Sustaining Pastoral Excellence

2008 brought even more Covenant pastors, missionaries, adn chaplains to the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence initiative. Listed below are some of the different events, activities, and retreats that grants were offered for in 2008.

• 11 grants given for personal  Spiritual Direction
• A course at Jerusalem University College entitled “The Geographical and Historical Settings of the Bible”
• Study trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand with Wycliffe missionaries
• Ten-day personal Solitude Retreat at St. Columba Retreat House in Inverness, CA
• Personal retreat at St. John’s Abbey Retreat Center in Collegeville, MN
• “Kierkegaard’s Relevance to the Contemporary Church” – Summer class at Regent College in Vancouver, BC, Canada
• A visit to the Northumbria Community in Northumberland, England
• Journey to Mosaic with the Pacific Southwest Conference
• Personal Retreat at Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland.
• “Festival Of Homiletics” in Atlanta, GA
• Midwest Ministry Development Services, Career Counseling, Track 2, Westchester, IL
• “A Spiritual Hunger Conference” sponsored by Healing Room ministries held in Spokane, WA
• National Youth Workers Convention
• Self-designed group visit to Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in Mountain View, CA with focus on Multicultural Ministry Development
• PREPARE/ENRICH Program study
• Study Conversation with Brian McLaren
• Personal Retreat at L’Abri Retreat Center, Greatham, England
• PSWC Church Planters Retreat
• Breakthrough Leadership Conference, Stephen Ministries, St. Louis, Missouri
• “Under the Broom (Juniper) Tree” Continued Study for Ministers Seminar, Korean School in Seoul, Korea
• Personal Retreat at St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN.
• “Exponential 08” National New Church Conference
• 9 months of weekly Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and Spiritual Direction at Wellspring in Menlo Park, CA
• National Outreach Convention held at Willow Creek Church in Barrington, IL
• Spiritual Direction program at Bread of Life Center for Spiritual Formation in Sacramento, CA
• Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem, six week scholar program during sabbatical leave
• Missional Monastic trip to England and Northumbria
• Spiritual journey and study to Ghana, West Africa
• Study trip to Israel and Palestine
• “Footsteps of the Apostle Paul” tour in Greece
• Self-designed group Church Planter’s Retreat in Santa Barbara, CA
• Personal retreat at Easy Yoke Ranch in Pueblo, CO
• Personal retreat in Assisi reflecting upon the life of St. Francis
• Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders sponsored by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
• “Drinking from the Well” and “The Ministry of Supervision” courses at the Sophia Center in Atchison, KS
• North American Conference on Biblical Preaching at Grace Community Church in Houston, TX.
• One-year spiritual companion training at the Selah Center in Gig Harbor, WA
• 15 pastors attended Covenant-created “Health & Excellence” Seminar led by Jay Matthews from Midwest Ministry Development
• 12 pastors attended the Covenant-created seminar, “Living Reminders: The Art & Practice of Pastoral Care,” in Farmington Hills, MI
• 38 pastors attended the Covenant-created “Teaching for Transformation” seminars in Scotts Valley, CA, and Maple Grove, MN
• 20 pastors participated in the Fall and Spring Re-visioning Retreats
• 29 pastors received grants for studies at the NPTS Center for Spiritual Direction

For more information about the grant offerings through Sustaining Pastoral Excellence, please visit www.covchurch.org/spe.