Although various boards and committees will be meeting today and Wednesday, the meeting officially begins with Thursday evening’s worship service, which will be broadcast live over the Covenant website beginning at 7 p.m. PDT. The Annual Meeting will conclude with Sunday morning’s ordination service at 10 a.m. PDT – that service also will be broadcast live over the website.
Highlights of this year’s meeting include election of the first executive minister of the newly created Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice, the traditional Irving J. Lambert and T.W. Anderson awards, and the welcoming of 12 churches into denominational membership. Executive ministers of Church Growth and Evangelism, Women Ministries, and World Mission also will stand for re-election to additional four-year terms.
David W. Johnson will be recognized as the retiring president of National Covenant Properties, with Stephen Dawson welcomed as Johnson’s successor. Bob and Janet Thornbloom will be honored as retiring Covenant missionaries, with Jorge Maldonado also honored as retiring president of CHET. Recognition also will be given Kurt Miericke as the retiring superintendent of the Southeast Conference, with Robert Owens welcomed as his successor.
There are three resolutions scheduled for discussion: the Resolution on Creation-Care, a Resolution on Divestment from Sudan, and the Resolution on Pornography: Breaking Silence, Breaking Free. The consent agenda includes one proposed constitutional amendment detailing various decisions made by delegates to the Annual Meeting, and five proposed bylaws amendments addressing the filling of vacant positions, delegate representation from local churches, eligibility for nomination to boards, ethnic representation, and the number of individuals serving on the Board of Nominations.
Detailed administrative reports from various ministry areas will be found online, as will the names and some brief biographical detail about the individuals being ordained and commissioned.
The Communications news team will be writing and posting news stories and publishing photographs during each day of the four-day meeting, including stories on each of the worship service messages. All of the detail on decisions reached, including election results, will be posted on the Covenant website as soon as those actions have been taken.
Editor’s note: To locate copies of documents referenced in this story, go to the Covenant website, select the Annual Meeting link in the menu to the left of the page, and then select the Agenda link. To find a particular item of interest, look through the agenda to find the item, and then click on that agenda item heading to link to the source document.
