MINNEAPOLIS, MN (October 19, 2007) \u2013 True Light Covenant Church will have a lot less property as it prepares to hold its first service this Sunday at Minnehaha Academy. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re giving away just about our entire church,\u201d says Pat Hall, pastor of the congregation formerly known as Frontline Covenant Church.<\/p>\n
The congregation had been leasing a 10,000-square-foot building with a contemporary, first-class new facility within an industrial commercial property. As it moves to the school and meets in its well-equipped, two-year-old auditorium, the church no longer needed much of what it owned.<\/p>\n
So the church gave away 350 seats to the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. It donated its sound system to a new church plant, and is giving away its piano. \u201cWhy would we want to store it when someone else could use it?\u201d<\/p>\n
The move and new name are part of the congregation\u2019s ongoing transition that began several years ago. The church was welcomed as a transfer into the denomination at June\u2019s Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n
The church, which started in 1994 as a non-denominational congregation, began its move to the Covenant in 2005 after Hall, a former Lutheran (ELCA) minister, was called to be its pastor. They already had begun considering affiliating with a denomination. Hall was coaching hockey at Minnehaha and the connection with the Covenant grew. Hall, who also serves as a chaplain with an area law enforcement agency, recently received commendations for his work after the collapse of the I-35 Bridge.<\/p>\n
The name change process also was helped along by what Hall humorously describes as \u201ca childish act\u201d on his part. The congregation was contemplating a \u201crebranding\u201d process and wanted to do extensive marketing research. But that required a lot of money.<\/p>\n
Hall thought he had a solution. His brother\u2019s company specializes in helping corporations with marketing and branding. Hall assumed his brother would volunteer his company\u2019s time to help the church. However, his brother turned him down, saying the job was too big.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him, \u2018I going to tell mom you won\u2019t help me,\u2019 \u201d Hall recalls. His brother didn\u2019t believe that Hall, 53 years old at the time, would resort to such a juvenile tactic. \u201cHe called me back and said, \u2018I just got a call from mom.\u2019 \u201d The firm donated the time, Hall says, laughing.<\/p>\n
Hall, who is now completing doctoral degree work in branding churches for evangelism, says the new name communicates the essence of the congregation. All of the church\u2019s ministry will be influenced by its belief that \u201cTrue light fires your life\u2019s journey.\u201d<\/p>\n