Saturday, November 1st, we will be hearing more about the Man UP North conference coming to Bemidji in January 24- 26th, 2025
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​We met Saturday, October 5th @ 8:00 am at  First Baptist Church Community Room at 1555 Paul Bunyan Drive NW, Bemidji, MN 

Jack write: I grew up in South Minneapolis and attended Roosevelt High School.  I was a member of Hope Lutheran church.   I spent summers at my grandfather’s farm working  and selling eggs and produce to neighbors in South Minneapolis. Boy Scouts were a BIG part of my life. I served in the US Army during, but not in Vietnam. I worked in and around the Minneapolis/St, Paul International Airport for most of my career. My wife Sherry and I will be married for 40 years in November. We have 4 grown children and in February are expecting our 13th grandchild. We are SO blessed! I am in my 40th year of knowing Jesus Christ as my personal savior and adopted son of a Triune God. What a blessing that is! Our family moved to Bemidji to purchase Joe's Lodge in 1998.1 was elected to the Ten Lake Town Board for 2 terms and served on the Beltrami County Board for 14 years. The Lord has been such a tremendous and central part of my life and a HUGE blessing to our growing family!

Meeting: Saturday, September 7th, 2024. 8:00 am - Beltrami Electric.

A light breakfast will be provided

Steve writes:  I have been a believer in Jesus Christ for 34 years.  Prayer is a fundamental part of my life.  And I am grateful for the prayers of others.  God has blessed my family in many ways.

My wife Cindy and I have been married for 45. years.  We have 6 grown children and 15 grandchildren

I was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 20212.  I served for 10 years.  I was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2022.  I am currently in my first 4 year term.

Many people are unaware of the Lord's presence in St. Paul.  There are pastors and lay people regularly visiting legislators.   I very much appreciate their presence.  Days can get hectic.  Taking time out to remember God is still in charge is important.

​Speaker Pat Compton  Saturday August 3rd, 2024 - Beltrami Electric 8:00 am

A light breakfast will be served.

Pat Writes: 

I grew up in Bottineau, North Dakota and moved to Grand Forks in 1968 where I graduated from Red River High School in 1977. I completed a one year welding program and worked in the oil fields for 2 years before going to the University of North Dakota and graduating with a degree in Industrial Technology. My wife and I have been married for 38 years. We have two children and three grand children. I taught IT for 32 years and coached football for 15 years. During my coaching career I was involved with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. After we both retired in 2022 we moved north of Bemidji and began attending First Baptist Church. It has been so encouraging getting to know so many followers of Jesus Christ.

I grew up in what I would call a religious home where all four kids were required to go to church with my mom every Sunday and my dad would go to his church.  The only exception was on Christmas Eve when my dad would bring us to the midnight service in Minot North Dakota where he had grown up.

I didn't know anything about Jesus, other than seeing him hanging on the cross in the front of our church, until one day after listening to Josh McDowell speak on the UND campus I signed up to know more about who HE was. That week I agreed to meet with the pastor from a local church and he shared the gospel with me. That day I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.


 I enjoy helping out with our Awana program, getting up early on Friday mornings for mens bible study and eating our pastors famous blueberry pancakes.

I will be sharing how God has brought me out of religion and into a relationship with His Son. My prayer is that God will continue to encourage us in these last days as we live with so much darkness pressing in on us.


 Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another

We will be meeting on Saturday June 1st, 2024 at Beltrami Electric Community Room at 8:00 am.
A light breakfast will be served.

Our speaker will be Derek Thompson

​Derek writes: 
I live in Bemidji, MN with my wife Alyssa. We were married on July 21, 2023. I grew up in Cold Spring, MN and had very loving parents who cared for me growing up. My father was a UPS driver,
retiring by the time I entered high school, and my mother taught business classes at Albany middle school and high school. Most of my childhood and into my teen years consisted of competing in
 baseball, basketball, and football year-round. I had a love for sports and excelled in just about
 anything with a ball. I graduated from Rocori High School in 2017 and then came to Bemidji State to
 play basketball.
 
In my 5 years at Bemidji State, I obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration with an
 emphasis in marketing, a minor in sports management, and an MBA also through BSU. I started for
 the Beaver's men's basketball team for all five years I was there (I had a "covid" year). Though I
 excelled at basketball and school, l idolized my personal success and popularity.
 
It was not until my senior year of college that I came to know Jesus as my personal savior. I grew up Lutheran and attended church regularly, but I was never clearly taught the gospel. God used several
 things to get ahold of my life, two of which are the deaths of my father and my best friend in 2020.
 After coming to Christ in January 2021 God gave me a passion for seeing lost people in my life
 experience the life changing power of the gospel. So, I began serving in Fellowship of Christian
 Athletes at BSU as a student leader. One year after being saved, and 6 months before my
 graduation, I met my wife, Alyssa.
 
 Upon graduating from BSU in May of 2022, I received my insurance license with the plan to pursue
 insurance sales. Not long into this path, God called me to join staff with FCA to continue the work I
 had begun in FCA while still in college. I have now been with FCA for almost two years, serving at
 BSU and several high schools in the area. My passion is to see young people's lives changed by the
 gospel of Jesus Christ. By God's grace I can do this in the ministry of FCA in which I serve. All praise
 be to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine!
 On top of spending time with my wife and ministry responsibilities, I enjoy staying active in a variety
 of ways such as basketball, pickleball, and fly fishing. I have also started an online master's degree
 in biblical and theological studies at Phoenix Seminary which I hope to complete within three years.
 My wife finished degrees in marketing and graphic design this past May and continues to work in
 areas of photography, graphic design, and marketing. Alyssa and I purchased a home in Bemidji in
 November of 2023 and have no plans of leaving Bemidji.

Saturday, April 6th, 2024
Hans Berg is a 20-year-old that was born and raised in Bemidji, MN to a Christian family. He has had a relationship with God as far back as he can remember because of the values his parents and grandparents instilled from a young age. He was raised going to church events and bible camps to grow his faith. He has had the privilege of working at Bethany Bible Camp in Bemidji, MN, and Lutheran Valley Retreat near Florissant, CO. He has also had many jobs including construction, sales, gym equipment installer, and maintenance man. He enjoys working with his hands where he can see the physical results of his labor. In his free time, he enjoys anything outdoors including hunting, fishing, camping, motorcycling, and many other activities. Hans is currently on his third year of a bachelor’s degree in engineering technology with a minor in project management at Bemidji State University. 
Hans will be sharing about a mission’s trip he was blessed to be able to go on to India, Nepal, and Kyrgyzstan. He was able to do this through a mission’s organization called Youth with A Mission (YWAM). He will talk about what they did during their time there and the impact it had on his life, how it has shaped the way he thinks about the world, and how he was able to clearly see Gods work even in nations with very few Christians. 

 ​Steve was born to a single teenage mother in Coon Rapids, MN. The spring of 3rd grade shifted life when Steven was sent to live with his biological father, step mother and their blended family in Hutchinson, MN. This complex family dynamic presented significant challenges including disappointment, anger and hopelessness. Jesus Christ was not a part of their lives and survival was the main goal. In 7th grade, a friend and his parents began bringing Steven to church. The next two years brought stability and exposure to another way of life. By the end of 8th grade Steve was confirmed at Faith Lutheran Church, which started a foundation of knowing Christ that will be transformed later in life.
Steve graduated from high school in 2005 and proceeded to complete his AAS Degree at Ridgewater Community College. From 2009 to 2011 he attended Bemidji State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work. The fall of 2011 he was offered his first real job working for North Homes Inc. with young children ages 5-11. Over the next 7 years, Steven would work with level 4 EBD students grades 6-12 and teach anger management at the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center. In August of 2017 Up North Canvas Company was created out of Steven’s garage with the help of a co-worker, staff at Bemidji Marine his family, a sewing machine and a few materials. Over the past 6 years, Up North Canvas Company has expanded into a full-time operation serving a variety of local businesses and has built a foundation centered around Jesus Christ focusing on serving people of this community and surrounding area by offering genuine advice, producing quality products and building lifelong relationships with customers.
Steve and his wife Ashley have been married for 10 years and have been blessed with two beautiful daughters. They love to garden, hike & explore national parks, hunt, fish, go camping with family & friends and attend school activities for their oldest daughter. Steven and his family are members of the Bemidji Evangelical Covenant Church and are involved in a variety of volunteer and programming opportunities. Steven’s testimony will share about influential people along the way that demonstrated love, life before knowing Christ, the moment he surrendered his life to Christ and how life has changed since accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.