the week. Lundgren led the hugely popular Monday Night Worship with the theme 鈥淭he Music That Made Us,鈥� which is available on the ECC鈥檚 Instagram page.
ECC President Tammy Swanson-Draheim C鈥�98 S鈥�15; Curtis Ivanoff S鈥�08 superintendent of the Alaska Conference; and Rameila Williams C鈥�98 S鈥�16, director of ministry initiatives for Love Mercy Do Justice hosted a morning session called 鈥淧ractices of Presence鈥� in which they meditated on topics such as awareness, intimacy, identity, and empowerment.