Celebrating Fifty Years of the Ordination of Women
A personal account of calling, belonging, and what it means to keep saying yes to Jesus.
Tammy Swanson-Draheim
June 22, 2026
A personal account of calling, belonging, and what it means to keep saying yes to Jesus.
After a devastating job loss, Nicki Andersen made God a promise: she’d read the Bible from cover to cover. What followed was a conversion, a baptism, and a community at Rock Harbor Church that would expand to embrace her granddaughter too, in the midst of her most difficult moments.
Intellectual agreement isn’t the same as living it out. Through honest stories of allyship and real advocacy in ministry, Jessica explores what women and men must do to build teams where everyone truly flourishes and grows stronger together.
Julie Bromley traces a line from Moses’s mother, Jochebed, whose very name carried the glory of God, to her own mother, a Sunday school teacher and lifelong Bible student who taught her to ask hard questions and know who she belongs to.
How Covenant pastor and church planter Alex Song went from addiction and a Korean monastery to opening a community kitchen in Windsor, Ontario, where they feed neighbors, train teenagers, and create spaces of belonging.
Mission Springs and Covenant Point celebrate their 100th birthdays this year. From scrappy, faith-fueled beginnings, both ministries have become enduring places where generations of Covenant kids encounter God in creation, community, and a kind of holy foolishness.
Pastors often feel pressure to be impressive, to build something big enough to matter. Rev. David Swanson explores what happens when you stop trying—and discover the freedom that’s been there all along.
Drawing from motherhood, Scripture, and the Korean concept of shinbaram, Crystal Kang reflects on the Spirit’s surprising movement through truth-telling, resilience, and joy—often arriving through the voices and lives the world is most likely to overlook.
Pat Stark reflects on what is changing in Covenant church planting and why this moment calls for renewed imagination rooted in local churches and the Spirit’s leading.
As the Evangelical Covenant Church marks fifty years since voting to ordain women, six women speaking at Gather 2026 share stories of ministry, leadership, persistence, and discernment across generations and contexts throughout the life of the Covenant.
