Greetings to all from Duluth; spring is finally here, and it’s a beautiful 45 degrees and cloudy. Unless of course you’re in Menomonie, River Falls, or Cebu where its likely 40 degrees warmer! We have found that springtime in Duluth, though a bit dreary, makes summer all the sweeter. All jokes aside, we have had some beautiful days, great opportunities to get out and meet people, and have had a very busy month.
All About Missions
Street Level Duluth got to join up with Street Level Menomonie to drive down to Tennessee to roof a church. They drove straight through and had a full week of hard work, good fellowship, and sleeping in the church. It sounds like it was a great time to serve together and get to see what God is doing in another part of the country. They were able to get a large roof done along with a few other projects despite having some rather precarious weather. While they were hard at work in Tennessee another group from the church got to drive down to Louisiana camper-style to serve a few different churches. It was also a full week of fellowship and getting to serve others, whether we were sanding a floor, painting, siding, digging a hole, taping and mudding with a bazooka (wait, what?), or installing the worst designed door-closers ever!
I am sure both teams would agree that it was great to be able to get out and serve Jesus on a mission trip somewhere different, even in the midst of a pandemic.
However, this is never to be to the neglect of our mission here, at home, in Duluth. So, on Easter weekend we had a chance to get out and serve our community by setting up a candy giveaway tent and the mobile coffee trailer at the zoo for their annual Egg-stravaganza. I believe there were roughly 1,200 people that came to the event, all of whom walked by our tent/trailer and received information for the church, whether by flyer or word. It was a large group effort to prepare for and execute the event as the opportunity came suddenly, just weeks before the event date. The event went very well, and there could be more possibilities of setting up there for future events.
All About Service
We have continued to get into a groove with new service opportunities between community group, media ministry, and repair/rehab. The Easter outreach provided a great opportunity to see these three groups work together to put on the event. We all have a part to play, whether designing a flier, printing them, prepping the trailer, bagging candy, loading the trailer, planning the event, or handing out the candy/coffee and engaging with people. Though these ministry groups serve different purposes, it is important to remember that we are on the same mission with the same purpose. We have also been continuing our Sunday lunches and get to serve through the kitchen to ensure we have a chance to spend time together and share a meal together safely.
All About Teaching
We have still been going through the Anatomy of a Disciple Series on Sundays, continuing to learn how God, through His word, often uses body parts as an analogy of how we should be living as His disciples and as part of His church (the body of believers). On Easter, we heard an Easter message from Pastor Jesse about resurrection, and how no other event in history had as far-reaching implications as the resurrection of Christ.
We are continuing to rotate through Jeremiah, men’s and women’s studies, and “Horizontal Jesus” by Tony Evans on Wednesdays. We just finished a six-week Friday night marriage study going through the book “Sacred Marriage” by Gary Thomas. It is a really good book that looks at how your marriage should be focusing more on serving God than serving yourself or simply having a “nice and happy” life. Though our marriages should be creating happiness and joy, that is not the primary purpose of it.
Prayer
You can continue to keep us in your prayers, we may be a small fellowship, but we have big plans to be making more of an impact in our community, and Satan does not like that. Please pray that we would stand firm in our faith, resist the devil in our thought life, and have boldness to engage with our community, neighbors, co-workers, and each other. Also, that we would do what we do because we love God and each other and want to see His will done in our lives and in the church.
Adam
