Author: River Falls Ministry

August 19, 2021 River Falls Ministry

Get the latest news from Believers Campus Church and Street Level Ministries in River Falls, WI.

Street Level Ministries

It has not been hard to enjoy great weather and outdoor adventures this summer with Street Level. We’ve sought to make the best of it all with hikes, grill-outs, and outdoor Bible studies. But we know this phase of the year will be over soon, and there are lots of changes in play. School starts just around the corner (9/1), and we are excited to start connecting with new students. Please pray for new and worthwhile relationships to be made this fall.

Believers Campus Church

The biggest change for the Fall is the creation of “Believers Campus Church”. After much discussion and preparation, this new inception of the ministry will take the place of our usual Wednesday Rewinds in River Falls. Believers Campus Church will operate as a church outreach directly on the UW-River Falls Campus. We have a room set up in the most centralized and frequented campus building, the University Center. Thus students will not need to travel far to find us, and hopefully, we are hard to miss! Please pray that the final preparations for this venture fall into place and that God’s Spirit uses it to minister to the campus.

Getting the Word Out

We have invested a great deal of time, energy, and resources into getting the word out about the ministry for this Fall. We recently spent a night labeling postcards that will be sent to about 1200 freshmen. These postcards advertise Street Level and the Campus Church and also act as a coupon for the coffeehouse. We will also soon be mailing out the most recent Word on the Street magazine when it is complete. There has been plenty to do with designing banners, printing posters, creating social media, and imagining a semester with fewer COVID restrictions (God willing). Please pray that we are visible to each student as we get the word out!

Check out the Street Level video ad that will be running this Fall:

For Further Information…

July 20, 2021 River Falls Ministry

We have fully embraced summertime in River Falls by giving away coffee, ice cream, and grilling out!

Street Level Mondays

We have been meeting for Street Level in different locations around town this summer. We’ve shuffled around from parks, to back yards, to locations on campus. Several students and other visitors have joined us. Our main focus has been going verse-by-verse through the book of John.

Recently, we had a great weekend joining the other campuses for camping and canoeing in Superior. The Street Level group there hosted us at their own campground for a time of fire and fellowship in the woods. We then took a fleet of canoes for a 4+ hour trip down the Brule River.

Also, a group of us went with the other Street Level groups to the St. Louis, Missouri area at an all-weekend conference. There was fellowship, worship, and a variety of topical teachings. The organization, Campus Ministry United, put together a collaborative series entitled “Cancel Culture”. It was encouraging and inspiring to see another young and committed group of believers growing and serving together.

Coffeehouse and Church Outings

We continue to set up the coffeehouse kiosk at “Music in the Park” on Thursday nights. We serve a simple menu of cold brew, hot coffee, and watermelon Italian sodas. It has been nice to see the local community getting familiar with who we are and vice versa. Our regularity there has kind of made us the de facto “info booth”, with people regularly asking us questions that we don’t know the answer to.

  • Friendly and helpful neighbors

Sunday evenings we have shifted away from our weekly studies and have been doing some simple outreach in the community. Our basic plan is to fill up a cooler with ice cream treats and wheel it around town to see who we meet. We have talked to several people at parks and trails, many of whom are ready and open for conversation. We even gave away patriotic popsicles on the 4th of July to a huge group of college students.

“River Falls Days” was this month and with it came large crowds, reminiscent of pre-pandemic times. This is one of the biggest events in River Falls during the summer. To get our name out there, we handed out hundreds of flyers Friday night during a “walk through” parade. The next day we gave away cold brew, coffee, Italian sodas, and food from the coffeehouse parking lot. There were lots of local people who came over, many stayed and hung out to chat about the coffeehouse, the ministry, and whatever else was on their mind.

Prayer For….

Please continue to be in prayer for the future outreach and ministry that is going on in the River Falls community. Also, that God would open the hearts of the people attending the studies. Lastly that we’d have wisdom and clarity about the direction of the ministry for the fall.

Further Information

Summertime in River Falls

June 19, 2021 River Falls Ministry

We have been trying new ways to reach out to the community this summer. Every Thursday evening the coffeehouse is setting up the kiosk in Veterans Park during “Music in the Park”. Some of us also did an ice cream giveaway at one of the trailheads this last Saturday. In addition, Burning Dog Radio joined us for a local poster bomb.

Street Level Ministries

This is the first summer we are meeting in person for Street Level in River Falls. We have been doing a number of grill-outs and Bible Studies outside in various spots around town. There have even been some new students joining us for it!

We put together a short video to show you some of what we have been doing. Have fun watching it here!

Prayer Requests

  • That we are effectively meeting people in the community through our various outreaches.
  • That we can see true discipleship in the lives of people coming to our various studies.

Further Information

We have been trying new ways to reach out to the community this summer. Every Thursday evening the coffeehouse is setting up the kiosk in Veterans Park during “Music in the Park”. Some of us also did an ice cream giveaway at one of the trailheads this last Saturday. In addition, the Radio joined us for a local poster bomb.

This is the first summer we are meeting in person for Street Level in River Falls. We have been doing a number of grill-outs and Bible Studies outside in various spots around town. There have even been some new students joining us for it!

May 19, 2021 River Falls Ministry

Semester Wrap Up and Unleashing Summer

Is May a summer month? This year we can call it a summer month since school ended earlier than usual. Before the semester’s end, we partnered with Menomonie Street Level to host a grill-out bash. Volunteers from Menomonie came over during the day to flyer and poster the UW-River Falls campus. We put up a few tents, some lights, and turned up the music! The event was out front of the coffeehouse, and it felt like a scaled-back version of a backyard party. As the evening progressed, it proved to be a great time of fellowship and interactions with some new faces. We are hopeful that some of these connections can grow as we reach out to people through the summer. 

As we moved into the month of May we transitioned into meeting Monday nights. For the summer we are planning to mix up what we have been doing by spending time outside in fellowship and for studies as much as possible. Also, now that we are meeting on Mondays, we hope to spend more time with Menomonie and Duluth/Superior. This past Monday, we went out to Glen Park for a hike and a picnic. Joining us were some new faces (one might have been a turtle). We have been experiencing an increase in interactions through social media with interest in what we have planned. So, we greatly appreciate your prayer for these interactions and opportunities.

Highlighting Burning Dog Radio

With help from the tech team, Burning Dog Radio has made its way to River Falls by installing the WIFI access point at the coffeehouse. Thank you to the Tech Team! On top of that, we are using the coffeehouse to highlight Burning Dog Radio through a giveaway and raffle offered to those coming into the coffeehouse. The hope is to generate some excitement over the Burning Dog Radio stream.

Bible Study and Fellowship

On Sunday evenings, we are studying the book of Ephesian. If you join us on a Sunday, you’ll find us going verse by verse through a chapter and having a discussion around it. Also, we have seen some new faces from the community on Wednesdays. We are continuing to seek out ways to invite people and generate awareness of our studies. We welcome people from Menomonie to join us for Sunday nights. Just reach out to Jonah to see when you can come.

Further Information

April 23, 2021 River Falls Ministry

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

College Ministry Summit

The River Falls Ministry had the opportunity to host a discipleship “summit” for college students last weekend. With support from Burning Dog Radio, this one-day summit brought together the college ministries from Menomonie and Superior/Duluth to discuss the topic, “Thinking Critically About Today’s Culture”. We watched a documentary about the quickly-changing culture on American college campuses and discussed how we should live and minister in these environments.

We are looking forward to another connection with the Menomonie group again next week when many of them are coming over to join us for a “Semester-End Cook Out”. Next Tuesday, we’ll put up a tent in front of the coffeehouse and hang out with students as they tackle their final week of classes. We’re hoping to connect with some people that are staying for the summer and invite them to our hangouts and Bible studies.

Summer is Coming

The spring semester is wrapping up quickly and we are excited to be preparing for summer. We are getting ready to be outside more than ever. We hope that the vast majority of Street Level nights will be outdoors. The plan is to meet in parks, do hikes, and even get out of town while the weather is nice. Additionally, we are moving our meeting night from Tuesday to Monday in hopes to make more connections with the Menomonie/Superior groups (who also meet Mondays).

Other outreach ideas we have in the works: Potential coffee kiosk in the park on a set weeknight, rummage sale, River Falls Days coffee giveaway, and a joint Street Level camping trip. We are looking forward to getting out there as the weather opens up and COVID slows down!

  • Radio Booth at Summit
  • Parallel Universe Missionaries?
  • Word on the Street Workshop

Prayer Requests

  • “Semester-End Cookout” with Street Level Menomonie, Tuesday, April 27
  • Summer outreach planning and connection with the community

Further Information

Believers Church River Falls

Believers Church River Falls

March 19, 2021 River Falls Ministry

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

The Coffeehouse

Hello From River Falls,

During this last month, a lot has been happening in the coffeehouse. First, the February plant sale and dollar-off student drink discount finished. We had more people stop in the coffeehouse, and it gave us the opportunity for conversations with people from campus as well as the local community.  Also, we added some new seating: A nook has been set up in place of some cabinets that still remained from when the location was a bank. This has lead us to more dreaming and scheming for what the coffeehouse could be in the future.

Missions Season

This month is also spring mission season, and some of us have geared up to travel with the rest of our greater Street Level family to a church in western Tennessee. We are looking to spend a week at the church tearing off a roof and replacing it. A few of us are also planning to go to Louisiana with other church members from Menomonie and Duluth. Thank you to everyone that is filling in in River Falls to allow for us to go.

Sunday Evenings

The Believers Church plant community outreach continues to meet Sundays and Wednesdays in the coffeehouse. On Sundays, we have been doing a verse-by-verse study starting with the book of Galatians. As the weather gets nice, there is talk of grilling season once again!

College Bible Study

The college group continues to meet on Tuesday evenings. Lately, we have been going through the gospel of Mark as well as a 4 part series called “Raised”. We are looking forward to getting outside more as the weather warms up as well as trying to schedule more outreach events on campus.

We are excited that Burning Dog Radio is now streaming online. This is being advertised throughout the coffeehouse, and on our social media. Also, we are looking into installing a wifi hub at the coffeehouse. Some of the students have begun lending their voices to commercials for the Bible study, and we are opening up opportunities to be involved in the ministry.

Prayer Requests…

  • Opportunities to minister to the community through the coffeehouse
  • Street Level outreach on campus as well as continued growth and commitment in the main group
  • Future planning for the summer

Further Information