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

Thirteen First Covenant students (entering grades 6-9) plus five high school “Jr Leaders” took a two day “trip” experiencing and serving at various Ministry sites in the Rockford area July 19-20. Day One began early with the students making and serving a pancake breakfast to 50 guests at Carpenters Place, helping to organize a storage area and receiving a very informative tour of CP. After lunch at Restoration Café, Chaplin Sowell from the Rockford Jail Ministry shared about the Bible Study Ministry for prisoners and the group was given an extensive tour of the Jail.

Located across West State Street is the Rockford Rescue Mission where students again had the opportunity to learn more about homelessness in our city. After dinner there was a Guided Prayer Tour to various sites and the Team prayed for those that work, volunteer, or are served at these places: Viet Now, NIWC (Abortion clinic), businesses located on Broadway, Crusader Clinic, RRM Resale Store, Patriots Gateway, Zion Lutheran Development Inc, Rock House Kids Church, Carpenters Place, Rockford Area Pregnancy Center, Rockford Jail Ministry and the Rockford Rescue Mission.

Following Matthew 25:40, "... whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me," seventeen junior high students lived out a three-day serving experience at River Bluff Nursing Home, Kids Around the World (Feed My Starving Children), The Carpenter's Place and our own PARK ministry. The experience was modeled after the high school missions trip last summer in Chicago through CSM (Center for Student Missions), a nationwide ministry with sites in major cities.

THE PARK: Summer '09 has come to a close, but not without leaving its mark on joy-filled kids and equally touched staff! Relive some of the fun in the following video:

ThePark-Summer09-WrapUp

Summer is such a wonderful time of year. I enjoy all the seasons of the year, and each season contains aspects that set it apart from the other seasons. My affinity for summer likely stems from growing up in Washington State (did I hear someone say "God's country"?). I remember as a kid waiting all year for summer. This is probably due to the Seattle metro area being cloudy much of the year. In fact, the annual average of cloudy days is 225 and partly cloudy days is 82. Thus the number of clear sunny skies is 58. Most of these days are during the summer months. It is easy to see why as a child I would anticipate summer's advent. (In defense of my beloved home state annual precipitation is less than that of New York, Miami, Atlanta, and Tulsa to name a few. Seattle only gets two more inches a year than Rockford.)

This summer excites me, but for different reasons. It excites me because of the ministries and leadership of this church.

At last the rays of sunshine are more than the flakes of snow here in Rockford... and spring was ushered in by a wonderful holy week, commemorating and celebrating the culmination of Christ's earthly ministry and work of salvation! On Thursday, we shared The Last Supper together, combining elements of a Mediterranean-style meal with a backdrop reminiscent of DaVinci's painting, featuring a glimpse into the thoughts of the apostles, presented in biblically-insightful monologues.

On Good Friday, we asked together, "Who Is This King?"—a question answered powerfully in the Easter cantata featuring the Praise Chorale and live orchestra: He is the Christ!

On Saturday, all ages stepped back in time to the 1st Century, as the sights, sounds, smells and activities filled the church—which was transformed into Jerusalem Marketplace.

And finally, on Sunday, we released the Hallelujahs in the morning worship services, ending our fast and once again letting our rejoicing out that Jesus, the Christ, is risen! Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!