A Role of Leadership: Addressing Change
It's been said, "Change is the only constant everyone agrees upon and the only one everyone resists". Church leaders understand that change in organizations happens only to the extent that it happens in the lives of the individuals involved- first- in leadership and then in the rest of the group.
Starting with Never Avoid the Inevitable, Gene Mims, in his article Leading Your Church Through Change provides five considerations in leading our congregations through change. To read more about Mims' thought-provoking article about this important issue, click www.nwc-cov.org/leading_change.htm.

Natural Church Development-An Introduction
Natural Church Development (NCD) is a strategic planning process by which a church determines its strengths and weaknesses. It further assists a church in addressing its greatest needs with the goal of the implementation of a strategic plan to improve in areas of need. Particular attention is paid to what NCD calls "The Eight Key Quality Characteristics." These characteristics are evaluated in order to identify the effectiveness of each in the local church setting. The degree to which these are present and in operation directly correlate to the health (or lack of it) of the church. NCD has become the primary tool used by Covenant congregations to become healthy and vital churches. Go towww.nwc-cov.org/NCD_overview.htm to read more about Natural Church Development.

Youth Ministry Learning and Connecting Opportunities
Youth Pastor's Connection (YPC)

YPC is a great time to gather as Youth Pastors and Youth Workers to support one another, to stay informed and to pray for youth ministry in our conference. We also are developing other ways to disseminate content from these meetings for those who may have difficulty attending any of our scheduled sessions.

We meet at the NWC office on Thursdays from 11:00-2:00 pm. Bring a lunch with you.

The meeting dates for 2004/2005 are:
October 14th
November 18th
January 20th
February 17th
March 17th
April 14th

Youth Pastor's Retreat is May 16-18th, 2005 at our Conference's camp- Adventurous Christians/Covenant Wilderness Center (AC/CWC) on the Gunflint Trail just near Grand Marais, Minnesota. For more information on AC/CWC go to www.adventurouschristians.org. This is a time to relax, enjoy fellowship with your youth ministry peers, and to experience renewal in a wilderness setting before the busy-ness of summer sets in.

For more information contact Jon Kramka at jon@nwc-cov.org.

Other Events
(The Northwest Conference is not affiliated with the following events or their sponsoring organizations. We offer this information to provide what we believe to be useful resources for your ministry).
October 8&9 The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers
Wooddale Church, Eden Prairie, Minnesota
For information, go to www.fathers.com/seminar. Registration deadline is October 3rd.

November 3-6 National Outreach Convention
San Diego, California
General sessions plus 14 learning tracks and over 80 workshops on outreach ministry. Go to www.nationaloutreachconvention.com for more information.