CHICAGO, IL (May 31, 2011) – A special live webcast will take place tomorrow (Wednesday), featuring a five-member panel that will explore in greater depth the proposed Covenant resource paper on the Ministry of Compassion, Mercy, and Justice.

The paper will be presented to delegates for action during the 126th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) at Estes Park, Colorado, in June.

The 10:30 a.m. (CDT) live webcast will originate in the Media Center at ECC offices in Chicago and is free and available to the public. Those interested in joining the webcast can click here to visit the live webcast page for additional information or to join the conversation on Wednesday. Instructions for logging in also will be found on the home page of the Covenant website.

Viewers are encouraged to read the proposed resource paper in advance of the webcast – a PDF copy of the paper can be downloaded via a link included in webcast page.

Moderating the panel discussion will be Donn Engebretson, executive vice president. Panelists include Debbie Blue, executive minister of the Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice; Mark Olson, dean of enrollment and director of church relations at North Park University; Harold Spooner, president of Covenant Initiatives for Care with Covenant Ministries of Benevolence; Amanda Olson, pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Chicago; and joining via Skype is Greg Yee, associate superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference.

The webcast will serve two purposes, Engebretson explains: first, to help Covenant people engage with the content and teaching represented in this paper, and second, to help Annual Meeting delegates prepare to vote on adopting the proposed draft as an official resource paper for the denomination.

Viewers will be able to use a chat feature to pose questions for panelists to
consider, offer observations, and interact with other viewers.