“Follow the Leader” has been our story from day one

The earliest inklings that God was about to birth something new came late in 2005 as Pastor Chris was reading to his preschool daughter at bedtime. A paraphrase of Psalm  37:7 leapt off the page of her devotional book, “Be patient, be still… Wait for the Lord to act.”

The (prophetic) Covenant Assessment Center

After a season of focused prayer and waiting on God, Chris was led to the Covenant Denomination (a family of churches he knew next to nothing about). In the spring of 2006, he and his wife Laura were invited to a Church Planter’s Assessment Center where candidates for church planting are assessed in regards to their readiness to plant a church.

Chris & Laura made it clear that they had less than zero interest in launching a new church!  However, they accepted the invitation with the expressed understanding that this was an opportunity for them to get to know the Covenant better and vice versa.

The Assessment Center proved to be an eye-opener.  They found the case for planting new churches was surprisingly strong and the Assessors unanimously affirmed that Chris & Laura possessed gifts, abilities and experiences that would serve them well in church planting.

“OK God, if You want us to plant a church – what would You call it?”

Although they’d been given a green light to proceed, Chris & Laura resisted the notion of starting a new church. Yet, from time to time, Chris found himself asking the question, “If we did start a church, what would we call it?”

After a month or so of wrestling with the name question, he (half-jokingly) prayed, ”OK God, if You want us to plant a church – what would You call it?”

Immediately, a Voice not audible but just as strong replied, “Emmanuel Covenant Church.”

Our mission & vision are derived from the name God gave us.

Wide open doors

As Chris & Laura opened themselves to the notion of starting a new church, God flung doors open that their own efforts couldn’t have unlocked.

Not only had the Covenant welcomed them as one of their own, the Lutheran church where Chris had previously served offered to support ECC with people, resources and finances.

In the summer of 2007, God began to assemble a body of believers – people with gifts of hospitality, people with experience in children’s ministry, people with musical & technical talents, people with really big trucks to pull our really big trailer.

And the open doors didn’t end there…

“Funny you should ask” – Part 1

When it came time to decide on a place to meet, Chris & Laura recalled the first place that they had both felt would be a good fit – Chippewa Middle School.

Not knowing if this public school would be open to renting to a church, Chris was beyond pleasantly surprised when he gave them a call. ”Funny you should ask,” they said. “Chippewa Middle School just asked us to help them find another church plant.”

On September 9, 2007 we held our first service in Chippewa Middle School.

The math didn’t add up

After only a week or so of weekly services, we received an urgent request from a Hispanic church. They knew of a great number of families in great financial need and they asked if we could help with a toy drive. With only two Sundays to promote and collect the toys we said we’d do what we could.

On the last week of the collection, our plan was to have our kids bring the toys forward and place them on the auditorium stage. Given the small size of our congregation and the short notice, we thought each kid would make one trip forward carrying one or two toys each.

Instead, this proved to be a loaves and fishes moment. Kid after kid made trip after trip down the aisle – their little arms overflowing with toys!

With tears in our eyes, we surveyed the end result. The front edge of the stage was covered from one side of the auditorium to the other! A toy drive with so few participants and such a brief collection period shouldn’t have been that successful.

The math didn’t add up and we took note. This wasn’t going to be church as usual…

“Funny you should ask” – Part 2

Our contract with Chippewa was valid for two years. So, after year one, we began looking for our next worship location. The Shoreview Community Center (SCC) seemed like a great option, until we discovered another church was renting space there.

Which made for confusion on Chris’ part when he began sensing that he was supposed to “call Shoreview before it’s too late.” As the promptings grew in intensity and after a completely out of the blue email from a woman in Arizona, Chris sent the SCC an email inquiring about availability.

“Funny you should ask,” they replied. “The other church just informed us that they will not be renewing their contract and we were about to search for a new church to rent the space.”

On December 6, 2009 we held our first service in the Shoreview Community Center.

Called to grow up fast

Heading into the fall of 2010, Chris felt compelled to share that he was sensing we were going to be called to grow up fast.

None of us would have anticipated that over the next three months one of our international friends would be kidnapped or that our church family would be taking in a teen from Juarez whose life was being threatened by the local cartels.

For a church that’s only a few years old, God is challenging us to grow up fast. He’s sending increasing numbers of people our way, He’s teaching us that the church truly isn’t the building, He’s teaching us to turn to Him for both vision and provision, He’s taking us deep into the Word, He’s helping us rediscover vintage aspects of our faith, He’s using us as a learning lab for other church plants and planters, He’s teaching us what it means to be a community church that’s truly a part of the community and He’s bringing us places most of us have never been.

Each month that passes confirms that Emmanuel Covenant Church was truly God’s idea. We invite you to experience God’s unfolding story with us.