PORTLAND, OR (June 21, 2007) \u2013 \u201cWelcome to Portland and the North Pacific Conference.\u201d
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\nThat was the greeting delegates and others received as the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church got under way today at the Red Lion Hotel. The greeting came from Marilyn Novak, wife of North Pacific Conference Superintendent Mark Novak.<\/p>\n
![\"Novak](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/Ef\/UO\/EfUOmFFkiw39p26LgHrVjA\/NPC-Marilyn.jpg\")
Marilyn Novak was presenting new arrivals with a specially bottled container of water, produced by a Kirkland company and personalized with a label bearing the conference name, along with a small bag of chocolate-covered cherries, also bearing the conference name and manufactured by an area company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just wanted to do something special to welcome all of these people to the North Pacific Conference,\u201d Novak said as she presented a bottle of water to Annual Meeting Coordinator Fredrik Wall (accompanying photo). \u201cWe wanted the folks to experience a personal touch,\u201d she added. Novak loves orchestrating special touches for all kinds of events as part of conference ministry.<\/p>\n
Emails were sent to conference churches, asking for suggestions for thoughtful expressions of appreciation to be given to delegates. \u201cThe people coming to the Annual Meeting travel a great distance and make a great effort to come to the meeting, and we just wanted one way of saying how much we appreciate their participation,\u201d her husband added.<\/p>\n
![\"Water-candy\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/g8\/yg\/g8ygmKJd-mE9zukt7aTiPA\/NPC.jpg\")
The registration area in the hotel lobby became increasingly busy during morning hours as delegates began arriving in larger numbers. Some had experienced frustration in reaching Portland due to the problems with United Airlines\u2019 computer systems, which were down for two hours Wednesday morning and delayed hundreds of flights.<\/p>\n
A number of individuals began arriving early in the week for Covenant Ministerium, Executive Board, and other committee meetings, with the Executive Board scheduled to meet all day today. The Annual Meeting officially gets under way at 7 p.m. PDT with the opening worship service. Activities are scheduled to conclude with Sunday\u2019s ordination service.<\/p>\n
All four worship services will be broadcast live over the Covenant website. To join the worship experience in real time, visit the “Covenant webcast” area of the website and follow the login instructions. Be advised that if the appropriate software to view the services needs to be added to a computer, that software should be downloaded in advance as it requires a few minutes. The software is available free on the Covenant website.<\/p>\n
Stories and photographs will be published in the online Covenant Annual Meeting news report throughout each day of the Annual Meeting, reporting actions from the business sessions as they occur. Material will remain archived for later viewing, including the four worship service broadcasts.<\/p>\n