Special Events In

Sunday, April 30

Children’s Choir Concert

Wednesday, May 3

MOPS

Friday, May 5

Dinner & Business Meeting

Sunday, May 7

New Members

Sunday, May 14

Mother’s Day

Wednesday, May 17

MOPS

Friday, May 19

Confirmation Banquet

Sunday, May 21

Confirmation

One Worship Service 10 am

See inside for details.

NORTHWEST NEWS

NORTHWEST COVENANT CHURCH M O U N T P R O S P E C T, I L L I N O I S

May 2017

Northwest Covenant Church, as disciples of Jesus Christ,

seeks to be an authentic

Christian community

where lost people are found and hurting people are helped.

Don’t Live in the Past!

In my Easter sermon, I suggested that many of us have difficulty leaving our painful past behind and allowing the living Jesus to forgive us, heal us, and help us move on. This seems to have struck a chord with many of you (I’ve heard from you). So, I thought it might be helpful to say a little more about this topic.

The Apostle Paul talked about it, in detail, in his letter to the Philippians. I would suggest you read the entire letter. He says that we must learn to forget the past, move on, and look forward (3:13).

“Forgetting what lies behind,” Paul presses on toward the goal, toward maturity, toward heaven.

What was Paul striving to forget? Certainly he wanted to put his pre-Christian life behind him, a life in which he murdered and participated in the murder of Christians. But I also think he desired to move beyond his religious past. Even though it had served him well and he possessed an impressive pedigree, he con-siders it all “garbage” compared to knowing Christ (cf. 3: 1-11).

Sometimes even our successes and our accomplishments can hinder us from tru-ly growing up into Christ. Even the good things we’ve achieved in life can be-come a hindrance to maturing in Christ.

I’m convinced that too many of us live in the past—and it seems to get worse as we get older. We are far too focused on past jobs, past relationships, past athletic achievements, and even on past religious experiences. We’re too focused on the “good old days” that probably weren’t really that good.

But many of us are also obsessed with our past failures, mistakes, and sins—by both the things we’ve done and those things that were done to us. We can’t seem to get beyond them. We know that God has forgiven us, but we can’t ever seem to forgive ourselves. As I mentioned on Easter, I’ve had so many conversations with men and women who are convinced that their sins and mistakes have truly disqualified them from God’s grace and that they are of no value to God or any-one else.

Don’t live in the past! Forget what you need to for-get and get on with your life. Christ is still at work in you (he’s always been at work in you) so press on. Don’t give up because of past failures or even because of past successes that you can’t seem to rep-licate. Continue striving and straining toward the finish line.

—Pastor Kurt

Council Corner

The Council wants to begin this month’s letter by saying thank you to each of you that responded to our letter regarding the building fund dispersal. Almost unanimously you responded by trusting that our church family will make sound, prayer-directed

decisions on how to direct our gifts. We believe that our response signals a sig-nificant change in our congregation’s attitude. Rather than protecting our indi-vidual interests we chose to begin a new chapter together. We, of course, have different ideas about how the church should distribute God’s resources. Council welcomes each person’s input. We challenge you to not only share your ideas but openly listen and consider other’s ideas.

We have scheduled a meeting for Friday, May 5th, at 6:00 pm. That’s right, Cinco de Mayo. That should make it easier to remember. I would like to ask each of you to try to save the date for this important purpose. We will be serving a light dinner at 6:00. After dinner we will have our required business meeting followed by our first discussions regarding the building fund. The dis-cussions will take place in round table format. We will break up into groups of 10 or so and begin to gather ideas for dispersal. We will not be voting on pro-posals, rather we will be gathering information to form our decisions together.

Council is confident that this process can be a celebration of the tre-mendous generosity Northwest has shown in the past to further God’s mission. The new facility is no longer our mission. Together, with God’ leading through concerted prayer, we will determine our new missions. I would encourage you to not lament the past, simply rejoice in where that process has brought us. God has always had a plan for Northwest's faithful stewardship. He will now lead us on his chosen path. Let’s begin to discern what that is together.

See you May 5th,

—Kirk Johnson, Council Chair

Page 2 NORTHWEST NEWS

WEEKLY

CALENDAR

Sundays Chapel Choir 8:15 am Contemporary Worship 9:00 am Christian Formation 10:00 am Traditional Worship 11:00 am Senior High Youth 6:30 pm

Communion 5/7

NOTE: Beginning Sunday, May 21 One Worship Service at 10 am

Mondays AA, Student Center 7:00 am Men’s Study 7:30 pm

Tuesdays Community Bible Study 5/2 7:00 pm Wednesdays AA, Student Center 7:00 am MOPS - 5/3, 5/17 9:30 am Middle School Youth 6:30 pm Choir Practice 7:00 pm Thursdays Rip n Roll 9:30 am Praise Team Rehearsal 7:30 pm Fridays AA, Student Center 7:00 am

NEWSLETTER DEADLINE— for the June issue is Sunday, May 21. Please leave your news items in the church office in the mailbox marked News-letter or email mknellis@ comcast.net

Business Meetings Council 5/9 7:00 pm Diaconate 5/13 8:30 am

Director of Music

After 16 months, the Worship Arts Director Search Committee is delighted to announce that Mike Nelson has accepted the position of part-time Director of Music. He will begin his ministry with us on June 11, 2017. Mike will direct the Sanctuary Choir, the Praise Team, and oversee the Children’s Choir. Mike will provide continuity between all the music ministries at NWCC and identify op-portunities to encourage adult and youth participation.

Special Presentation on Mother’s Day

The Worship Board welcomes your participation in a special presentation for worship services on Mother’s Day, May 14. If you would like to recognize a woman/women who have had significant influence in your life, you are invited to submit an electronic image of this individual(s) to Patti Murga at murga_patricia@yahoo.com Images must be in either jpg or pdf format. If you do not have an electronic image, but have a physical photo, you can bring it with you to church on Sunday, April 30. We will scan it for you in the church office following each service. Deadline to submit images is Sunday, April 30.

Summer Schedule

Sunday, May 21, is Confirmation Sunday. There will be one service that morn-ing at 10:00 am. We will continue that schedule throughout the summer with one service at 10:00 am.

NORTHWEST NEWS Page 3

MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) exists to encourage, equip, and help women become the best moms that they can be! Women who are preg-nant or have young children (birth through kindergarten) are all invited

to join MOPS. Childcare is available. Our meet-ings are at 9:30 am on the first and third Wednesdays of the month and include breakfast, coffee and adult conversation. Your first meeting is FREE, and after that, each meeting costs only $7 with childcare and $5 without childcare. Bring a friend; new members and visitors are always welcome! The events for January are—

Wednesday, May 3 - Game Day Wednesday, May 17 - Craft - Last Meeting

Join us for the Chapel Choir musical game show

The Bible Tells Me So Show . . .

the show that tests your knowledge of God’s promises.

April 30th at 5:30 pm

Sunday, May 7, 12:30 pm

We will meet for a light lunch immediately follow-ing the 11 am worship service and then meet from 1 - 4 to discuss what it means to be a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church, and Northwest Cove-nant in particular. If you are interested in attending, please call the church office at 847-255-4671. At-tending the membership class does not mean you have to join the church; however, church membership is contingent at attend-ing the class.

Northwesterners’ Event

Chicago Botanic Garden Friday, June 2

Box lunch at 12 noon followed by a tram tour of the garden

$37 per person (includes lunch and parking)

Sandwich choices: Chicken salad, Turkey and cheese, or Veggie

All choices include side salad, dessert and beverage

Reservations, non-refundable payment, and sandwich choices must be made by May 18

RSVP: Sundquist, 847-253-3515; R. Larson, 224-213-7390; Applequist, 847-963-8739

Make checks payable to Roy Sundquist

Hero Central Vacation Bible School June 12-16, 6:30 – 8:35 pm

At VBS, kids will discover the qualities that make us

truly heroic in God!

Hero Central has epic music, spectacular science, crafty crafts, heroic recreation, and fantastic Bible stories to help kids (ages 4 through 6th grade) discover their strength in God!

Informational invitations will be sent out soon. If you would like us to send an invitation to someone who has not been to VBS before, please forward the mailing in-formation to Daun Geissler. We will also have informa-tional fliers available to give to friends.

Watch for more information about this exciting ministry

event! Contact Daun Geissler with

any questions, or if you want to use

your gifts and be a member of the

team.

Our last day of regular Sunday

School classes at 10:00 will be

May 14. Classes will resume in

September.

Lecture Class – Dr. Robert Lar-

son will be leading a series on

the Psalms of Ascent, April 23 –

May 14.

NORTHWEST NEWS Page 4

Muchas Gracias!

Thank you for your generous donations of vitamins and children's items for Ecuador. Kristi Lundblad will be bringing the much needed items down to Ecuador in May with her medical team. Please pray for these tangible items to meet basic needs for these Ecuadorian children, but to also show God's love through your donations.

Northwest Compass (formerly the food pantry) provides emergency services, education and empowerment for people in our community who are vulnerable or in crisis. Due to the closing of homeless shelters, there is a large need this month for personal care items in travel sizes for this population. Examples are: travel body wash, shampoo, soap, razors. Dental products are NOT needed. Thank you for your support.

Thank You Northwest Covenant

Gratitude and Prayers

The Mission/Outreach Board would like to thank the 16 people who volunteered their time and efforts to go to Cornerstone Community Outreach and to all who donated many wonderful items on March 18th! The vehicles were "packed" and everything was deeply appreciated.

After arriving around 10:30 am, a short, but very informative and clever overview of the Center was presented by Sarah Wright. The group was broken up into several areas of service. Some helped to set-up and serve the lunch, others prepared the "free store", a few went to sort out donations and the kids were blessed with a "fun" art project. All in all, it was a delightful and fulfilling experience for all!

We are asking for continued prayers and do-nations for Cornerstone. They are the largest homeless shelter in Chicago, providing meals for 350 people daily. They strive to help folks find employment and a home of their own.

Some of the ongoing items needed are diapers (especially for toddlers), personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, bedding and clothes.

If you have any questions or would like to donate, please see or call Donna Sticken (phone number 847-802-4483).

Amanda Fulk reflects on her volunteer experience at CCO: When Northwest Covenant went to Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO) the weekend of March 18th, I helped sort clothes and shoes which would then be transported to CCO’s “Free Store” where shelter residents and low-income neighbors can “shop” for free clothing and household items. While sorting shoes, I learned that not many men’s shoes are donated mostly because men tend not to own as many shoes as women. With that said, all donations are greatly appreciated, but men’s shoes are especially important. I also experienced (on a small scale) how much time and energy it takes to sort and organize donations. I learned that one way to expedite getting items to the Free Store, is to make sure to lace up pairs of shoes and don’t send anything with holes in it. The many boxes, bags, and piles of donations showed me how considerate, thoughtful and caring people are and how grateful the staff of CCO was for our help to sort the donated items. With Chicago’s unpredictable and unu-sually severe winters, it is especially important to distribute boots and coats quickly to the homeless to help them stay warm especially in the winter months. Overall, I found my volunteer experience at CCO to be physically exhausting but overwhelmingly fulfilling. I hope you consider joining us on a future date to the city and CCO. AHF

The Delp Details

HE IS RISEN! By the time you read this, you may be thinking, “yes, that was a few weeks ago,” but as I write this, we are coming off Easter weekend. It is always a beautiful reminder to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us. I tradi-tionally try to watch the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” as a vivid reminder of this sacrifice. I am always amazed, AMAZED that literally one minute in the movie, Mary, Jesus’ mother is holding the dead Jesus in her arms at the foot of the cross and then two minutes later we see Him walk out of the tomb. It reminds me that our sorrows and trials and troubles are momentary, but there is a greater reward! That reward is found in Jesus! So, I say it again, HE IS RISEN because these words are not just for Easter morning, but a reminder throughout the year of the gift we have in Christ, and we should live that way not just on Easter but the whole year!

Well, we thought last month was going to be our busy month, but this month of April has turned out to be even busier! We conducted two medical caravans in April and as you read this, we will be in the midst of another one with North-west’s own Kristi Lundblad! We are SO excited about this and will share more about it next month. It will be a busy week and we anticipate seeing over 300 children in less than five days. When you read this, please pray for us--it will be busy to say the least!

As we said, Kristi will be coming down for a medical caravan, but she is also coming down as one of the representa-tives of the Santiago Partnership board of directors for the opening and inauguration of the Home for At-Risk Children on April 29th! As most of you know, since starting at Northwest almost 15 years ago, God has had this vision He has laid on our hearts for the clinic and home. It may sound simple, an inauguration, but remember it has been 15 years in the making! We celebrate this and hope you celebrate with us and rejoice in what God has done!

We continue to plan and prepare for the youth team coming down shortly. We are excited! As we see more and more coming together in ministry here, it is so thrilling to think that the items you all are donating now for the home and clinic will be used VERY soon here in Ecuador for needy and underserved children. THANK YOU in advance for all your work in this. We SO appreciate it!

Thank you for all you do to love us and support us, our project and our ministry partners here in Ecuador!

With Much Love from Ecuador, Joel, Kim, Simeon, Esther and Ephraim

As always, you can keep up with us and our daily lives through our blog: http://blogs.covchurch.org/delp/

Want to know more about our project for a center for at-risk children and a medical clinic? Check out our website at: https://www.santiagopartnership.org/ or if you would like to donate you can go to our website or send a check to The Santiago Partnership, 23891 Airport Rd., Coshocton, OH 43812

NORTHWEST NEWS Page 5

Covenant World Relief

You have read about the Syrian conflict in the city of Aleppo. Have you wanted to do something to alleviate some of the suffering? As a matter of fact, you have done so.

You have done so through Covenant World Relief which has been working with a trusted local partner to distribute 300 food packages, including infant milk formula. Each package provides food for up to 5 people for two months. That means that you have helped approximately 1,500 people through your gift to Covenant World Relief.

In addition, through a local partner, cash has been distributed for medical needs as well as hygiene and wom-en’s dignity kits. While we could always do more, this is a start.

Clothing Closet

The Mission and Outreach & Evangelism Boards are creating a “Clothing Closet” for those in need in our Fairview school community. We are looking for gently used children’s clothing for our “Clothing Closet.” We are in the initial stages of this new project. Please start cleaning out your closets and be on the lookout for more details like where you can bring clothing items and if there are any specific needs. Please see Marilyn Helstrom if you have any questions.

NORTHWEST NEWS Page 6

I have been overwhelmed by the support that has been shown to the students and leaders as they have been preparing for their trip to serve down in Ecuador. The church is not just supporting the students and leaders but partnering as we serve alongside our sister Covenant Churches and missionaries in Ecuador.

Thank you for your generosity! Through your financial support, the students have raised over $25,000 through the church auction, the Rand Road Garage Sale, Panera fundraiser, Christmas card fundraiser and support letters. This is remarkable!! This has made it possible for all the students that were hoping to go and serve to be able to go and serve!!! As we continue to prepare, we have one fundraiser left…the envelope fundraiser which will start in mid/late May. This fundraiser will not be centered on getting the students/leaders on the trip, but helping to buy the supplies needed for the students and leaders to affectively serve while down in Ecuador…for the building projects and VBS ministry that we will be doing down in Ecuador. We will be helping to build onto the Covenant church in Ibarra, helping to lead the Vacation Bible School in Ibarra, and building an addition on the medical clinic which is a part of the Santiago Partnership with the Delps are a part of in Cayambe.

Please be watching for this final opportunity to financially support this trip!! Also be watching for opportu-nities to pray for the students and leaders going on the trip…each week we will start listing a few of the stu-dents/leaders names under the prayers of the church…please pray that God will continue to prepare their hearts for this trip as well as prepare the hearts of those we will come into contact with in Ecuador. And, of course, please start praying for safety for the team. In addition, there will be prayer cards for those specific students/leaders out in the welcome center. Please take them and continue to lift them up in prayer.

Because of your generosity, we have been able to shift our focus from fundraising to get the students to start the process of team building and preparing the team for the ministry which we will be doing in Ecuador.

We had originally planned on having a garage sale during the Mount Prospect Garage Sale Weekend, May 19-20. After evaluating where the team is on fundraising and looking at the weekend (confirmation weekend, the weekend before finals, etc) the team has decided that we will not be doing the garage sale this year.

—Pastor Mark

Confirmation

We are excited about celebrating with our 2017 Confirmation class as they share their stories of faith on Sunday, May 21st. We will have one service that morning at 10:00am. Our 2017 con-firmation class is: Nate Carlson, Elly Nilsen and Josh Paulsen.

Medical/Liability Release Forms

We are at that time of year when Parent Consent Forms need to be updated by EVERYONE involved in the youth ministry at Northwest. All forms run from June 1st to June 1st, so the current ones have will expire at the end of May. Please pick a new one up and turn it in to Pastor Mark or the church office. If students don’t have a current one on file there may be some events this summer where they are unable to participate (remember this applies to friends as well). Thanks!!

Transitioning to the next Grade Level

Students will transition to the next grade level on June 1st. This means that the current 5th graders will transition into the middle school youth group (although they will be allowed and are encouraged to attend VBS), the current 8th grad-ers will transition into the high school youth group and the current seniors will be a part of the high school youth group until school begins in the fall. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Pastor Mark or Daun Geissler.

Sixth Grade Welcome Family Gathering

Know of anyone entering 6th grade? Do you have a sibling entering 6th grade? For those that

will be entering 6th grade in the fall, there is a family gathering (with supper) at the Student Cen-

ter on Wednesday, June 7th at 6:30PM to hear more about what it will look like to be a part of

the youth group!!! We are excited to have you be a part of the youth group over this next

year!!! Summer is a great time to start plugging into the youth group!!! (Continued on Page 7)

NORTHWEST NEWS Page 7

NORTHWEST COVENANT CHURCH

PASTORAL STAFF: Kurt Carlson, Transitional Pastor Mark Peterson, Associate Pastor of Youth

CHURCH STAFF: Daun Geissler, Director of Children and Family Ministries Beth Petersen, Administrative Assistant Karen Lindquist, Organist Jennifer Swanson Hillbo, Director of Children’s Choirs April Hoke, Buildings and Grounds

CHURCH COUNCIL: Kirk Johnson, Chair Darrick Robbins, Vice-Chair Eric Paulsen, Secretary Jim Myers, Finance Dale Roeing, Diaconate Ginger Harris, Education Carol Peterson, Mission Tom Schild, Outreach and Evangelism Patti Murga, Worship

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Mary Nellis

Our Mission Statement

Northwest Covenant Church,

as disciples of Jesus Christ,

seeks to be an authentic

Christian community

where lost people are found

and hurting people are helped.

300 N. Elmhurst Avenue Mount Prospect, IL 60056

Phone: (847) 255-4671 Office Hours: 9:00 am- 4:00 pm M-F

e-mail: office@northwestcovenant.com www.northwestcovenant.com

Attention Graduates and Parents!!!

We would like to recognize all Middle School, Senior High, and College/Advanced Degree graduates in the June issue of the news-letter. Will you please contact the church office, put a note in the Newsletter mailbox, or email Mary Nellis at mknellis@ comcast.net with name of graduate, school, degree, honors, future plans, etc.

Due date: Sunday, May 15

Youth News —Continued from Page 6

Ecuador Mission Trip

For those going on the Ecuador Mission Trip, our second mission trip training will take place on Sunday, May 7th from 6:30PM-8:00PM (please note time change). At this training we will begin to explore the expectations that we have as participates on this trip, what we are expecting to get out of it, but also what God expects of us as we go. We are also hoping to skype with our site leaders down in Ecuador so we learn more about what our ministry in Ecuador will look like. All remaining Ecuador Mission Trip payments need to be in BY June 4, 2017!!!

The last two trainings will take place on Sunday, June 4th and Sunday, July 9th (Parent/Student Final Meeting) both from 6:30PM-8:00PM.

Ecuador Mission Trip Supply Fundraiser

During our time in Ecuador we will be working on three building pro-jects…two will be taking place in Ibarra, mixing cement, wall build-ing and painting. The third project will be working on an addition to the medical clinic in Cayambe out of which Kim Delp cares for the community. Our goal is to raise between $4000-$5000 to help cover building supply costs. In order to do this, there will be envelopes on the window outside Pastor Mark’s office…each has a number on the outside…1 = $1.00, 2 = $2.00 all the way up to 100. Once all the en-velopes are taken and the money is turned in, we will have all the money we need to cover the cost of sup-plies!!! Envelopes will go up mid/late May…our goal is to have all the envelopes taken by Sunday, June 4th!!

Congregational Business Meeting and Discussion of Rand Road Building

Fund Disbursement

Friday, May 5 Dinner will be served at 6:00 pm

Business Meeting will follow dinner Child care provided through grade 5 Please sign up on bulletin board if child care is needed.

NORTHWEST NEWS

Northwest Covenant Church 300 N. Elmhurst Avenue Mt. Prospect, IL 60056