Month: January 2021

January 28, 2021 Street Level College Ministries

As with many, 2020 brought joys and challenges to Street Level, looking back over the last year of Street Level as we move into 2021- I think we can truly say that it’s been a wild ride. The fall semester brought it’s own need for creative solutions, which we are learning from the pandemic (and it might be a good thing). We moved into the Blind Munchies Coffeehouse due to campus restrictions. We wondered if anyone new would still come with the change in venue, the approach and the restrictions, and they did!

Throughout the semester we have been holding an official on campus “meeting” which every Monday at 5pm the Student Leaders have been going through the book “Don’t Follow Your Heart” by Jon Bloom and then praying with the students who come week to week. Afterwards, they come over to the Blind Munchies to join the “Blind Munchies Bible Discussion” hosted by the Blind Munchies Coffeehouse. This allows the opportunity to still offer a free dinner and to get to know the students that come week to week.

Over the fall semester three students began serving in the radio and coffeehouse ministries and became official members of Street Level. With the new normal of video calls we were even able to join up with our sister branches in the Philippines and Superior as they joined our regular meeting and then even split off into small groups with us! River Falls also came and joined us for our last night of the semester in person. 

New Year’s Day, A new tradition?


More recently we took a two week break from our regular meeting so we could enjoy a New Year’s Day Jeopardy hang out at the Blind Munchies Coffeehouse. We learned Street Level history (although some of our more tenured members couldn’t even answer some of the questions), drank coffee and enjoyed what seemed like a long time since we just hung out and were together in fellowship.

In early January, three of our Student leaders joined up with Superior and River Falls’ student leaders for a day retreat. Focusing on the topic of Disciple Making at the Street Level garage in Superior. It was pleasantly surprising how mild the temperatures were in the Great North, but it was an even better day of sharing what each campus has been learning since the start of the pandemic and how to continue the mission despite the circumstances. 

What’s Next?


The last few weeks before the semester began again on Jan 25th, we hit pause from the normal course of materials on Monday nights to read blog articles and discuss as a large group with our Superior friends joining us virtually.

We are looking forward to what God is going to do with the next semester- crazy to think that we are nearly a year into the pandemic, but God’s been faithful and we have been ready to move accordingly to what he wants. Pray for new students, outreach opportunities to campus and also for those that are in our group to desire discipleship. 

January 25, 2021 Shofar Missions Cebu

Read what is happening with our mission work in Cebu, Philippines. Get the latest news from the branches of Shofar Mission.

As of this writing, we are two months shy of March 28, which in 2020 signaled the start of quarantine. In-person church services started again the first week of October. Many pastors suggested God simply wanted everyone to STOP and challenged their people to stop, listen, and spend time with Him. On January 24, our barangay reinstated a mandatory Sunday lockdown. No one goes out of the house and businesses must close except pharmacies. We are cannot worship in person at this time. Though in-person fellowship is limited we have been able to fellowship digitally! Since Believers Church West Duluth was playing Bingo digitally we were able to join in for a game.

Street Level Ministries

Weekly Bible Discussions have resumed after the holidays. SLM is a smaller group than last year at this time, but God continues to grow each of the students involved – specifically three ladies that are participating in an additional weekly discipleship group. This has been a chance to read through some discipleship material and have an in-depth discussion as we read. Another issue of Word on the Street will be printed soon and we are looking forward to the first in-person gathering since last year. Writers plan to come to the office for a collaborative workshop with WOTS USA next month! We also got to catch up with a former WOTS writer at church recently. Students continue helping produce teaching and promotional clips for Street Level Radio. In February, we are also looking forward to catching up with our friends from Burning Dog Radio for a group video call.

Above – WOTS distribution throughout the province (L); Catching up with one SLM member at the office (R)
Below – Happy New Year from SLR DJ’s Ruby and Atheena!

Exploring Creation Science

Semester two started the first week of January for many schools. Exploring Creation Science classes continue online via Facebook Live and Zoom or Google Meet upon request. We also had the opportunity to do a seeds lesson with the Believers Church Homeschool group. As always this is a neat opportunity and a way to connect with the kids. Many of them are also part of the Believers Church Children’s Ministry. They made cards for some of the local churches and schools last month here. Explore Booklet #2 about Life on Earth was passed out to students that are unable to receive their coursework online. Explore Booklet #3 for students in grades 4-6 and grades 7-12 will be printed and passed out the second week of March. We cannot share a meal or snack after lessons with teachers, administrators/pastors but can fellowship with them when we are able to attend church again.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

  1. Please pray for the churches in our barangay as they revert back to online-only Sunday Services.
  2. Pray for the Street Level members that have recently found work or are looking for full-time work. That they would put God and the ministries he has called them to be a part of first in their lives.
  3. For all the churches and schools we have relationships with especially as semester two continues online. We would like to see some of them in person.
January 22, 2021 Street Level Radio

Online Streaming

We’re excited to announce that soon Burning Dog Radio will start streaming online! With a little help from our friends at JFBelievers in Duluth and River Falls, we are going to be able to have our programming available to people outside the reach of our radio broadcast.

We are really excited about this change, and hope that you’ll tune in – we will have a plugin/app available at burningdogradio.com. Please pray for us as we move to make programming changes accordingly. Pray that we can see the effects of this change – we want to be sure we’re using God’s money correctly.

In Menomonie, you can listen to 101.7 FM to hear more about WHEN this will start! Other announcements will be posted on our social media.

Programming Changes

There will be some changes to our programming due to the fact that we are going to be streaming. Some of those changes will include:

  • more promos for Street Level Superior and River Falls
  • promos for Believers Church in Duluth
  • teachings and teaching clips from Pastor Justin in addition to our teaching clips from Pastor Tim in Menomonie.

You will hearing more information about these locations simply due to the fact that now….the station also belongs to them. Pray especially for the reach of the gospel to go out to Superior and Duluth through the teachings, and that we can advertise them well!

We are also planning to team up with WOTS on a more regular basis – so listen in for our Word On the Street segment. This will include snippets of their articles, music, and possibly interviews with the writers.

Remember Remote Broadcasts?!

Sometimes, when you have a radio station – you’re able to do these things called “remote broadcasts”, where you go out with your gear and do a show in a different location. These are cool because you can meet people, interact, promote the station itself….you know…. fun stuff.

We have not been doing much of this through the year, but we hope to get back out there as soon as we can. Prayers for this are appreciated.

Prayers

Pray for the radio as we start streaming online:

  • that people “far and wide” would listen to Burning Dog Radio and that it would be valuable to them.
  • that we are able to advertise this change well
  • for Duluth and RF churches and Street Level as they become involved

Pray for creativity for us! We need to be creative with our time and resources – especially to reach out this year. Reaching out may be different for us as we start streaming – so pray we keep our eyes open to the changes we are supposed to make!

January 19, 2021 River Falls Ministry

Get the latest news from Believers Church plant and College Ministry in River Falls, WI.

Hello from River Falls,

College Bible Study

It is currently J-Term, so the students are still gone from town and campus. But we have been able to continue with our weekly College Bible Study meetings with a core group of 3 or 4 individuals. Even though our group is small, it has been nice to see them stay involved over the break.

We also had the opportunity to connect with other Street Level locations this last month. As the fall semester was winding down, we made it over to the Menomonie to take part in their study. Hopefully, we can do this more often. More recently, we went up to the Street Level Garage in Superior for a Leadership meeting. It was a great opportunity for all the student leaders to meet in person and start building relationships. The discussion topic was Discipleship and how this is, should, and will be playing out in our various Street Level groups. From what I heard, everyone enjoyed the opportunity and appreciated the material.

On our way home from Superior, we even made a quick stop to see the world’s largest Walleye.

Community Outreach

On the church front, we continue to meet in the coffeehouse for Wednesday night rewinds and use the coffeehouse as a tool to invite people. We are still meeting with our Micro groups on Sunday evenings and will see where God leads with these. This is new terrain, so we appreciate your continued prayer for God to be leading our decisions and discussions. We move forward and pray to see what doors God opens to us in the community and with the people who walk in the door. God is Faithful and we trust that his plans are greater than ours.

Coffeehouse Updates

Over J-Term, we started a few projects in the coffeehouse, including setting up a new merchandise area, an updated bookshelf, and getting ready for a plant sale. There are still more updates we are working on these next few weeks. If you are ever in River Falls, feel free to stop in and check out our updates.

Prayer Requests…

  • As the University begins in the next few weeks, the current students would stay impassioned, and we will all go into this semester bold to invite new people.
  • For creativity making connections with the students returning to campus.
  • For the people we have talked to and are asking about the church to step through the door.

Further Information

January 13, 2021 Believers Church Duluth

The End of 2020

2020 is finally all wrapped up! The snow’s been blanketing us a decent amount and it’s cold and dark as ever up here in the north, but that’s okay as we are continuing to press on! We’ve continued to find new ways to stay in touch through video chat, fellowship together, and we’re looking forward to what God will allow us to do in the new year.

Thoughts of Heaven

December was a monumental month for Duluth as we finished up our study in Revelation. To date, Pastor Justin has taught all the way through the new testament. Finishing the last book of the bible coinciding with the end of a memorable year was a wonderful cap to our pandemic laden time in 2020.

In addition to our Sunday and Wednesday gatherings, we began meeting every Tuesday throughout December to let our ‘thoughts be filled with the things Heaven’. We had an informal dialogue and discussion, all were welcome to attend, where we would talk about, and perhaps speculate a bit, on what Heaven might look like. Meeting for an additional day of the week was a real blessing for this fellowship. It allowed us to connect with each other all while focusing on God’s glory and dreaming about what might be possible in the life to come.

The Old Fold & Staple… and Sticker?

Lastly, we came together to fold and staple Word on The Street Magazine to send out while the semester finished up. This is normally a large undertaking in itself and it helps to have all hands-on deck. This issue, while being one of the largest we’ve ever been a part of producing, had an extra step involved in that after printing, sorting, compiling, stapling, folding, we got to fold another time, and then sticker each copy of WOTS closed to be mailed out to students. The extra time involved was worth it as being mailed reaches a wide audience, as well as showing off the cool intricate design of the back cover, our new sermon series: The Anatomy of
A Christian.

Prayer Requests


Please pray for us to learn and continue to love each other as the body of Christ in the way He intends. Please also pray for God to lead and bless us in our efforts to ramp up service positions and community outreach kicking off real soon. Pastor Justin and Pastor Jesse have a big vision and big plans for Duluth in 2021. Please pray for God’s continued guidance and hand in our attempts to love Him and love our neighbors. Here’s to the new year!

-Seth Tolene

January 10, 2021 Pastor Justin Thomson - Duluth

Good grief, we’re doing it all over again. It’s the same thing we did only 12 months ago (and 12 months before that, and again 12 months before that), so I guess it shouldn’t really surprise me. But lately, it just feels less appropriate than usual.

If memory serves me, it was indeed about this time last year that we were all wishing one another a “Happy New Year”. Nonetheless, for a great number of people across the globe, 2020 ended up being, perhaps, the most difficult, frustrating, and (quite frankly) sad year of their entire life. And yet, in denial of its impotence, we’re offering each other the same tired expression once again this year.

The Year in Review

The facts are hard to ignore: One single virus was responsible for nearly 2 million funerals worldwide. The atmosphere of our own country was polluted with such political drama, citizens from coast to coast are still gasping for cleaner air. Racial tensions and riots burned through what was left of the thin thread that barely held a number of cities and communities together.

We were isolated from each other, and then fed a continual narrative of death & division. Lies & lawsuits are now the norm. Law enforcement has become criminal. The world is a morgue.

A year that was supposed to be ‘happy’ has left most of us feeling hopeless…

The New Normal

A lot of people are saying that we’ll never go back to the way things used to be. “This is the new normal” they say; “It’ll never be the same again” they say. Nothing can undo what’s been done, not even a vaccination.

Far from “happy”, the last 12 months have at least proven to be transitional. Everything from the governing color in the oval office to the way we celebrate holidays is different now. Very different.

And here we are, only 365 days later, with very limited options. Two really. We can either stay with the mission of Christ Almighty, or we can sit around and lament the things we’ve lost in 2020.

Which one will it be?

Happy, or Hopeless?

Unexpected changes seem to upset some people more than others.

If we’re prudent, we’ll allow the events of the last year call into question our ability to cope with transition at all. Your attitude and management of life alterations can either reveal spiritual soundness or spiritual instability. And history shows that it’s Christ’s disciples who prove themselves most adept at embracing transitional situations.

Certainly the most stark example comes from the original Disciples themselves as they transitioned from a life lived under the Law of Moses, to one lived by grace, apart from the Law. A hard transition for everybody, but only the Disciples of Christ survived it. A fact that can be largely attributed to their preparation. The sacrificial investments they’d made and the training they’d received paid off when it was most needed.

Others, however, didn’t fare so well. Why? Because unlike the Disciples who’d been following Christ with pure intentions, the Pharisees, for example, had been following Him with impure ones. In them, Jesus only stirred up latent feelings of jealousy, anger, and hatred. They demanded that their lives remain undisturbed, and couldn’t tolerate what God was forcing them to face, so, instead of making the change, they cracked under the pressure and got buried in sin.

Not everyone comes through times of transition with greater spiritual soundness than when it began. And whether we like it or not, both of these groups find their counterpart in Believers’ Church.

Who Are You?

It’s time to evaluate yourself. Was 2020 a success for you, or a failure? Are you strengthening or weakening? Did you transition well, beloved disciple, or did you falter? Have you made good use of the things you’ve learned, dear student? Have you put to wise use all the training you’ve received thus far, good soldier?

If we’ve learned anything in 2020, it’s that we have no clue as to what’s coming next. We may anticipate a better year than last, and we may wish for a ‘happy’ one like always, but we mustn’t let ourselves forget, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps” (Pr.16:9). God has already decided what 2021 is going to look like for you and me. Our only job is to be ready for it.

The question is not whether tomorrow will bring blessing or adversity, but whether we’re prepared to accept either one. And if we can assume anything, it’s that the coming year will include much of both. We’ll have to wait and see.

Happy New Year…