The 66th NOW District Convention kicked off in Portland, Oregon on June 9, 2022. During the opening session, Rev. Dr. Paul Linnemann was re-elected to his fifth term as NOW District President. He received a total of 54.89% of the votes.
Also elected:
District First Vice President – Rev. Mike Von Behren
District Regional Vice Presidents:
ALASKA – Rev. Kyle Mietzner
INLAND EMPIRE – Rev. Steve Juergensen
OREGON – Rev. Eric Lange
PUGET SOUND – Rev. Ted Werfelmann
SOUTH IDAHO – Rev. Jonathan Dinger
The 2022 Convention theme is Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. President Linnemann touched on this during his District President Report, which came a little later in the evening.
“We have stuff that we need to do. We have people to connect with. And within that we remember: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” he said. He also introduced the idea that we are “a Midwestern church in a West Coast context.”
Keynote speaker David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group, kicked off his time by outlining some powerful research – real data on the state of the church – and what it means for ministry today. Kinnaman aims to help attendees see a different way of doing things together. Expect to hear more from him about this during his sessions on Friday and Saturday.
District Presidents Mike Lange and Mike Gibson from West Coast partners CNH and PSD also brought greetings — along with the message of facing our challenges together. Another highlight of the evening was a video that honored the faithfully departed servants since the last convention.
The final bit of business came when the floor committees presented their first Resolutions, which were both adopted: Floor Committee #1 (“Church Administration”) presented Resolution 1-08, To Accept Reports A-I
Floor Committee #2 (“Mission and Ministry”) presented Resolution 2-01, To Accept Reports J-Z
