WARREN, MN (December 13, 2004) – Two Evangelical Covenant churches are teaming up next month to help a Florida congregation whose building sustained extensive damage during the hurricane season this fall.
First Covenant Church of Vero Beach will host the Evangelical Covenant Church of Warren and Schaumburg Covenant Church in Schaumburg, Illinois, as both congregations are bringing groups of volunteers. The Minnesota church has team members ranging from ages 14 to senior adults, said pastor Brian Schanil. They will leave January 3 for the long drive south. The Schaumburg group will send a number of retired construction workers, said church mission project coordinator Sterling Mueller.
“We try . . . to do one home, domestic and overseas mission over the course of three years,” said Schanil, who will be one of the members of the mission team. “We wondered, with all of the hurricanes down in Florida, whether there was something to do there. That’s how it all started. We were in Mexico doing an international mission trip a couple of years ago and we’ve tried to look around and see what’s needed.”
After contacting Southeast Conference Supt. Kurt Miericke, Schanil’s mission team contacted First Covenant Church pastor Tristan Hohler. Although the details of the work have yet to be finalized, the churches will engage in some sort of construction while tearing down any loose debris and extraneous items from the church building.
Schaumburg Covenant Church in Chicago’s northwest suburbs is sending a mission team of nearly a dozen to Vero Beach, Florida, beginning January 3 said Mueller. Finished carpentry, dry walling and taping are among the jobs the group will complete, said Mueller, a retired construction worker. A handful of people have similar work resumes, giving First Covenant plenty of qualified help. However, the church has not been able to secure roofing materials to completely finish a roof that was damaged during hurricane season. Mueller said if necessary, his group would be willing to bring roofing materials down south.
Last year, a team from Schaumburg worked with a Mexican church on construction and a team is headed to Covenant Mountain Mission Bible Camp in March on a cooperative work trip with students from North Park University. The team will build cabins at the camp and, in June, a group will return to the camp to help run one of its summer youth programs for a week.
Schaumburg Covenant has an average worship attendance of 100 under pastor Dan Anderson. To learn more about the church’s upcoming mission trip, call Mueller at 847-439-6988. The team is willing to take other construction-minded people for the trip to Florida and is seeking assistance to run the youth camp in June.
The Evangelical Covenant Church of Warren has an average worship attendance of 70 and has been heavily missions-minded for many years. To learn more about the Minnesota church’s mission ministries, call Schanil at 218-745-4191.
Schanil noted that the church participated in a July trip Tajikistan and discovered a unique ministry possibility through strawboard manufacturing. He requests that anyone having resource information pertaining to that industry email it to him at bschnil@juno.com.
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