Taking a look back at Fall 2023 in Duluth, we’ve got a lot of reasons to be thankful. Our crew made a lot of memories together, from serving to just hanging out. We’ve welcomed lots of new faces and continue to grow. Here are the highlights!

Street Level and Young Adult Ministry
Street Level, our college-age ministry, has moved from campus to the first floor of the Street Level house. Here, every Monday night, we host a home cooked meal and Bible study. In September we organized a rummage sale at the Street Level house garage. Our new coffee trailer made an appearance and we gave away plants to students. We also threw a Halloween party and some of us enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner together.

Our Young Adult Ministry embraced the fall season with activities like apple picking, pie baking and hiking. They’ve also been meeting at a local brewery occasionally for ‘beer and bible study’ to go deeper with some of the new people who have been coming.

Coffee and community outreach
We served coffee at Fall Festival and Boo at the Zoo, two annual events that are much-loved by locals. It was a great way to meet people, get the word out about our church, and raise money for missions. We also just really like serving together. We had an awesome time at both!

Every Thursday, RavenFed Underground Gathering hall (aka the lower level at our church) is now open, offering bakery and a full espresso bar. A few of us across different ministries gather there for service at that time. Our addiction recovery group Most Excellent Way meets there as well. It makes for a lively, coffeehouse atmosphere where anyone can join to study, play games or just hang out.

Learning and fellowship
Mid-October marked the commencement of a new Believers Class session, with about a half a dozen students. This group will be diving into a year-long journey through fundamental doctrines of Scripture. In November, we had a baby dedication for the Jersett kiddos. Additionally, in December our volunteers for the Douglas County Jail ministry got together for breakfast and a training session.

As the fall season drew to a close, we squeezed in one last game of kickball, enjoyed a game night, and decorated for Christmas. These moments of fellowship capped off a full and memorable season together.

Looking back on everything, it’s not hard to be thankful for the blessings and growth we’ve experienced. Thank you for your prayers and ongoing support. As we get ready for the winter months, we’d love for you to keep praying for us. Stay tuned for more updates to come!

As we begin to put away our shorts and sandals, it’s a great time to reflect on the past few months. Summer 2023 has been a season filled with lots of reasons to be thankful, including opportunities to serve, new beginnings and memorable moments of fellowship. We’ve been really blessed and want to share everything God has let us do!

Serving locally, nationally and beyond
We started things off serving coffee from our brand-new coffee trailer at the Park Point Rummage Sales. This year, we also hosted a small rummage sale as well. It was a great opportunity to engage with our community, work together and raise funds for missions. Overall, we counted it as a successful event.

Speaking of missions, we had a big change at the beginning of the summer: We sent off Jesse and Chelsey to the Philippines as full-time missionaries. Do we miss them? You betcha we do. But we’re grateful for the chance to support God’s work there and excited to see how He’ll use them. 

Recently, a few of us also traveled to Mississippi to partake in a construction project. This group was able to help build a pole barn for a local church so that they can build beds for children in their area. Those who were on the trip worked hard through scorching 90-degree weather and sweated buckets. But, they left feeling like they were the ones who received the bigger blessing in being a part of the work.

Starting a new ministry
This summer, we also kicked off something pretty cool – a new ministry geared towards young adults. This is meant for those of us who’ve graduated college but haven’t started families. This is a large group of people here in Duluth and within our church, so we’re excited to see how God uses it. 

Throughout the summer, this group hung out once a month hosting bonfires, an outdoor movie night, some volleyball matches, and, believe it or not, even tackled a midnight 5k run! It’s been awesome to get to know new friends and each other better.

Enjoying time together
We also made a lot of memories just being together. Our annual all-church bike trip took us to Carlton, where we enjoyed lunch and, at the end of the day, pedaled more than 30 miles together. We also braved the heat for a thrilling game of dodgeball and made frequent visits to Gordy’s, a local summer-time favorite for burgers and fries. 

For National Night Out, we threw a yard party in West Duluth. This allowed us to get to know our neighbors better. It was such a great shindig that the Duluth Fire Department even made an appearance. 

Our summer adventures concluded with the annual church campout, where we camped alongside fellow believers from Menomonie and River Falls. We especially loved seeing a few of our friends get baptized. Hearing their stories of how Jesus has transformed their lives was awesome.

Into the Fall
As we transition into the next season, our focus shifts to the University of Superior, where we’re excited to host Bible studies as part of Street Level, our college ministry. Plus, our addiction recovery group, Most Excellent Way, continues on Thursday nights, and we’re gearing up to serve coffee at Fall Fest. 

We appreciate your ongoing prayers and support and look forward to sharing more updates soon.

Can you believe how fast spring flew by? We sure can’t!

For us in Duluth, it was a whirlwind of making memories, working hard and planning for the summer. We wanted to take a moment to catch you up on everything we’ve been up to and share our excitement for the future.

March: St. Patty’s Day Shenanigans and Group Hiking Fun
In March, we came together for a memorable game night on St. Patrick’s Day for a little friendly competition. To honor the occasion, everyone wore green, adding a touch of festive spirit to the event.

Later in the month, strapped on our boots and hit the local trails for a group hike. The beautiful scenery and great company made it an unforgettable afternoon.

April: Easter Blessings and Coffee Trailer TLC
For Easter, many of us took a road trip down to enjoy church in Menomonie. It was great to see our extended church family and share a special Easter meal together (which was delicious, by the way!). Some of our friends who are international students even got to tag along.

We also celebrated a significant milestone together as we witnessed Jesse’s ordination. It was a momentous occasion and we couldn’t be more proud of him and Chelsey.

As if that wasn’t enough, we decided to take our coffee-trailer game to the next level. We snagged a brand new trailer and spent some quality time working on it together to get it ready for service. Let’s just say we’re really brewing up something special. We also got to take it for its maiden voyage at a local homeschool conference.

May: Serving and Connecting with the Community
May was action-packed to say the least! We were excited to collate a brand-new issue of Word on the Street Magazine. After that, we distributed it to the community.

We also dove headfirst into a work day. It was filled with cleaning, crafting new signs for our spring rummage sale and giving the coffeehouse trailer some finishing touches.

Speaking of the rummage sale, it was a smashing success! We met so many lovely folks from the community, raised money for missions endeavors and had an absolute blast.

Looking Ahead: Sending Off Our Missionaries and Embracing Summer
On top of everything we’ve gotten to do this season, we’ve also been working hard to support Jesse and Chelsey as they get ready to embark on their full-time missionary journey to the Philippines.

One of the ways we’ve ben able to help them out is by lending a hand in building a cabin for them. That way, they will have a place of their own to stay during their visits back home. We’ll miss them like crazy, but we are so excited to see how God uses them in this next chapter!

With summer fast approaching, we are filled with anticipation. We are eagerly preparing to serve coffee at the upcoming Park Point Rummage Sales, where we hope to extend warm hospitality to the wider community.

As we embrace the season ahead, please pray that God will continue to use us as vessels of love, light and service in our community and beyond. We’re looking forward to updating you again soon!

Only two months into 2023 and we already have lots to be thankful for!

We’ve made plenty of memories, continue to learn and grow together and have had lots of opportunities to reach out to the people around us. 

Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Enjoying church family life
We rang in the new year with sledding, games and a potluck. A few weeks later, we all laced up our skates and hit a local rink, which was a blast.

Then, we enjoyed watching the Chiefs beat the Eagles with another potluck and more games. If you can’t tell, a potluck and games is one of our favorite winter pastimes.

There have also been a lot of opportunities for us to fellowship with friends at Believers Church in Menomonie, WI. We have been invited to a few game nights and other outings.

Taking these little road trips to see some friendly faces really breaks up the winter. We appreciate our extended church family! 

Most recently, a bunch of us went out to dinner together. Afterwards, we saw Jesus Revolution, a movie about the Calvary Chapel movement. This was really interesting as our church has roots in this movement. 

Matthew on Sundays, mixing it up on Wednesdays 
On Sundays, we’re still making our way through Matthew. It’s been interesting to study how Jesus ministered to different people, according to different needs. We’ve all been challenged and encouraged as we get to know Him better and apply what we’re learning. 

For Wednesday nights, we’ve been on a rotating schedule:

• Sometimes, we split up into men’s women’s groups and study a chapter of a book together.
• Other times, we go through a Psalm.
• Every other week, we’ve been meeting out in the community in small groups to discuss the sermon we heard on Sunday.

We’ve also been seeing a lot of new faces at church, which is really awesome. Since some of these faces are quite little, we’ve started up a kids class before church on Sundays again. It’s been a blessing to minister in this way.     

Reaching out to others
There have been many opportunities for us to reach out to the people around us as well. We continue hosting a Bible study in the Douglas County Jail every Sunday. We alternate men’s and women’s, and see at least a few people there every week. We’ve been encouraged by the attendance.  

Street Level has also kicked off the semester with a Monday night Bible study – on two separate campuses!

Here’s how that works: A group of us meets at the University of Wisconsin – Superior (UWS) to do the first bible study of the night. Then, they drive over to the University of Minnesota – Duluth (UMD) and have a second study there. 

Finally, we’ve sent out two teams on mission trips already (not bad for only a few months into the year).

Two of us traveled internationally to the Philippines in January and, by the time you’re reading this, four of us will be going down to New Orleans. We’re blessed to be involved in the work God is doing all over the world!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading our update. Please keep us in your prayers and we look forward to updating you again soon. 

As we conclude another year in Duluth, I am once again amazed at how fast the year has gone by! We were fortunate as a church to be able to participate in domestic and foreign missions trips, retreats, service opportunities, and many fellowship events with our church as well as fellowship groups from Menomonie. 

This past month Pastor Jesse and our campus ministry group has continued to meet at UW-Superior on Mondays for a “micro” Bible study.  They are continuing their studies on the “crazy things Jesus said”.  They also recently had a movie night in one of the dorm halls there too.  On Tuesday nights our Campus Church service is held at UMD.  They just finished up a series going through John’s letters talking about what real Christianity looks like. They concluded the semester by braving the cold and walking through Bentlyville (a huge Christmas lights display in Canal Park).  During the campus’s winter break, the church will be having an evangelism class.  For three weeks on Tuesday nights, we will continue part two of our study of the book, Evangelism as Exiles.

This month we will be starting our Bible studies in the Douglas County jail once again.  We were very excited to be asked to return to this ministry now that Covid restrictions are lifting.  A small group of women and men will participate in this ministry on Sunday afternoons. 

On Sundays we are continuing to go verse by verse through the book of Matthew.  On Wednesdays we rotate our services with rewind groups, verse by verse studies through Psalms, and Men’s and Women’s book studies.  As always, we try to gather together for times of fellowship whether scheduled or impromptu.  This past month a group gathered together for a meal on Thanksgiving and for an impromptu game night at the Moss’s house on a Sunday night.

Thank you for your prayers.  We are looking forward to the coming year and all that God has for us up here. 

– Sara