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

Church Outreach

In early August, we did a coffee giveaway in Veterans Park, downtown on Main Street. We had a beautiful day to give away several gallons of cold brew, coffee, and Blind Munchies stickers. While we served the coffee we handed out information about our weekly Bible studies and also had several good conversations.

Recently, we restarted “live” Bible studies here in River Falls. We have, of course, had to change the flow of things to adapt to the current situation, but we are happy to be getting back to meeting in-person. Also, we’ve started eating simple meals outside after the our Sunday evening meeting – the time of fellowship time has been very welcome.

Additionally, it’s been fun for us to host one of the Wednesday night discussion groups from Menomonie. Each week different people have been traveling here and meeting at the coffeehouse for the discussion. It follows much the same format as in Menomonie, but we are watching the video live stream of Pastor Tim rather than listening on the radio. We follow it up with the same simple discussion format.

Street Level

Our preparation is fully underway for the Fall semester at UW-River Falls. This is the time of year that we start to see a lot of new faces and make new acquaintances. We hope some of these turn into friendship and discipleship relationships. We’ve recently brought on a new student president and have been working with her to navigate the fluid virus-influenced changes.

While we don’t know exactly what to expect, we are doing what we can to be as ready as we can: prepping coffee giveaways, online org presentations, flyers, etc. All these small preparatory projects have become the center of attention. We’re praying that God takes our small offerings and multiplies the effect to add to his kingdom.

Prayer Requests…

• Pray for our student org president and for our planning: that God would lead us to make great connections with students over the next few weeks.
• Helpful and creative advertising.
• That we can have make real relationships with people in the city that would attend the Bible studies.

For Further Information

• River Falls Ministry Website
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Website
• Believers Church River Falls Outreach Facebook
• Street Level Ministries UWRF Facebook
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Facebook

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

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

Sunday Study

This month we are restarting the Sunday Bible study in River Falls! It will be a bit different than in the past, by social distancing and wearing masks, but we are excited to be able to meet again. We are meeting at 5 pm at The Blind Munchies Coffeehouse and will continue in the book of 1 Timothy. As we begin to meet, we will slowly navigate what doing meals and having the coffeehouse open may look like to have greater fellowship.

Not only are we planning for a Sunday study, but we also are meeting periodically for a Wednesday night discussion group at the coffeehouse at 7 pm.

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Coffeehouse

We have been working towards getting the River Falls community to be aware of our presence. The outside coffee kiosk has helped a lot. But also, during the past month or so, we have worked at promoting the coffeehouse on social media. Through this, we are hoping to build relationships, get to know the community more, and let people know about the Sunday Bible study.

We are also working on what future outreaches might look like. We are hoping to be able to do a coffeehouse anniversary giveaway, and brainstorming what other things we could do.

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Prayer

• Pray for our wisdom and discernment as we begin the Sunday Bible study again.
• Pray that God will create disciples in the River Falls community.

For Further Information

• River Falls Ministry Website
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Website
• Believers Church River Falls Outreach Facebook
• Street Level Ministries UWRF Facebook
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Facebook

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

Summer Street Level

For the first time since we’ve started ministering in River Falls, we are continuing Street Level through the summer months. The main reason we had not done so previously was that people simply did not stay in town. But, like in many other areas of life, the coronavirus forced us to learn some new ways of doing things, and now everyone is very used to meeting each week online.

Our hope and intent is that our summer meetings provide ongoing fellowship and spiritual discussion, but also help us “lead into” the fall semester. We don’t really know what the fall will look like at UW-River Falls. The school has plans to bring everyone back physically at this point, but what will that look like? We can be sure that there will be new restrictions, guidelines, and challenges for us to face. Perhaps this will even mean that student org assembly sizes are restricted. Whatever the case may be, we can be sure that God has plans for us, and that we have the privilege of discovering and participating in them.

Coffeehouse Kiosk

There were many outreaches and activities we had hoped to be doing with the ministry this summer. Not surprisingly, almost all of them were completely cancelled or at the very least put on indefinite hold. But thankfully, we have been able to continue the coffeehouse ministry almost without interruption through the time of pandemic. It’s hard to imagine that even 1 year ago we did not yet have the coffeehouse in operation. But it has in recent months become the forefront of our connection to the community. It seems that God’s timing couldn’t have better to prepared us for these times.

Prayer

• Pray for the wisdom and discernment as things continue to “open up”. That we have wisdom and God’s protection as we seek potential outreaches and gatherings.
• Pray for Street Level, that students would have a hunger for God and that we can maintain good relationships over the summer.

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For Further Information

• River Falls Ministry Website
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Website
• Believers Church River Falls Outreach Facebook
• Street Level Ministries UWRF Facebook
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Facebook

Get the latest news from Believers Church plant and Street Level college ministry in River Falls, W

Find the latest news from Believers Church plant and Street Level college ministry in River Falls, WI.

Blind Munchies River Falls

The weather continues to get a little bit warmer each week, and the coffeehouse staff has taken full advantage of this! The past few weeks we started putting out our coffee kiosk at the front door for taking orders. Not only is it nice to be outside, but it appears to have increased the traffic in the coffeehouse. More and more people in the community are beginning to see us and are stopping in. The coffeehouse is currently still open for to-go orders only, but we are brainstorming future ways to have the kiosk and dining room open.

Street Level Ministries

The campus has been quiet for almost two months now, but school just ended last week. We had our last virtual Street Level meeting of the semester last Tuesday, and right now are planning on continuing into the summer.

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Please Pray For…

1. Building relationships through the coffeehouse, and that we will display God to the community through it.
2. Students, with the school year ending, that they will continue to follow God through the summer.
3. Guidance and direction from God as we move into the summer months.

Here are a few “year in review” pictures from Street Level:

Find the latest news from Believers Church plant and Street Level college ministry in River Falls, WI.

Street Level Online

The UW-River Falls campus is completely shut down for the rest of the year. Thankfully, Street Level (our student org), was able to transition to meeting online a month ago. Instead of eating a weekly dinner together, we connect before the study to catch up on home-life and the ups-and-downs of online schooling. Our Bible studies have continued to focus on the topic of practical discipleship. The web chat format has worked surprisingly well for our discussions thus far. This fact has us thinking about continuing Street Level into the summer for the first time, using the online format.

Word on the Street Online

The latest WOTS (Word on the Street) magazine would typically already be distributed throughout River Falls right about now. However, due to current circumstances, the entire magazine has been rethought and retooled in order to reflect on our current social situation. Writers from all campus locations helped with a quick turnaround to produce what will be distributed in a digital-only format.

Blind Munchies River Falls

While following some strict guidelines, the coffeehouse has been able to remain open for the most part. The dining area is closed, and we are open for to-go orders only. This hasn’t stopped us from coming up with some new drinks for spring. We also recently purchased a mobile coffee kiosk for use in outdoor gigs – we’re looking forward to the day we can use it!

Please Pray For…

1. Word on the Street digital promotion and distribution.
2. Students who are home, that they will have a desire to stay connected and grow in God.
3. Us, that we would learn and discern what God is seeking to teach us about ourselves and the ministry during this time.

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For Further Information

• River Falls Ministry Website
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Website
• Believers Church River Falls Outreach Facebook
• Street Level Ministries UWRF Facebook
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Facebook

Find the latest news from Believers Church plant and Street Level college ministry in River Falls, WI.

Street Level

During the last month of Street Level, we continued to meet new students. We met some of these students on campus early in the semester through tables in the University Center and through the campus organization fair.

We also had a guest speaker, Erin Bottomlee, from Kentucky. She shared with us a lot about her walk with God and the ministry she is a part of. It was an encouragement to us all to see what God can do with our lives.

Many of the students have gone home early due to the school moving to online learning for the rest of the year. We plan to still meet with some of the students and pray that our relationships with the ones that have gone home will continue to grow even with these changes.

Service Ministries

Menomonie Word on the Street joined us on a Thursday at the River Falls coffeehouse to work on the magazine. It was a lot of fun. Along with giving feedback on each other’s articles, we had the opportunity to fellowship eating pizza.

We are building relationships with the community through the coffeehouse. We have had a regular group of people that like to come in. Many of which are students and will stay to study and converse.

Prayer

1. That we would be able to grow relationships with the students and people in the community
2. Spiritual growth within the group

For Further Information

• River Falls Ministry Website
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Website
• Believers Church River Falls Outreach Facebook
• Street Level Ministries UWRF Facebook
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Facebook