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Once again, the Fall Pastors’ and Spouse Retreat was held at the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center, and it proved to be an ideal setting for a few days of rest, reflection, and reconnection. This year the retreat was led by the Rooted Pastors team and centered on Isaiah 40:28–31, exploring what it means to “walk and not faint.”

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JOY Club at LeRoy Covenant Church

This past March at LeRoy Covenant Church in Michigan, two high schoolers were baptized. That may not seem unusual, but their stories are. These young ladies started in the J.O.Y. Club Program as preschoolers.

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Pastor’s Corner: Eloy Gonzalez, City Church, OH

If you’ve ever wondered whether God can take a tangled story and turn it into something beautiful, the life of Pastor Eloy Gonzalez is a living reminder that He can. Eloy was born in the Bronx and spent his life in New York City until he was 16, when his mom moved the family to Cleveland, OH.

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Exploring Your Call, March 5-7 and May 21-23, 2027

Save the Date for one of our Exploring Your Call Retreats: March 5-7, 2027 at Portage Lake Bible Camp in Onekama, MI, or May 21-23, 2027 at Mission Meadows Camp in Dewittville, NY. The most effective way to develop new pastors, lay leaders, chaplains, missionaries, and spiritual directors is for you to prayerfully ask the Lord to give you the gift of identifying and mentoring people.

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2027 GLC Annual Celebration

Save the date! Our next Annual Celebration will be at Austintown Community Evangelical Covenant Church and First Covenant Church in Youngstown, OH, April 23-24, 2027. Don’t miss the homemade treats on the cookie table!

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Portage Lake Celebrates 80 years!

Sep 17, 2026

Portage Lake Bible Camp celebrated their 80th anniversary and new dining hall dedication over Labor Day weekend, and the entire experience felt like one big, joy-filled family reunion!

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Simple Facility Updates Webinar

Sep 17, 2026

New webinar: As facilities age and the needs of a congregation change, it can feel overwhelming to think about how to keep your building aligned with your ministry.

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Town and Country Commission Visits Churches

In mid-July, the ECC Town and Country Commission visited four churches in western Pennsylvania. The purpose of the visit by three Commission members was to encourage pastors and leaders of town and country churches.

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GLC Welcomes Frantz Cesar

The GLC welcomes Frantz Cesar to our staff as our new Finance Assistant! Frantz brings over 10 years of Operations, Customer Relations, and Product Management experience.

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Church Security Webinar, Sept 17

The Great Lakes Conference is offering a 90-minute webinar featuring four approaches to church security from different sized churches in different locations.

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Exploring Your Call, Mar 5-7

The Great Lakes Conference is planning an Exploring Your Call retreat on March 5 -7, 2027 at Portage Lake Bible Camp for those interested in pastoral and lay ministry. Participants will discern whether God is calling to ministry in one of its many forms.

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Ignite and Equip Conference Cohort

Have you ever thought you'd like to be immersed in Biblical studies or be ordained? North Park Seminary and the Great Lakes Conference are working together to provide support for students to earn a Master's in Christian Arts.

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One Covenant Community Launch

We are excited to share that the Great Lakes Conference has joined One Covenant Community, a major five-year initiative funded through the Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow initiative and led by North Park Theological Seminary.

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Pastor’s Corner with Jared Van Voorst

Pastor Jared Van Voorst’s story begins in South Dakota where he was born. Early on, around 1st grade, he moved to the northwest corner of Iowa; to a small rural town where close-knit community and simple routines shaped his early life.

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Succession Planning for Lay Leadership

On May 21, 2026 the GLC held a virtual session to help Church Council/Leadership Teams and Pastoral Staff identify, recruit, equip, empower and encourage people in their congregation to serve in key leadership roles in church.

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Invitation to Vitality Resources