Month: May 2019

May 29, 2019 Street Level College Ministries

It is summer! We are excited to be outside and around town. Summers always seem to be a time of testing and to strengthen existing relationships. Last week for Street Level we broke out into small groups around town. Some went for ice cream, dinner, a walk, and a variety of other activities. We took some time to reflect on where we have come from in the last year and where we are going as a group and as individuals.

This weekend we had the first church fire at the campground paired with a Street Level-focused camping event. As the evening went on it seemed the tent village had taken over the back half of the campground. It was cool to see so many tents and hammocks around. It was great to be united with our church body and friends from Duluth and River falls!

  • Light Capturing Photo

Most of us stayed up late, sharing some good stories around the campfire. A few credible sources saw some UFO’s up in the late night sky. In the morning we mustered ourselves together again to enjoy breakfast and a short devotional.

While the parents are away, eat as much popcorn as possible.

We are truly blessed to have a church family to share and use this campground space with! Thank you to everyone who helps make it a great place to hang out and stay. We could use prayer for our summer endeavors out in the community, the new relationships God blesses us with and those of us who are in the Philippines.

May 28, 2019 Street Level Radio

On Campus:

Closing out the Stout semester we had a collective remote broadcast with WOTS and the coffeehouse. We were able to interview some students and have lots of interactions as well. It was a gorgeous night to be on campus and the whole street level group stopped in as well. 

New for us:

We have also kicked off the Devotional podcast which hopefully you know already. you can subscribe to the podcast from the JFB website or the radio website. We are excited to have this opportunity to share more of the gospel and the word of God twice a day during the week to our listeners. If you have not listened please tune in Monday – Friday 7 am or 9 pm. Tim is reading a daily devotional great for supplementing any morning or evening. 

You can stay updated on what we are doing through our Instagram.

Summer is here!

We are all excited its summer and summer for Burning Dog Radio means heading out in the community. We hope to continue outreach in the community for remote broadcasts. Possibly at community events and Music Over Menomin.

We are very thankful for all the work God is doing with the changes we have had and the opportunities in the community. If you would like to pray for us the continued opportunities we get in the community are always an appreciated one. For these to be fruitful and for people to be listening.

May 24, 2019 Shofar Missions Cebu

Greetings from the Philippines! Read the latest update about what God is doing in Cebu.

Thanks for your prayers! Brittany and I made it home a few weeks ago and hit the ground running to prepare for the first missions team to arrive.

Even though it is summer vacation we have continued to meet for Street Level on Friday evenings. We have had to opportunity to switch things up the last couple weeks. We read an article from Word on the Street and and had a game night. During our game night we played a few mean games of table tennis. One of the students, Ed, likes to play so he showed us a few tricks like playing off the floor or wall. I also had a chance to teach a science lesson.

Issue 78 of Word on the Street was printed earlier this month and Issue 79 is well underway. We continue to use the magazine as a way to reach out to students and advertise Street Level.

The team arrived last week and jumped right into it as we started the first Ministry Training Institute class a couple days ago.

I ask that you would pray for all that is happening here in the next three weeks! Also, please pray for Team Two as they continue preparing to come the middle of July. We look forward to seeing all that God will do here!

-Laura

May 20, 2019 River Falls Ministry

Get the latest news from Street Level college ministry and JFBelievers ministry in River Falls, WI.

Classes at UW-River Falls have wrapped up, which means that most students have moved back home for the summer. But before everyone moved away, we took the opportunity to bring the mobile coffeehouse down to campus. During finals week, we were able to do a coffee giveaway directly outside the University Center. We advertised our Bible studies and Word on the Street while just engaging with people about the woes of finals and what they looked forward to for the summer.

For our final Street Level meeting of the year, we got out of the building and took everybody down to one of the many parks in town. We grilled out, went for a walk along the river, and chatted about summer plans. It was a time for us to reflect and be thankful for the friendships and participation that God has allowed us to see over the past school year.

Our main focus this summer for the ministry will be our Sunday 5 pm JFBelievers Bible studies, along with events focused on reaching out to the city. Our first big event will be our (second annual) rummage sale on June 22. As with last year’s sale, Street Level Menomonie will be assisting us in taking donations and helping us work the sale. Additionally, we will have the mobile coffeehouse on-site.

Please pray for the outreach, that we would build relationships with people in the community, and that the upcoming rummage sale would be used to bring people in.

June Calendar

  • Sundays: 5pm / JFBelievers Bible Study,  6pm / meal
  • Saturday, June 22, 8am-3pm: Rummage Sale

River Falls Ministry Online

May 16, 2019 Street Level College Ministries

Moving from Semester-to-Summer

Street Level finished up the UW-Stout spring semester a few weeks ago. As with every spring, the weather got warmer and the UW-Stout students all went home.

Even with the students gone for the summer we will still meet on Monday nights throughout the summer. But our focus will shift towards fellowship (backyard gatherings, some camping, and many 50-cent cones from Burger King…) and preparation for the 2019 fall semester.

This summer includes one noticeable change: we are moving the annual thrift sale from Memorial Day weekend to the month of September.  (stay tuned…)

What the Heck Happened

Here are a few highlights from the semester, including a few changes to our typical routine:

  1. We periodically switched locations and held our bible studies at the Blind Munchies Coffeehouse. The fresh scenery was refreshing, and it also gave us the opportunity to utilize the Coffeehouse even more!
  2. A large group of Street Level members took a road trip to Kentucky over the spring break holiday to serve at the St. Vincent Mission center. We lived and served together for a week – doing some home repair among other serving opportunities.
  3. We had a coffee giveaway and campus outreach in late April. There was coffee, kickball, and calf-injuries. It was fun.
  4. We hosted a study night at the Blind Munchies on the Sunday before finals week. Intense mental exertion was fueled by equal parts desperation and free coffee & popcorn.
  5. The final night of the semester was a worship night. We ate spaghetti and worshiped God together.

A Great, Big Thank You

Our continued goal as a campus ministry is to provide opportunities for college students and other young people to follow and serve the Lord.  

This is primarily done through committing members to a service position in Burning Dog Radio, Word on the Street Magazine, The Blind Munchies Coffeehouse, and the Creative Team.  

Within these groups the effect is twofold: (1) we can out reach outward to the UW-Stout campus through multiple avenues, and (2) we grow in our discipleship through serving alongside other Christians of varying ages and backgrounds.

This is where the “thank you” comes in: none of this would be possible without the commitment and support of the JFBelievers community members. You all are a MAJOR part of any success that Street Level has.


Thank you JFB for loving us, praying for us, and spending time with us.

May 14, 2019 Believers Church Duluth

Whether looking back at the calendar for the previous months or looking ahead at the months to come, there are always plenty of different things going on to write about. As a church, we seem to almost always have something that we are planning for and scheduling. All of these happenings, all of these events, are done with intentionality. As a church, we have no desire to fill the calendar just for the sake of being busy. This is something that we all must remember. If we fail to do so we may find ourselves with a false sense of progress and accomplishment due to busyness rather than in continually moving forward following the will of God. Motion does not always mean progress and doing a lot of things does not equate to getting a lot done for God’s kingdom. A full calendar or busy schedule is not an end unto itself, but rather a means to an end. With that in mind, everything that we do has a purpose.

Fellowship

Sometimes that purpose may not be some grand and complicated goal. Sometimes it is simply for us to spend time together, laugh together, eat together, to truly have communion. Doing all of that in remembrance of Jesus. True unity in fellowship can be hard to come by, but it is crucial for us to have. If we are not united in mind and mission we will be ineffective tools for God’s kingdom. To accomplish this we regularly spend time together without an intensive agenda and schedule. On Easter, we all got together at the Mosses, ate a traditional Easter dinner, told stories of the incredible things God has done, and stayed late into the night playing games. It was a fun night that brought us together as a church.

Outreach

As Jesus prepared to leave this earth, He clarified part of our mission. He told us to “go”, “to make disciples”, and to “teach.” In order to do this, we are actually going to need to meet people. We cannot fulfill the commission of Christ in solitude in hope that people are just going to come to us. Sometimes we do this by inviting the community to enter into what we are doing with things such as concerts, and sometimes we do this by getting out into the community to meet people. This spring we have regularly been giving away coffee at both the UW-Superior and Lake Superior college trying to get to know students.

Service and Discipleship

The Bible calls us to serve one another. The Bible calls us to put forth physical effort into furthering the kingdom of God. Many times It’s through that service alongside one another that God reveals things in our lives. God can and does accomplish great things through our blood, sweat, and tears. Not only does God mold our character and turn us more into the people of God that he desires us to be through our service, but we also get to find joy and satisfaction in fulfilling whatever role He has for us. It is easy to forget the big picture in our week to week service opportunities. It easy to see a work day as just a day to get some projects done. If we forget the privilege and purpose of our service we may miss out on what God might do.

Our Rummage Sale

Few events can accomplish all of these things at once as well as our all church rummage sale which was held last Saturday. It may seem weird to be excited about rummage sales, but our sale is always an anticipated event for us. It goes far beyond being able to raise funds for missions endeavors. It’s a fun day where we get to spend the entire day together in fellowship. On Saturday night we found ourselves sitting on the steps outside long after the sale had been finished. By the numbers, it is one of the most successful outreaches we have. We meet dozens of people who come in our doors where we get to tell them about who we are. We open of the coffeehouse for breakfast and lunch. It is a day full of service both to those inside of the church and the community that comes in. It always amazes me that God can take our meager efforts and donations and accomplish great things for His kingdom.

With such a busy schedule, it is easy to live always waiting for the next event. It is tempting to always be looking ahead at the schedule in order to cross the next thing off the list. You need to be sure you don’t get lost in the activities. You must not allow yourself to simply be content with constant motion. Instead, we need to go into all of the busyness of being part of JFB Duluth with right humble hearts that are seeking God and allowing Him to accomplish what He desires to accomplish through all that we do.

-Pastor Jesse

Street Level Dinner
Recent Kitchen Renovations