Author: Believers Church

February 20, 2025 Believers Church

From rolling out our coffee trailer to refreshing our space, we’ve had a season of newness. Here’s a quick look at what we’ve been up to lately.

In the fall, we closed our physical coffee location and shifted to a mobile setup with our new coffee trailer. This allows us to engage with the community and campus more meaningfully. We set up in the community including during RiverDazzle days, near the parade. Also, on campus we gave away free hot chocolate – a couple of times. We even had the opportunity to hold Street Level in the trailer. (If you are wondering, yes, we have heat.)

Meanwhile, our previous coffeehouse location has been transformed into a welcoming hangout and office space. We’ve held a few Street Level meetings and even some Wednesday rewinds at the revamped space.

We also relocated our Sunday evening church gatherings to Servant of the Shepherd Church. The church has been generous opening up their space for our use. Our meetings still look similar to what they did in the past, we are just in a new space.

As we step into 2025, we’re excited to see what God has in store for us!

February 10, 2025 Believers Church

Have you ever found yourself longing for your own bed while away on a long trip? After a few nights at Aunt Ginny’s, returning home can feel nothing short of a life-reset. But our modern homes aren’t just where we sleep – they are personally-designed sanctuaries that give us solace from the wilds of the world. We fill them up with custom creature comforts to make us feel “just right”. Home sweet home.

 It’s notable that Jesus puts his finger on the topic of home when speaking of discipleship.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Luke 9:57-58 NKJV

No doubt this was a splash of cold water to this would-be disciple’s face. Essentially, the Master seems to be telling this man that if he’s going to follow, he can’t be a homebody1.

How should we respond to this? Maybe the right path is to become a minimalist or a monk wandering the earth in sandals. I mean, Jesus didn’t even own a pillow, right? Perhaps if we had less things, we would find ourselves more spiritual. While there may be some truth in that statement, there’s more to it than that.

Jesus himself seemed perfectly OK with being home-less while on earth. He didn’t have his own cozy bed and he didn’t spend his time longing for one either. So why did he choose to live this way? Why not settle down? Well, Jesus knew when he left his home in heaven he was going on a long trip. For his entire life. That meant he slept in some strange places. That meant he went to some uncomfortable places. The bottom line is that Jesus was at home not in a place but rather in a purpose. That purpose was his Father’s will.

Homes are wonderful. But our love for them can keep us from God’s great purposes. It is entirely possible that the comfort + convenience + familiarity of our homes add up to become an immobilizing anchor on our lives. If we are truly interested in following Jesus, we must be willing to follow wherever he may go. We will need to keep on our feet. We can’t settle for being homebodies.

‌Reflection

  1. ‌Does your desire to stay home ever prevent you from serving others?
  2. When is the last time you went mobile for Jesus?

Footnote

  1. /ˈhōmˌbädē/ a person who likes to stay at home, especially one who is perceived as unadventurous. ↩︎
January 14, 2025 Believers Church

Street Level is currently in the middle of UW Stout “winter break” – halfway through the 2024-2025 school year. We are looking ahead to students returning for the Spring, 2025 semester. A few of the things that we have in the next few months:

  • Winter Broomball
  • Spring Break Mission Trip (*going to Baldwyn, MS)
  • Spring Summit (TBD)
  • etc

We appreciate everyone’s continued prayers and support! Please continue praying as we move forward.

Lastly, please enjoy some photos from our Fall 2024 semester! (below)

Street Level held our meetings on campus on Monday nights this semester – something that we hadn’t done since 2017. Our mid-week church service at The Street Level House on Wednesday nights included dinner together at 6pm, followed by worship and a bible teaching at 7pm. We had a Fall Summit with guest speaker (Te Smith) from New Orleans. We rebuilt the wall in the backyard at the Street Level house. Former UW Stout graduate and Street Level student leader, Brittany Menor, hung out with us for an evening to tell us about her 7 years as a missionary in the Philippines…

It was a really good semester! God is good!

January 6, 2025 Believers Church

(*The following is a blog post written by Daniel McCoy from Renew.org.)

The 2011 movie The Adventures of Tintin, directed by Steven Spielberg, was based on the popular European cartoon by Georges Remi (Hergé). Early in the movie, we are introduced to Captain Haddock, voiced by Andy Serkis, the pitiable captain whose crew has turned against him. His crew has locked him in a room aboard his own ship, and the only thing he has in order to console himself in his misery are bottles and bottles of beer.

So, he’s drinking bottle after bottle, sulking and depressed. Captain Haddock was already something of a drunk, and it’s getting worse. In this moment in the movie, the hero of the story, Tintin, the adventurous young reporter, has come aboard the ship. He’s trying to solve a mystery. And suddenly Tintin crashes through the window and into the room where the captain is drinking.

They talk a little. The captain tells Tintin all about his troubles. And eventually, Tintin gets tired of the conversation. It’s going nowhere. The captain is just moping around and complaining, and Tintin finally says, “I have to keep moving.”

Tintin goes to the door, grabs the door handle, twists, the door opens, and he walks out. To which the captain says, “Oh, well, I assumed it was locked.”

The captain was so busy moping that he hadn’t considered there might be a way out of the mess he was in.

Something as small as a door handle can have surprising power.

In Ephesians 5, we read about some dark forces. By the way, the Bible is soberly realistic about the depths of human darkness. And reading about the dark things could seem like an invitation to sit there and mope. But in Ephesians 5, we see that, although there are dark things happening, we have way more reason to hope than to mope.

Why? In Ephesians 5, we’re going to see a prayer we can pray that, like the door handle, offers us surprising power in the face of darkness.

Delving into the Darkness

Before we get to the simple prayer that offers surprising power over the darkness, let’s delve into the darkness. Got your flashlights? You’re going to need them, because it gets pretty dark down here.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:3-4, NIV)

Why should Christians stay holy (“set apart”) from these ways of darkness? Here’s why, as Paul continues:

“For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.” (Ephesians 5:5-7, NIV)

According to Ephesians 5:5-7, here’s why we’ve got to pursue holiness:

  1. Sexually immoral, impure, and greedy lifestyles put you outside God’s kingdom.
  2. Sexually immoral, impure, and greedy lifestyles put you under God’s wrath.

If you continually, habitually follow those lifestyles without repenting, then you will find yourself two places you don’t want to be: outside of God’s kingdom and under God’s wrath.

That’s a dark place. And here’s another dark thought: That’s where most of our world is. As Paul summarizes in verse 16, “The days are evil.”

Some days we think about the violence, sexual immorality, greed—all things that modern Western culture is known for either in lifestyle or entertainment—and it’s easy to become discouraged. It makes us want to sit there and mope. Moping is kind of our go-to activity when we hear about darkness. And sitting in the darkness gives the darkness that much more power over our imagination and choices.

The Power of Thanksgiving

But in case you missed it, these verses also gave us a small but surprisingly powerful “doorknob” that opens us to hoping instead of moping. We find it in verse 4, and it’s just one word. And, honestly, it feels like a nice, friendly, dapper word in the midst of a list of dangerous sins. It’s kind of like you’ve got Mr. T in Rocky 3, Ivan Drago in Rocky 4, and, let’s say, Mike Tyson, all together versus Mr. Rogers. See if you can tell which are the dangerous words and which word is like Mr. Rogers:

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:3-4, NIV)

Did you see the Mr. Rogers word in the midst of the Mr T’s and Mike Tysons? What was the nice, happy, friendly word? Thanksgiving. Giving thanks. Saying “thank you” to God. That’s what’s pitted against some of the most dangerous sins?

The truth is, telling God thank you is a surprisingly powerful and liberating “doorknob” that makes the darkness nervous. Why? Thanking God liberates us from moping in the darkness by shifting our focus from the darkness to the light. This shift is called “thanksgiving” or “gratitude.”

Do you realize that if you say “thank you” to God and mean it, in that moment, sin loses a ton of power over you?

All those sins Paul mentioned before are rooted in wanting what can’t satisfy you: sexual immorality, impurity, greed, and obscenity/foolish talk/coarse joking. If you look to God and think about all that he has given you, and you express gratitude for his gifts, then all those other things that can’t satisfy you lose a lot of power over you.

Prayers of “thank you” to God have surprising power to liberate. If you’re thankful for what God has given you, then you don’t need a bunch of trash to fill you up. If you’re thankful for what he’s provided, you don’t need to be greedy. If you’re thankful for the spouse God has given you, then you don’t need to go searching for romance in an affair or for thrills in pornography.

There is a surprising power in prayers of “thank you” to God. So, why don’t you take a moment today (and tomorrow, and the next day) and list what you’re thankful for as prayers to God. Walk in the freedom of shedding more and more of sin’s power to entice you.

December 15, 2024 Believers Church

It’s been a year of changes for the couples ministry here at Believers City Church. First off, we changed our name this fall to Co/Mission Couples. The name of our couples ministry is reflective of the nature of our calling. The Great Commission is truly a co-mission. We are called to work together, grow together, and journey together. To this end, we meet together in both small and large groups with varying activities in our local communities as well as our homes.

In September we spent the day in Stillwater, MN, for a day retreat entitled “Dispute & Devotion”. The retreat primarily entailed teachings by Matt Chandler covering the book of Malachi with small group discussions about the dangers of comfort and a call to put Christ and Kingdom first in our lives.

This fall, we kicked off new small group book discussions. We’ve been enjoying meeting in one another’s homes twice monthly, sharing dinner and then reading through Intoxicated with Babylon by Steve Gallagher. It’s been a time of discipleship and growth in our friendship as we open up our homes to each other and talk over what we’re learning.

Most recently, we invited all couples to join in decorating the church sanctuary for the Christmas season. It was a festive time making wreaths (revealing many artists in the group), hanging garland, and eating cookies.

If you’re interested in learning more about our upcoming events, please email co-mission@jfbelievers.com.

December 12, 2024 Believers Church

Recently, as I have been preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, we covered chapter 20 and I noticed a jarring reality about the actions of Jesus’s closest, most devoted and beloved followers. It had nothing to do with their impressive or radical commitment, love, and care for Christ, but instead was marked by a severe disregard and careless attitude at a time when you would expect the very opposite.

Jesus has just finished giving an urgent warning to the disciples of the dire future that awaited Him. He explained to them the excruciating suffering and even death that He was about to experience. In return we see them respond with what can only be described as selfish indifference. You would expect them to react with care and concern for Him and His wellbeing and yet, instead of being overwhelmed by the words of Jesus, this significant topic is ignored because they are unable to take their attention off themselves.

Jesus says “I am going to be spit on, suffer, be tortured to the very edge of death, and then I will be killed. By the way, I am doing this for you.” With these words, you would expect the disciples to be overwhelmed — to focus their attention on Jesus’ unimaginable suffering. But instead, what do they do? The disciples hear this stirring warning and in response, they decide that it is a great time to start demanding their place of power and importance. And this is not the only time Jesus calls their attention to Him only to be ignored. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus gave the same warning only to be followed by the disciples’ all too common argument about which one of them is the greatest.

It seems absurd, doesn’t it? How could they be so foolish? How could they be so self-focused and self-consumed in the face of Christ’s suffering? We better be careful before we go pointing our fingers in accusation because the reality is, it is really not much of a surprise. Take a look around — we live in a world that constantly pushes us to focus on ourselves: from social media to self-help culture, it’s all about “me.” People are so self-focused and self-concerned that we see little concern or thought to those around us even including the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus should not have to jump up and down screaming to get our attention. Our eyes should always be locked on Him, but that would require we take them off ourselves. That is an act most seem so unwilling to do these days.

People love to claim concern for Jesus and yet their actions prove otherwise. The reality is that many professing believers show more concern for what clothes they are going to wear on any given day than for Christ and His kingdom. The disciples ignored God in the living and breathing flesh right in front of them. We still do it now by our disregard for His Bride, the church. It’s all too easy to be consumed by our hobbies, careers, and comforts. We close our eyes to the things of greater importance because we have allowed ourselves to become self-important.

Let us become like John the Baptist and say not just with our words but with our lives “He must increase. I must decrease” In short, let us get over ourselves. It would be such a shame to waste our lives away concerned with things that will only prove in the end to have been fleeting and of no real significance.

Before Jesus even left this world, people began to close their eyes to Him distracted by their own self-obsession. Jesus suffered and died for us — is that not enough to shift our focus from ourselves to Him? Is that not enough to turn your concern and attention from your own cares, desires, and purposes to the ones that He holds as important?