Worship Events

Special Nigerian Guest
Nigerian Rev. Dr. Peter Bartimawus will be coming to Minneapolis/St. Paul on August 11 for one month. Many of us know Dr. Bartimawus and his wife Fiyayina from his many visits while he was working on his PhD from Luther Seminary. He is the former provost of Bronnum Lutheran Seminary and continues to teach there. Pastor Peter will be with us for worship on Sunday, August 22. Watch for special opportunities to greet and visit with him after worship that day.

Worship News

Welcome back Pastor Erick Thompson

A couple of years ago Erick and Kara Thompson joined First Lutheran Church. Pastor Erick was working on his PhD out of Chicago, and Kara was practicing Law in the Cities. They left First Lutheran so that Erick could pursue a part-time call as pastor in Lester Prairie and teach part-time at Augsburg College while completing his doctorate degree.

Since that time, Erick has decided to devote his time to academics, both as teacher and doctoral student. They returned as members at First Lutheran Church, and Erick has offered to volunteer as a ‘pastoral assistant’ in exchange for office use one day per week. His day and hours will be announced soon.

We are happy to welcome Pastor Erick back to our ministry. Erick will be our regular substitute preacher on Sundays when Pastor Dave is gone, and he’ll assist with some teaching and visitation as the year progresses.

Bonfire Pentecost Celebration

On Sunday, May 23 we celebrated Pentecost. Through the efforts of the Pastors and Lay-leaders of the three ‘Bonfire’ Congregations (House of Hope, St. James, and First Lutheran churches), we participated in a special joint Sunday worship service at 10:00 a.m. in the Cooper High School Auditorium in New Hope. (This site was chosen due to its central location to all three churches and having a space
large enough to accommodate the expected crowd of 500 worshipers.) All three congregations came together for one common worship experience.

Dr. Patrick Keifert, Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary was our guest preacher. Dr. Keifert is also an internationally known consultant on church revitalization and is President and Director of Research of ‘Church Innovations Institute’ in St. Paul. He brings a personal passion for transformational ministry due to his experiences with the renewal of the church from Africa, to Europe, to New Zealand. Patrick is the right voice for all three churches to hear at this time as we come together for this special Pentecost Celebration.

This joint worship service was the latest and most visible sign of the collaboration between the ‘Bonfire’ congregations. The Pastors, elected lay-leaders, and many other interested lay-persons from all three congregations had been involved in creating and planning the worship service, music, lay-participation, ushers assignments, and parking lot attendants so that members of all three congregations will have a care-free experience that morning. I know it’s different. But Pentecost was made for such things; to live a new way. Even if it’s just for an hour or so.

I hope this Pentecost will have become a day remembered with joy in the coming decades. I hope it will be remembered as the day we let the Spirit fly free in our own time.

Barbary Coast