Insert Category Excerpts into Static Front Page

I would like to have a front page that features posts from a certain category. I do not want posts from all categories; just one. I also don't want just a list of the posts, but to show the actual excerpts. I can do this in the Joomla site I maintain by marking the posts "featured" so they automatically go on the front page until I change the featured setting, but I cannot find a way to do that in WP. Basically, I want to feature all of the posts in my upcoming events category, then have them disappear when I change the category to past events. I did try the List Category Posts plugin, but it only lists the names and does not show the excerpts. I would prefer the whole post, but at least have the excerpts if I can't have the whole post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.