Sound Bites from the Superintendent
The longer we walk with our Lord and participate with Him in the building of His Church, the more likely we are to face periods of inner turmoil, spiritual dryness, and disillusionment from our deceitful and desperately sick heart (Jer. 17:9-10), to say nothing of the relentless pursuit of a tenacious enemy.  There are many well written resources available to help us identify God’s purpose in these potentially perplexing times.   One of my recent reads that touched upon “hitting walls”  in our journey of life, faith and ministry is Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero.  Click here for Tom's brief summary of his book and see if it provides some encouragement to you as you continue to faithfully serve. 

The Pastor and Purity:  Maintaining Sexual Integrity in the Ministry   
Start planning now to attend our 2008 Pastors Teaching Conference at Camp Shamineau on October 6-7.  Our speaker will be author, speaker, and pastor Sam Storms.  This year’s conference will help us think through issues of sexual purity and its importance in life and ministry.  The conference is aimed at equipping us for living out a life of sexual integrity.  It will include workshops by Irv and Elsie Woolf from the National Coalition for Purity and a panel discussion on some practical ministry issues related to purity.  Both male and female members of church staffs are encouraged to attend.  Spouses are also welcome but remember that housing accommodations for couples at camp are limited.  More information will be coming your way in the weeks ahead.  Stay tuned!

Project Purity
Be alert for a new district ministry initiative to provide help to pastors and churches with sexual purity.  "Project Purity" consists of three components:

• General resources for sexual purity
• Suggested policy for churches regarding internet computer use
• Purity evaluation, assessment, and resources to help pastors maintain or regain sexual purity

Project Purity is scheduled to be launched this fall.  It will be explained further at Pastors Teaching Conference in October.

Are you effectively reaching Latinos and other ethnics?
Every church can reach ethnics in their community.  Let us help you develop ministry within your church to reach ethnic populations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You do not need to plant a separate ethnic church.  (Some call this segregation.)  Neither can we expect the ethnics to just come and join our existing churches.  (Some call this assimilation.)  Many ethnics fear losing their cultural distinctive.  What is proving effective is to reach them through integration.  Integration is a long term process which provides a venue for services in their own language separate from the Anglo services.  All other ministries are shared and open to all.  As the next generation matures, the two separate bodies integrate.  Please contact us at 612-338-1716 or email bob @ncdefca.org for more detailed information and a more complete explanation of how this process of integration works.
-Bob Nieuwendorp, Ethnic Church Planting Director

A challenge to reach out
Reaching the lost and unchurched, is the goal and desire of every evangelical church.  How can we become more effective in this mission?  As one looks around, it seems like more people do not see the need or relevance of the church and its message.  As Jan Hettinga challenged us at the district conference, first, we need to make sure we are sharing a clear biblical gospel message that addresses real life issues and connects with people.  Second, we need to go and be with our unchurched friends and colleagues.  We need to build relationships with them at work, their home, and play that will give us opportunities to share the clear gospel message.  What steps do we as churches need to take to ensure we are being consistently intentional in outreach?  If you would be interested in talking with me about this issue, contact me at 612-338-1716 or dan @ncdefca.org.
-Dan Moose, Church Planting Director

2008 Student Ministries Conference Highlights
This year at Student Ministries Conference, we were blessed to see 1600 students challenged with God’s word and the gospel in Rochester, MN!  Bill Allison, of Cadre Ministries, passionately taught through Isaiah 6:1-8. By The Tree led us to worship God. We had great seminars that trained and equipped students and leaders alike in many different topics. Numerous youth pastors have commented on the “fruit” from the conference as they followed up with students that responded to God leading in their lives! God is at work within the conference, and we are looking forward to making it a more “deeper, equipping” conference. I’m already excited for 2009!  It is not too early to start planning.  Mark your calendars for April 24-26, 2009, for the Student Ministries Conference in Duluth, MN.  Don't miss out!
-Jamie Buchanan, Student Ministries Director

Becoming An Externally Focused Church
“If your church vanished, would your community weep?”   This was one of the penetrating questions asked by Rick Rusaw at a recent seminar I attended on “Externally Focused Churches.”  Rick is the pastor of LifeBridge Church in Longmont, Colorado and author of The Externally Focused Church.  The point of his question was that the people within our congregations should be so ingrained into the fabric of our communities through service that it would make a difference if they disappeared.  Rick argued that the church must pursue a dual mission of being internally strong as well as externally engaging the world around them.  Being externally focused involves both proclamation and demonstration of the gospel.  We must help people to see their community involvement as ministry.  I commend Rick’s book to you as well as our mission as Christ’s church to “show and tell” the gospel within the world around us.
-Andy O'Rourke, Antioch Initiative Director 

Pastoral Care News
Jim Anderson, Director of Pastoral Care, will be on Sabbatical July-Aug. 15.  Contact Kelley Johnson, Pastoral Care Assistant, during that period of time.  You can email Kelley at kelley.johnson @mchsi.com.  Please keep Jim in your prayers as he will be teaching a graduate class on Sabbath Rest in Lagos, Nigeria, from July 24 through August 10.

Sabbath Rest Retreat
For our most recent Sabbath Rest Retreat we hosted the staff of Lakewood EFC of Baxter.  Senior Pastor Dan Werthman took his pastoral staff to a pastors and wives Sabbath Retreat on May 19-20.  This is what he had to say after the retreat: “It was a significant bonding time for our staff (and spouses) to do together, and   to share with each other what God was doing/saying in our lives.  I’d highly recommend doing this together as a staff team. .  .  and would  love to see my elders attend it as well.”  Another participant commented:  “Yes, I think this [Sabbath Retreat] was great.  It gave me permission to just take time for rest . . . . I thought it was a perfect balance of sessions, PowerPoint, sharing, food, and time alone.  It passed my expectations.”  Consider arranging a Sabbath Retreat for your Leadership Team: Pastors, Elders, Deacons, etc.  Our next Sabbath Retreat will be at Timber Bay Retreat Center August 25-26.  For more information click here.

An Aid to Licensing in the EFCA
The EFCA History and Polity Course will be offered in conjunction with the EFCA Leadership Conference in St. Louis this summer, June 23-24, 2008.  The class is open to anyone, but is designed especially for current EFCA pastors seeking credentialing in the EFCA.  Attention is paid to history, polity, doctrine, missionary outreach, and current trends.  The advantages of taking this class over just doing the requirements are:

• Personal interaction, facilitated in a class setting.
• Personal exposure to several district and national leaders.
• Built-in accountability aids in getting this part of the credentialing process completed in a timely manner.
• Relationship building and networking with peers in ministry.
• Fulfills a requirement for the EFCA credentialing process - provided the course texts are read and thhe doctrinal paper completed.

If you are interested, register through the National Office Conference registration process.  Contact our office at 612-338-1716 if you would like more information on this course.

Connecting with Your Community
Looking for a way to make connections with the community around your church?  Consider what Grace EFC in Fridley is doing.  Once a month they host a community food distribution.  From their benevolent fund they purchase 40,000 pounds of food for $475 from Second Harvest.  This food is distributed on the fourth Friday of each month, 6pm-8pm, in the church gymnasium.  They see 1200 people show up for food.  Volunteers from the congregation, together with a local prison ministry, help in the endeavor, working at building relationships with their community neighbors.  Plans are in the works for adding some clothing and health supplies to the distribution.  Says senior pastor Gerald Stigall, “This ministry has not only enabled us to build bridges into the community; it has imparted a new spirit of encouragement and vitality to the congregation.”  Want to learn more?  Contact Gerald at gstigall @gracefree.org.

Senior Adult Fall Festival
The 18^th Annual Senior Adult Fall Festival will be September 15-16 at Camp Shamineau.  Come and enjoy the ministry of Lareau & Evie Lindquist as they speak on the theme “Growing Through Tough Times” and music by The Foundation Quartet.  Click here for more information. Registration forms will be sent out this summer.

Women's Fall Retreat
Women’s Fall Retreat will be Sept. 12-14, 2008 at Camp Shamineau.  We are delighted to have as our speaker, Kirsten King.  Kirsten has a passion for God’s Word and its transforming power for our lives, focusing on the retreat theme of “Learning to Love and Obey God’s Word.”  Join us for a refreshment and relaxing time and take part of many activities offered. Retreat brochure will be in the mail later this month.

Dates to Remember...
August 25-26, 2008    Sabbath Retreat at Timber Bay Retreat Center

September 12-14, 2008    Women's Fall Retreat at Camp Shamineau

September 15-16, 2008    18th Annual Senior Adult Fall Festival at Camp Shamineau

October 6-7, 2008    Pastor's Teaching Conference at Camp Shamineau

For a more complete listing, click here for the NCD website calendar.

In His grip,
Tom Mouw
ncd @ ncdefca.org