CHICAGO, IL (October 3, 2007) \u2013 A concert that included singers and musicians from multiple Evangelical Covenant churches as well as the North Park University Gospel Choir raised $3,000 to benefit Covenant World Relief projects in Sudan last week. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/08\/Blakely.jpg\" "\\"Blakely\\"")
Several hundred people attended the concert, which was held at Oakdale Covenant Church on Tuesday. The North Park choir included 150 students, and other churches contributed 50 musicians to a \u201cunity choir.\u201d The money was raised through an offering at the free event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were ecstatic,\u201d says Jocelyn Thornton, pastor of Emmanuel Covenant Church, who first proposed the idea. Thornton says she was inspired by a motion at this year\u2019s Central Conference Annual Meeting that called for churches to be more intentional about doing combined ministry in multiethnic settings.<\/p>\n
The event far exceeded her expectations. \u201cThe diversity was wonderful!\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cThe support we had from everyone in the churches, the conference and the national office was tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to members of Oakdale and Emmanuel, also participating in the event were members of Naperville Covenant Church, Atonement Covenant Church, The Storehouse Covenant Church, Beverly Covenant Church, New Jerusalem Life Covenant Church, Community Covenant Church, Friends for Life Covenant Church, and Sojourner Covenant Church. The accompanying photo shows one of the performers, Sonya Blakely.<\/p>\n
The North Park choir sang several pieces by itself as well as joining the other performers. \u201cWe had a great time,\u201d says director Rollo Dilworth.<\/p>\n