First Evangelical Covenant Church

First Evangelical Covenant Church celebrates with member Allan Barsema, whose ground-breaking non-profit work as the founder of The Carpenter's Place and Community Collaboration, Inc., has been nationally recognized with two recent awards: The Encore Careers 2010 Purpose Prize (presented by Civic Ventures), and the Harvard Bright Ideas Innovations Award. These ministries, marked by the highly creative and effective methods employed by Barsema, his wife Cathy, and the staff of the organizations, have not only had a profound impact on Rockford, but have served as models for outreach organizations far beyond our local community. First Evangelical Covenant Church continues to partner with Barsema, and many volunteers are able to see first-hand such excellent ministry in motion.

Read more about the awards:

NIU Today: Civic Ventures names NIU’s Allan Barsema among 10 winners of its National Purpose Prize

Encore Careers: Purpose Prize Winner Allan Barsema

Evangelical Covenant Church: Covenanter Honored With Innovative Ministry Award

Harvard Kennedy School: Bright Ideas

Over 5,000 teenagers from across the country gathered at the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville July 12-17 to celebrate the Covenant's triennial Youth Conference, CHIC. Our church was well represented by 17 students and 4 adults. The week was an inspiring time of daytime sessions focusing on a variety of topics. Evening worship shared passionate praise music and challenging speakers.

SonHarvest County Fair, our Vacation Bible School program for 2009 was an amazing week of experiencing God at work in the hearts and lives of the 150+ children and 100+ volunteers alike! Each morning kicked off with a gathering in the sanctuary, where we all learned fun and moving songs of praise (with a live band!), gave an offering to help children of Covenant pastors in Ecuador go to school, and were encouraged for the day by Teacher Ginny. Each fruit & veggie-themed group then headed off for their Bible story time, and then rotated through each of these three areas: the Farmer's Market, Bible Exploration, and Outdoor games.

As spring comes into full bloom I am reminded of what the Bible says about God's creation. Psalm 19:1-4 (niv) says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." In the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made..." (Romans 1:20 niv). Psalm 104 is another beautiful poem that expresses the wonder of all God's creation.

The book of Genesis tells us that the earth and everything that inhabits it was created by God (Genesis 1-2). Genesis also tells us that seven times God declared what he created was good. (As a side note: in the Bible the number seven represents completion and/or perfection. Thus, God declared creation completely and perfectly good.) Genesis also tells us God's intended purpose for humanity. Genesis 2:15 (niv) states, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."