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.

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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

• 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 College Ministry in River Falls, WI.

College Ministry Fellowship

Recently, our college group finished out the semester with a fellowship night. While the 1990 classic “Home Alone” played in the background, everyone participated in an ornament-making challenge. Our ornament theme was felt. Although the quality of product varied widely, we all had a good time hanging out. Also, participants were awarded in categories such as, “Most Likely to Inspire Holiday Cheer” and “Pinterest Fail”.

Micro-Groups

We recently began meeting in small, focused fellowship groups with some of the regular participants in the ministry. We intend these “micro groups” to offer further fellowship and discuss real-life application of our faith. Currently, we are running “young men” and “young women” groups. We expect topics and group composition may change over time.

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Prayer Requests…

• That we have continued opportunities through the holidays and while school is off in January.
• Pray for our “micro groups”
• Pray for continued direction as a ministry as we go into a new year.

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

College Ministry

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

College Bible Study

When did it start getting dark before 5 pm? This semester is going so fast. It is almost over! UW River Falls will actually be going entirely digital after Thanksgiving. Although, the students still have the option to live on campus, so we plan to continue meeting in person while allowing students at home to virtually attend.

Some of the highlights from the last month include Ben and Sasha from Street Level Menomonie visiting and leading one of the studies. Also, some of the students were able to get together in the coffeehouse and paint pumpkins. It was a nice time of fellowship outside of the normal Bible study. Check out some of the pumpkins painted.

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WOTS Update

We are also excited to have the River Falls fall Word on the Street (WOTS) issue mailed out to all of the freshmen on campus! A lot of people helped to make it possible for these to go out by folding, sticking, and preparing to mail the magazine. We ask for your prayers that these magazines are seen by the people God wants to see them.

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Prayer Requests…

• For the Freshman students that recently received the WOTS magazine.
• That we would have continued guidance from God during these times.
• That the students would grow in their relationship and commitment to God.

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

Church Plant

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

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

College Bible Study

We have been meeting the last few weeks “Phygitally”. This is a new word that we learned at the Burning Dog Radio Evangelism Summit earlier this month. This means that some of us have been meeting physically, and some have been joining digitally.

Being flexible and being prepared to change formats at a moments notice has been important this semester. After the first few weeks of school, the campus went into shelter in place mode for two weeks. We met digitally during this time. Some students then decided to move home for the rest of the semester, so we opened up a digital opportunity to those students.

Also, each week we continue to have new students. Normally, during this time of the semester it is rare to have new students. They already have set routines. But, due to Covid, we found students have more time. Recently, we even had a student come because of the coffee giveaway we did at Mariachi Loco the first week of school. It has been exciting to see how God is still at work during this time.

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Plants for Sale

While the weather was still nice, we did an outdoor plant sale and “potting bar”. Our goal was to meet students and have a chance to interact with them while they were planting. They got to pick a plant, a pot, and then plant it with us. It was a lot of fun and we met a variety of people.

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Coffeehouse

We are happy to soon be opening up a few seats in the coffeehouse. This has been a sorely missed feature for both us and many visitors. Last year we built relationships with a core group of students that would come to the coffeehouse and study. We hope this will continue this year – especially since the students are not allowed to hang out outside of their dorm rooms on campus.

Prayer Requests…

• Pray for real discipleship to happen among the college students.
• Pray for face-to-face connections with people in the coffeehouse.
• Pray for insight and ideas for our short-run Bible Studies.

For Further Information

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

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

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

College Bible Study

The UW-River Falls students started moving in near the end of August. It has been fun to see returning students and meet new ones. Due to campus guidelines, we are meeting this year as Believers Church College Bible Study. We began meeting in person again for the last 3 weeks starting with coffee together and moving into a Bible study. A few times we even met in the park.

Also, we are currently prepping about 1000 of the new Word On The Street magazines to be sent to freshman, and are planning a plant sale and “potting bar”.

Blind Munchies Coffeehouse

We have also been able to use the coffeehouse to engage students. During the first 2 weeks of September, we had extended hours and offered a $1 off student discount. Also, the Mexican restaurant, Mariachi Loco, let us set up our coffee kiosk in their lot to give away cold brew to students. This allowed us to be right next to where the students get their textbooks.

Prayer Requests

• That the new students will find where and how God wants to use them on campus.
• That we will continue to be ready and able to adjust as needed as guidelines at the school adjust for COVID.
• That God will guide the Sunday evening community outreach, and that we will meet new people.

For Further Information

• River Falls Ministry Website
• The Blind Munchies River Falls Website
• Believers Church River Falls 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.

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.