Launch Team

Pointway Church has an amazing Launch Team! Pointway people have been at our new building cleaning, painting, setting up sound equipment, loving each other, laughing, crying and working together all week.

I am so thankful for the people that God has brought together. I love how God is building Pointway Church!

We will be beginning a series of 4 preview services leading up to our Launch on  September 14th. We are two days away fro

m the first preview service and 

we are psyched to see what the LORD is going to do.

This is the g

reatest and most exhausting

 thing I have ever done in my life. I love it!!!

I am looking forward to Sunday and praying that the Spirit of the Living God would be strong amongst us.

A Reason for Praising the LORD Jesus Christ

As we rapidly approach the launch of Pointway Church here in Brainerd/Baxter, MN we are continuing to see an amazing outpouring of the grace of God. We continue to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ and grow in their faith.

We also recently had a good friend bless us with a sound system. We received a building for our church to meet in for free.

Today we saw the hand of God on us once again. We are sending out invitations for people to join us at our launch service on September 14, 2008 at 10:00 am. I met with a new friend who is in the advertising business and he is putting our invitations in his direct mailer that will reach 50,000 homes. He is not charging us for this initial mailing, but wants to be a blessing and use his business to bring God glory.

We are humbled by our friends generousity and the amazing grace of God.

Soli Deo Gloria

Karis Joy Erickson

Today at 4:47 p.m. our daughter - Karis Joy Erickson was born! Anne was absolutely amazing!!! When the time to push arrived Anne got it done in 7 minutes. That's right - 7 MINUTES!!!

Karis weighed in at a mighty 7 lbs. and 6 oz. and measured in at an impressive 20 inches.

She is an amazing child and she is as her name states. Karis is the Greek word for Grace and Joy is what she has filled our hearts with.

I will post some of the 200 pictures I have taken of her after we get home from the hospital on Saturday.

Asher came to visit his brand new little sister and gave her some very sweet cuddles and kisses.

We praise the LORD Jesus Christ for his mighty presence with us today and we are humbled that he has blessed us so richly.

Thank you to all of you who faithfully prayed for us today. The LORD God definately answered you.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Hand of God

Today I am in awe of the goodness of my God and King Jesus Christ. We have recently acquired a building to hold our worship services in. This is the great work of God that we would  recevie a 7000 square foot facility for $0.00, that's right we paid nothing for it and it is ours. Praise be to God!

Once we looked around the building and noted the needs we have to be able to hold worship services there we realized that we needed a sound system. I set up a meeting for today with a rep. from our local music store to help us design a system that will serve us well. Conservative estimates for a sound system are from $10,000 - $15,000. 

Well yesterday I received a phone call from Mike V. Mike indicated that he had been talking to Richard (our music rep) and learned that we needed a sound system. I told him that we did indeed need a system and the $10,000 - $15,000 to pay for it. The long and short of it is that Mike had a sound system sitting in storage collecting dust and he gave it to us to use for our worship services.

I am incredibly thankful for Mike's generosity, but I am in awe of the way in which the LORD has granted us favor in his eyes. As I prayed and prayed for God to provide for us I had great faith that he would though I did not know how he would do it. This has shown me once again of the need to step out in faith and ask God to give me eyes to see his hand at work.

I am in awe of my great God and I am thankful for my friend Mike for listening to the Holy Spirit speak to him.

I am psyched to watch as the LORD Jesus Christ plants Pointway Church in Brainerd / Baxter, MN.

HALLELUJAH

Hallelujah

The Wonder of a Divine Appointment

Today I rose at 4:45 a.m. as is my custom and during the course of my time in the Word and in Prayer I prayed that the LORD would give me an opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was not out of the house more than an hour today when the LORD answered my prayer in a way that stirred my heart to praise his holy name.

I was meeting with my former landlord this morning to walk through my old apartment. After we finished my former neighbor came over and wanted our new address so she could send us a card. We began to talk and she shared that she and her husband felt that they had a real connection to us and that they were interested in continuing a friendship. (this was a surprise to me!)

We began to talk about my work as a church planter and I was able to share the gospel with her. She started asking all kinds of questions. I suggested that maybe we could get together and read the Bible together and seek out the answers to her questions.

She was very interested in this and suggested that some of her friends might be interested in joining us.

My prayer is that we would launch an Evangelistic Bible Study in the next week or two. Join me in praying for the salvation to come to this woman, her family and her friends.

I marvel at the grace of God who was pleased to open the door for the gospel to go forth. Praise the LORD for his grace.

This is Why I am a Church Planter!!!

This morning I was praying and asking God to give me an "open door" for the gospel. I pray this prayer almost every day and the LORD is good to grant me my request. This morning I also asked the LORD to let me see his salvation come upon someone.

Tonight our community group met and one of our flock, who has been a Christian for only a few months, brought two new friends to the group. He soon got a call from a friend whose car had broken down and was asking for a ride. So he and one of his friends went to help the friend and they left Charlie all alone with us.

We could tell he was a little uncomfortable and we tried to put him at ease. He was eager to be there and we proceeded with our time in the word. Knowing that Charlie was not a follower of Christ we changed our regular format and read our passage and I asked if anyone had any questions about the passage.

Someone asked why Jesus had to suffer and that opened up an opportunity to talk straight forwardly about the gospel. We challenged Charlie with regard to his sin and asked him if he would like to receive the forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ alone. The Spirit of God was moving powerfully among us and Charlie indicated that he wanted to repent of his sins and commit his life to following Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah!!! The angels are rejoicing in heaven!

Please pray for Charlie. Pray that the LORD would give him new life and that the Holy Spirit would take up residence in his soul.

Praise the LORD! This is Why I am a Church Planter!!!

Gospel Community Groups Begin

Tonight we are starting our first Gospel Community Group (cell group). We are expecting 10-12 people to attend. We are very excited for this part of our ministry to grow and blossom.

Please pray that the LORD would knit our hearts together in love and unity as we band together to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ and plant his church in the Brainerd/Baxter area.

We continue to be humbled by the way the LORD is using us to plant his church and we are continuously filled with wonder and awe at the way he works.

Soli Deo Gloria - To God Alone Be the Glory

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Remember ~ It is not about turkey ~ It is not about family ~ It is not about football!
This is a day set aside to express our thanksgiving to the LORD who gives us life. Try to make room for thanksgiving this Thanksgiving!

The words of Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation, in 1863 and the first declaring Thanksgiving as a national holiday, seem particularly apt for this Thanksgiving also.

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God . . . Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, (sic) have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. . . the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility (sic) and Union.” Abraham Lincoln

These excerpts are taken from the collection of Lincoln's papers in the Library of America series, Vol II, pp. 520-521.

Living the Dream Baby!

This is a phrase that some church planters were using at the Christian and Missionary Alliance's Strategic Multiplication Training. It was used in jest as the trainer was talking about some difficult situations that he had encountered.

I am using this phrase today because I truly am Living the Dream! Someone asked me this morning how I was doing and my response was, "I don't think I have ever been better in my entire life than I am right now."

That is truly how I feel today. I feel that way because I can not imagine having a better family, I can not imagine doing anything other than planting Pointway Church, I can not imagine anything better than being a child of the Living God.

I know that dwelling in the glorious presence of our God and King Jesus Christ in the New Heavens and the New Earth will far surpass what I am experiencing at this moment, but that is beyond what I can imagine.

So I praise the LORD today because I can not remember a time that has ever been better than this time in my life. Praiz-a-lujah!!! I rejoice in my God and in my call to plant His church.

I'm Living the Dream Baby!!!

Soli Deo Gloria