PRSRT STD NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID EAGLE RIVER, AK PERMIT NO. 20
January 2007
Chilling News that Warms the heart
The Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska! Reaching People for Christ ‘s sake from near the North Pole
RALPH HANSON: A Fully Committed Life
Ralph accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior at the age of 13. From then on there was no looking back. He Field Director: Rodney J. Sawyer Associate Field Director: Nathan Toots Office Manager: Sara Scoles
The Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska [ECCAK] is non-conference “field” of the Covenant Church of America. We are dependent on the gifts from churches and people to carry out our mission for Christ’s sake in Alaska.
WE’RE ON THE WEB: eccak.org
P.O. Box 770749 Eagle River, Alaska 99577-0749 Phone: 907-694-6348 Fax: 907-694-6378 Email: eccak@gci.net
Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska
On Nov. 14, 1910, Ralph Hanson was born in Manitou, a town in the northern Minnesota frontier. His father, Andrew, died when he was four-years old, so Ralph’s life was shaped by the godly influence of his mother Amanda; his grandfather, Per Olsson; and itinerant preachers such as Adolph Anderson. He was the only son, and last surviving child of six siblings.
devoted his life to the ministry, starting as a home missionary while he was in his teens [during which time he met a striking woman by the name of Alyce Larson]. God eventually led Ralph to North Park Seminary and then to the wilds of the Alaska Territory with Alyce – who become his wife. While there, Ralph’s penchant for invention became evident with the now infamous air-sleds that he created to hasten travel between Golovin, White Mountain and other villages around Norton Sound (see picture on left). While in Alaska, Ralph and Alyce were also blessed with their two sons, Paul and David. Continued on Page 2
Inside this issue:
Ralph Hanson
1
New Pastor
3
Hooper Bay: Miracles Still Happen
5
Elim & Scammon Bay Construction Update
6
A Family Rejoices!
8
Couch Moving Compared to Church Moving
10
How Can I Help?
11
2
11
RALPH HANSON: A Fully Committed Life Continued from page 1 Ralph held numerous other positions during roughly 45 years of fulltime ministry, his implicit trust in God’s provision and his passion for leading others to Christ were instrumental in accomplishing great things: starting radio station KICY in Nome; expanding missions to Mexico, Ecuador, and Indonesia; and raising a record $7.5 million for the Giving for Growing capital campaign. Ralph also helped start ministries closer to home, such as Circle ‘C’ Ranch near Leavenworth, WA, but Alaska remained his driving passion. Ralph retired in 1981, but his ministry continued with care for Alyce after she suffered a major stroke and was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome. Alyce died in 1984. Ralph’s involvement in Alaska also continued
as he raised funds to expand the radio-station efforts. In 1986, Ralph married Lillian Fricsen, a long-time friend of the Hanson family. During their 20 years of marriage, Ralph and his devoted wife Lillian visited missionaries in Mexico and the Russian Far east, but they were also quite involved in the lives of Kam, Maria, Paul and David – and their extended families. Ralph Hanson was much more than a husband, father, or grandfather. His life was that of a spiritual ‘dynamo,’ whose impact on others may not be fully appreciated, and will carry on even after Ralph’s journey home to Heaven.
Bethel Calls New Pastor After going through many resumes of qualified candidates, the Search Committee at the Bethel Covenant Church believed God may have raised up a pastor in their midst, Hugh Forbes. After much prayer and deliberation, Hugh accepted the call to be their bi-vocational pastor. To the left, Hugh poses with his family. From right to left: Loren, Hugh, Ethan, Mitchell and his wife Lanette. Hugh continues to work as the General Manager of the western branch with Unicom.
Pray: Our bi-monthly newsletter called, “The Chilling News,” is full of stories about the people and the ministry of ECCAK throughout the state. It also has a daily prayer calendar. Please let us know and we will add you to our mailing list. Encouragement: Writing and/ or calling those who serve in the bush is a great ministry! Want to adopt a church or a pastor? Ask for a prayer card of a pastor. Mission teams: There are often times when we have need for teams of people to come and join with a local church, camp, college, youth group, etc. for a specific construction project or outreach event. Volunteers: The ECCAK office needs volunteers to assist in administration, grant writing, special projects etc. Financial: God often calls people to give to ECCAK beyond the normal local church tithe or churches to place ECCAK in their mission budget. Some are lead to leave a gift through estate planning to carry on the work in Alaska into the future.
Credit Card Contribution ECCAK has finally entered into the 21st Century by way of receiving donations via credit cards. If you would like to make a donation using this method, either one time or a scheduled amount, please contact Sara Scoles at the ECCAK office (907)-694-6348 and she will be happy to assist you. Teachers or nurses: Christian teachers or nurses often come to Bush Alaska as “missionaries” and serve in the local Covenant church during off hours. Pastors and Youth Workers: Often we have empty pulpits and are in need of pastors, short and long-term. Many villages have no one reaching out to the youth. Donate Air Miles: Many people accumulate free air miles. Please consider donating some to ECCAK to help a bush pastor and family get away for R & R.
Humor: Good for the Soul Two Alaskans were sitting in a kayak and they got chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft and it sank; thus proving, once and for all, that you cannot have your kayak and heat it, too.
ACC Web Page www.akcc.org
3
10
Couch Moving Compared to Church Moving
Mekoryuk Installs New Pastor Rodney and Nancy fly out to the island of Nunivak for the installation service of their new pastor at the Mekoryuk Covenant Church. It was a great weekend of fellowship and worship. Pastor Nathan Hanna preached Sunday AM and Rodney Sunday PM.
Field Director, Rodney J. Sawyer A man called his neighbor to help him move a couch that had become stuck in the doorway. They pushed and pulled until they were absolutely exhausted, but the couch just would not budge. "Forget it," the man finally said. "We’ll never get this in." The neighbor looked at him quizzically and said, "In?" I believe this is a word picture of many churches today, where members are pulling and pushing with great vigor in different directions. One of the reasons for the lack of unity in some churches is because of priorities. Churches “on the move” do not get bogged down on things that do not have eternal effects, but instead concentrate on bearing “fruit that will last!” The most important stewardship resource the church has is the gospel and the people around us! As Covenanters, we like the slogan: “On the essentials, unity; on the nonessentials liberty; in all things, love.” How often churches get stuck in the doorways of life on the non-essentials, unwisely spending hours upon hours, debating, and deliberating while dehabilitating the Lord’s work in their midst. They are no different than the two men pulling and pushing on the couch!
Our Lord certainly put things into perspective when He was asked which were the most important of the commandments. Do you remember his answer from Matt. 22:37-40? Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Paul also seems to be setting a priority on where our focus should be in I Cor. 15:3-4: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” Obviously, as with the men pulling and pushing on the couch, a church without unity on where to focus goes nowhere. Phil. 1:27b exhorts us to, “…stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.” A concept so simple, yet so profound; so obvious, yet so oblivious.
Point To Ponder “If you keep on doing what you have always done, you are always going to get what you always got.”
Unfortunately, Nathan’s wife, Sandra could not be a part of the Pastor Nathan and his daughter, Jayne, sing celebration due to little son Artogether at the installation thur’s ear infection. She and worship service. little Arthur were 600 miles away at the Anchorage hospital where little Arthur was being treated. In the midst of it all, we are thankful to the Lord for His gracious hand in orchestrating bringing the Hannas to the church in Mekoryuk!
Some churches like to put clever signs outside their churches. Youmay or may not like them but must admit, they cause you to smile. Following are a few:
Help Fight Truth Decay – Study the Bible Searching for a new look? Have your faith lifted here. How will you spend eternity? Smoking or non-smoking? Come work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours long, the pay is low, few appreciate you, but the benefits are out of this world! There are three kinds of people in this world: Those who can count and those who can’t! You can now make a donation via credit card See the “How I can Help?” section on page 11
9
4
Anchoring Our Future
A Family Rejoices!
By Keith Hamilton, President of Alaska Christian College
Continued from Page 8
When I think of Anchorage and living close to there, I think of anchors! And when I think of anchors, I see Alaska Christian College's vision to secure its anchors now more than ever before! As we begin our fifth year of ministry with our two year post-secondary educational program, there are four specific anchors needed to keep us from drifting or floating off our mark, our target- whole-life discipleship. What will sustain ACC in the next three years, five years, or ten years? The Board and staff of ACC have joined together to be the first to commit funding in our first comprehensive campaign named, "Anchoring Our Future." I encourage you to watch for our full campaign literature coming early December of 2006 as we publicly begin this exciting adventure to anchor our future. Pray now as to what the Lord may do through you as you give to anchor your college in Soldotna for decades to come. For more information, please contact President Keith Hamilton at 907-394-1988 at ACC!
Transforming “Transforming Leadership” The first Transforming Leadership retreat was held in Unalakleet, Alaska in November. It was a great turn out and we have much to be thankful for: First, to the folks in Unalakleet who know how to be great hosts! We were well taken care of as 35 plus people were given warm homes to stay in. We also were able to use their youth facility for the training sessions and their kitchen area in the church. Second, for a great little gal who organized all the meals and cooking, Mary Helwig. She had a seasoned helper in Nancy Sawyer. The food was great! Third, for a sense of the Spirit of God in our midst as there was much opportunity during the planned fellowship training times to fulfill the “one anothers” from the Scriptures. Fourth, to a committed staff from Beyond Borders who gave of themselves for five days in teaching and training. And Nathan Nagarak takes notes during the Transforming Leaders retreat. finally, for MARC and their commitment to work along side ECCAK. Their very capable pilot/leader, Bob Whitman, flew in the attendees. With the first training under our belt, ECCAK continues to be committed to the discovery, development and deployment of leaders in Alaska. We received some valuable input from the attendees on ways to path the future.
Our Team: 19 churches, CYAK, CCF, CBC KICY, CRC, & ACC
The band started playing and everyone stood up looking towards the doors; the roar of the crowd when the first soldiers walked in could be heard in the parking lot. Everyone was straining to see their soldier. They all look so similar in their uniforms. The first one through the door was Sgt Cook, my friend Melanie’s husband. “That’s him, my husband!” She shouted, jumping up and down, and waving. He saw her and waved back, then as senior ranking NCO, it was his job to line up all the soldiers. The girls and I kept looking for John but were unable to find him, as the soldiers kept filing in. Maleah kept saying “Do you see him? I can’t see him.” Once they were all in I had a moment of panic. What if he didn’t make it? The General really did give the shortest speech ever. Then the soldiers were dismissed and he gave the families a signal to go. The crowd rushed for-
ward. Families were running and hugging their soldiers, but we still had not found John. We decided to stay where we were, hoping to see him. I saw other soldiers working there way through the crowd trying to find their families, but no John. Finally Maleah said “There, is that him?” Pointing to the back of the group was John talking to a group of soldiers who obviously did not have families there to meet them. We took off running, Maleah in the lead. Weaving our way through the crowd, he didn’t see us coming but we tackled him in mass, laughing. It turned out he couldn’t find us either and thought it best to wait in the back where he would be more easily seen instead of in the crowd. It took a while to get his bag and gear. Then, surprisingly, John’s only request when we got home was picking up a Moose’s Tooth wild mushroom Pizza.
Uzbekistan Update We have had a good response to the needs to drill a well in Uzbekistan. Pastor John Park of the Korean Hope Covenant Church in Anchorage shares the need: “In order for the people from our nursing home and orphanage to get drinkable water, they must travel several miles.” The plan is to drill a well on site which will cost $10,000. To date we are about 30% of the way there. Pastor Park makes two or three trips each year to minister to the Muslim Koreans in Uzbekistan, where his wife resides. Please search your heart to how the Lord might lead you to help finance this well for the brothers and sisters who reach out to the needy in Uzbekistan. Checks can be sent to ECCAK earmarked for “Uzbekistan Well Project.”
8
5
A Family Rejoices!
Hooper Bay: Miracles Still Happen
By Tyra Grauer
The following email from Tyra Grauer is used with permission from Tyra. We all celebrate the joy of having her husband home again from Iraq and thank God for this blessing.
John is home! Morriah woke me up on Saturday morning saying “mom, my stomach…” as she ran for the bathroom and was sick. Sometimes I think she is more like her father every day. When John is nervous or excited he used to get sick too. However, later in the day she ended up with a temperature So, obviously she got the flu or something but, I couldn’t keep her home so we went anyway. We arrived at Bruckner Field House Saturday at 8:45 to wait for the soldiers’ arrival. Once we got there we were told they were delayed and would not be in till about 10:30 which turned out to be accurate. Bruckner Field House is a huge gymnasium with bleachers along one side. They were pretty full when we got there and people kept coming. The wait was hard. I found I could not sit in my seat but had to wonder around. Many of the wives and family members that had left and gone home when the soldiers were de-
ployed had returned and it was good to see them and find out how they were doing. At 10:35, we got word that the plane had landed at Elmendorf AFB and they were deplaning. They had to get a PPD shot and a debriefing then they would be bussing them to Bruckner. General Jacobe came over to say hello to Melanie Cook, my friend who is one of the FRG leaders, and stated they were almost here. I laughed and said, “Yes, but are they going to stay this time?” He said there was no possibility that they could be turned around at this point. (In July the advanced group was on the ground for 24 hours before they were told they would be returning to Iraq.) I am happy to say that John has been home for 72 hours and this time they get to stay!!! Tension and excitement in the room mounted as we started getting updates to their arrival, “15 minutes out”. I kept a careful eye on my watch even as I kept talking to people, eventually we were asked to find our seats, not that we used them much. The General promised the shortest speech in history, “Only about 45 minutes”, he stated with a laugh, “Just kidding, really the shortest speech ever.” Continued on Page 9
Our Churches Anchorage First, Bethel, Eagle River, Elim, Fairbanks, Golovin, Hooper Bay, Kalskag, Korean Hope, Koyuk, Mat-Su, Mekoryuk, Mountain Village, New Song, Nome, Scammon Bay, Shaktoolik, Unalakleet, White Mountain
The fire that broke out in Hooper Bay and destroyed 13 homes, the school and a major grocery store happened on Aug. 3rd. When Field Director, Rodney Sawyer first talked to Pastor Grant Funk, Grant told him that he wanted to
Dave Petersen and Pastor Grant Funk [above] stop for a moment to exchange valuable information to keep workers on the job working.
have all 13 homeless families into new homes before Thanksgiving. Oh-ye-oflittle-faith Rodney thought, “There is just no way that Grant can pull that off.” Well, as it turns out, Grant did not pull it off, but God did! So Rodney
Lena Funk shows Nancy Sawyer some of the new homes being built in Hooper Bay that needed to be ready by Thanksgiving.
may have been part right in his thinking. The Lord brought people into the picture that made the miracle possible. Two key people were Dave Petersen and Franklin Graham. Dave had the construction expertise and Franklin had the financial resources. But there were many many more; people who went to Hooper Bay and others who contributed prayers and finances. To those who gave to ECCAK, your money went primarily to furnishing all 13 homes and stocking the kitchen with food, all by Thanksgiving!. Pastor Funk and his wife Lena are two very dedicated and talented people. We also want to thank the Hooper Bay Task Force team who helped Pastor Grant in spending the money so generously given: Marcus Reese from Anchorage First, Mitzie Barker from Community Covenant in Eagle River and Shelia Fortuine from the Mat-Su Covenant Church.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is a twork within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
7
6
Elim and Scammon Bay Construction Update We put out an appeal for construction teams to help in restoring two of our parsonages that were in very poor condition. Two teams responded to do the work. When in Elim, the building team from Northwest Covenant Church in Mount Prospect, IL discovered thick black mold in the ceiling insulation upstairs; in Scammon Bay, the building team from Wisconsin discovered the parsonage foundation was so rotten on one side, there was fear a strong wind could cause the house to tip over. It was estimated that we needed about $6000 to help with both situations. Another appeal was made for finances. As with most projects, the estimates turned out to be low. To compensate for our human limitations, the Lord provided far more than we asked for. Consequently,
Good Biblical Counsel?
the Scammon Bay parsonage was temporarily shored up to get it through the winter and Eric Mayer with Arctic Barnabas Ministry [ABM] will be taking a team out this spring to lift the house up and but in new beams to replace the rotten stuff. In Elim, Eric will have replaced the insulation by the time you receive this! However, the roof will also need to be replaced and plans are being made to do that next spring, thanks to the extra money that came in. God is good. We still have many needs in other parsonages and ECCAK will be partnering with ABM for future work teams to raise money and bring up building teams. The response to this ministry has been overwhelming and we are praising God that we are able to improve our bush pastors’ living conditions in the midst of ministering along side the people of Western Alaska.
A guy came to his pastor and said, “Reverend, I only have one talent.” The pastor asked, “What’s your talent? The man said, "I have the gift of criticism." The pastor was wise and replied, "The Bible says that the guy who had only one talent went out and buried it. Maybe that’s what you ought to do with yours." Fried brains? Mary Helwig gets a much needed head massage after cooking all day at the Transforming Leadership retreat in Unalakleet
The Ten Commandments are good for what ails you. Simply take two tablets.
Bob Lenz Returns to Alaska! Bob Lenz with Life Promotions out of Appleton, WI speaks at the Mat-Su Covenant Church on Nov. 26. Bob was preparing to take the message of hope to the students of high schools on the road-system in Alaska. Bob has been to Alaska on several occasions and we have won a big spot in his heart. In the high school assemblies he deals with the difficult but relevant issues on the minds of many teens today, drugs, alcohol, suicide and sex. After each school assembly, the students are invited to a local church to hear more. At these events, Bob is free to share the gospel. ECCAK is working to bring Bob back to the Norton Sound sometime in the future.
Check out the Covenant Newswire Service: Visit www.covchurch.org and click on the Newswire button