{"id":8421,"date":"2003-12-03T22:02:56","date_gmt":"2003-12-04T03:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8421"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:27:58","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:27:58","slug":"3382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2003\/12\/03\/3382\/","title":{"rendered":"Merge Ministries Reworking Leadership Structure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MC ALLEN, TX (December 3, 2003)\u00a0 &#8211; Covenant World Mission-sponsored Merge Ministries is developing a new leadership configuration that will ensure quality mission efforts in the future, according to the organization&#8217;s\u00a0 executive director, Dale Lusk.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div>Merge &#8211; which has been in existence for 11 years under the\u00a0 administrative umbrella of Covenant Mission Connection &#8211; will branch out\u00a0 from its Latin American sphere to provide mission opportunities\u00a0 throughout the world. In the past, Merge led trips primarily to Mexico,\u00a0 Guatemala and Honduras, Lusk notes. Next year, however, Merge is taking mission groups to Jamaica and Costa Rica with hopes of organizing trips\u00a0 to Spain and other sites in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Lusk says\u00a0 numerous connections made with Nancy Reed, a representative for Covenant\u00a0 World Mission and CIPE (Confraternidad de Iglesias del Pacto Evangelico)\u00a0 are proving fruitful in expanding the mission trip opportunities.<\/p>\n<div>Two new administrative additions and a third position that are in the\u00a0 planning stage will help extend Merge&#8217;s reach in mission. Edith Cardenas\u00a0 of Leon, Mexico, is serving as an assistant director for Merge. She\u00a0 began her work in September. Cardenas&#8217; cousin, Damaris Adame, is a\u00a0 Christian Formation consultant for CIPE (which serves Latin American\u00a0 Covenant churches) and is currently finishing studies at North Park\u00a0 Theological Seminary in Chicago. Andrew Vanover from Thornapple Covenant\u00a0 Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the other assistant director. Both\u00a0 are based in Mexico, leading various mission trips throughout Central\u00a0 America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n<div>Another potential administrator, Carlos Sosa, is currently raising\u00a0 support for a new ministry with Merge \u2013 if successful, he would become\u00a0 regional coordinator for Mexico and Central America. Lusk hopes that\u00a0 Sosa can begin his duties next summer. He also hopes that a new\u00a0 seven-member advisory board made up of Covenant pastors and other\u00a0 experts from inside and outside the Covenant can further strengthen the\u00a0 administrative structure.<\/p>\n<div>&#8220;We&#8217;ll be able to increase our marketing and it would allow us to serve\u00a0 teams better because there will be more communication with groups who\u00a0 come down,&#8221; said Lusk of the expanded leadership paradigm. &#8220;Of course,\u00a0 it would also allow us to have more teams in more areas. I think many\u00a0 people think we only do trips to Mexico and we only do youth trips. But\u00a0 we do intergenerational trips, we&#8217;ve done a veterinarian mission trip\u00a0 (based out of Davis, California) and we have talked about having a group\u00a0 from Minnehaha Academy take a trip. Students would live with host\u00a0 families in Guatemala and work alongside families and learn more about\u00a0 that culture.<\/p>\n<div>&#8220;This is allowing us more flexibility instead of a cookie cutter\u00a0 (mission) experience,&#8221; Lusk continued. &#8220;And it allows us to let God move\u00a0 us in many directions without boundaries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>In January, Lusk will attend the Covenant&#8217;s Youthworkers Connection in\u00a0 Rosemont, Illinois, where he will have information available about\u00a0 Merge. To contact Lusk, email him at covmerge@earthlink.net.<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"> <\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=8421&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MC ALLEN, TX (December 3, 2003)\u00a0 &#8211; Covenant World Mission-sponsored Merge Ministries is developing a new leadership configuration that will ensure quality mission efforts in the future, according to the organization&#8217;s\u00a0 executive director, Dale Lusk. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merge Ministries Reworking Leadership Structure - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2003\/12\/03\/3382\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merge Ministries Reworking Leadership Structure - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MC ALLEN, TX (December 3, 2003)\u00a0 &#8211; Covenant World Mission-sponsored Merge Ministries is developing a new leadership configuration that will ensure quality mission efforts in the future, according to the organization&#8217;s\u00a0 executive director, Dale Lusk. 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