Our USMB family has a lot to celebrate, including several church plants that God is blessing and where people’s lives are being changed through new relationship with Jesus. Although there are more current MB church plants than these four, let’s take a look at what God is doing in Minnesota, Colorado, Utah and South Dakota.
Minnesota: Redemption Church
Christian Kohs, pastor of Redemption Church in Owatonna, Minn., recently wrote in an update, “I must start off this update with our 33 baptisms in 2019! We’ve begun a Wednesday night kid’s program now that we have our own space, and we have seen numerous visitors each and every single Sunday so far. Non-Christians keep coming and meeting Jesus, and then they are inviting their friends.” That’s definitely worth celebrating.
Utah: Lakeview Church
Phil Wiebe, planting pastor of Lakeview Church in Stansbury Park, Utah, has seen this church, launched Easter Sunday 2019, grow beyond expectation. “We baptized five people recently, three coming out of the LDS (Mormon) faith and our average attendance since September is 210,” he writes.
“Currently over 40 former LDS people are a part of the church and are transitioning out of that false religion,” Wiebe says. “We started a transitions class for them in January. We’re outgrowing our current meeting space and anticipate being out of room by Easter 2020. As such, our local Elder Board made the decision to temporarily go to three services, short term, while aiming to start our second campus in the fall of 2020.” When we plant new MB churches, the vision is for reaching people with the gospel. That is happening exponentially at Lakeview Church.
South Dakota: Renewal MB Church
Church plant pastor Jon Fiester, from Renewal MB Church in Rapid City, SD, reports this new MB church is growing and continues to meet on Sunday evenings at an art center in downtown Rapid City. He writes, “Most of our attenders are self-proclaiming ‘no religion.’ These are people who are done with religion but are ready for a relationship with Jesus. They see God continually working even through many spiritual attacks and brokenness in people’s lives. Several Grow Groups are meeting, and a Financial Peace University group started in January.”
Colorado: City Church
Finally, Mario Trujillo, pastor of City Church in Pueblo, Colo., a church planted in 2017, is excited about how the church continues to reach people in the inner parts of this diverse southeast Colorado foothill city.
Trujillo writes, “This past year and moving into this new season, we have celebrated five baptisms, some new leadership and lives being transformed by the power of the Gospel. As we have been going through different seasons, we are learning to embrace changes, hardships, weariness, beauty and growth. We hold onto the words that Paul encouraged the church with in Acts 20:28 as we’re reminded that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to change hearts, convict people of sin, and breathe life into weary souls. So, we are embracing change and are looking forward to new seasons at City Church.”
Pray for the Fiesters, Trujillos, Wiebes and Kohs and other leaders in these churches who are passionately sharing the gospel of Jesus and believe it is the only thing that has the power to truly transform lives. Changed lives mean people finding strength for living today and being redeemed for an eternal future in heaven. It’s worth our investment as an MB family, to help fund, pray for, serve and celebrate these new houses of worship and discipleship. Let’s do more.
