October 5 - 10:29 A.M.

XLatest News & Events at "the Station"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pastor Jeff warmly received at Cross of Glory Church in Hopkins.

Pastor Jeff was invited to team teach with Pastor Jon Herring from Cross of Glory in Hopkins about "God's new and creative work" on August 24. The two sat on stools and casually taught on Isaiah 43:14-25 at two morning worship services. You can listen to the recording from the first service HERE.

Pastor Jon and Cross of Glory have been such a huge encouragement to Epiphany Station. We are so excited to explore the ways that God would have us partner together to expand the reign of God in our communities.

Posted 8/26/08


Renovate 08 is Underway!

I am happy to report that as I am typing this email, a hole is being blasted in our cement wall to begin construction on the long-awaited connection between our station and warehouse buildings.  Praise God!!!  We have anticipated this day for months and it is finally here!  Once the connection is finished we will be able to start meeting in the warehouse which can house about 200 people. There is still much work to be done, but the first and most critical step in the process in now under way.

Because of the delay with our building renovations, we have decided to push our GRAND OPENING back to October 5.  However, we do hope to have our first worship gathering in the warehouse on September 7, which also marks our transition to morning worship at 10:29 a.m.  If you can make it for either of these special events, we'd sure love to have you join us.

As August is quickly coming to a close, we are hopeful that some outside volunteer work crews will still be able to join us in September to assist us with the necessary building renovations as we prepare for our Grand Opening.  If you or a group from your church can give us a Saturday in September, we are confident we can get the necessary work done.  Please contact Dale Schneider to arrange for your visit.

Please keep praying for us and the people of Thief River Falls as we approach our Grand Opening.  We are all very excited to see what God has in store.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Peace & Joy in Christ,
Jeff Gauss, Lead Pastor

Posted 8/20/08


Fuel - Epiphany Station Special Brew - has arrived!!!

The coffee beans are available for purchase in both "leaded" and "unleaded." Or enjoy a gourmet cup of TRF's finest coffee on Sunday night, fresh ground and brewed in our new commercial coffee brewer.

Posted 8/20/08
 

Cross of Glory staff welcomed at [e]stat

We were delighted to have Jon Herring (Senior Pastor), Justin Jeppesen (Director of Youth Ministries) and Sam Thulin (Contemporary Worship Leader) from Cross of Glory in Hopkins, Minn., join us for our worship gathering on Aug. 10.

What a blessing and source of encouragement their visit was for us as we continue to prayerfully pursue ministry partnership between our two churches.  Pastor Jon shared the importance of our relationship for Cross of Glory and genuinely inspired us in our calling here in TRF.

We have followed up their visit here with additional fellowship with one another, and Jeff will be joining Pastor Jon at CoG on August 24 down in Hopkins to share the partnership vision with God's people there.

Posted 8/14/08


Tons of new pics uploaded!

We've uploaded another 32 pictures from our 7/20/08 worship gathering to the Photo Gallery page on the website.  This is in addition to the 25 pics we put up last week.

If you want to see first hand what a church that simply "loves God, loves people, period" looks like (without the additives), take a look.  Or better yet, come and join us sometime.  Casual attire, please.

Posted 7/20/08


The New Era Begins at Epiphany Station

Our worship service on July 13 marked the official beginning of the Jeff Gauss era at Epiphany Station, complete with the ceremonial "handing over of the keys."  We are so excited to have Jeff and Heidi and their family here in TRF to lead us wherever God would have us go in the years to come.
  In his opening message, Jeff detailed the
  surprising, unlikely path that led him and Heidi
  to Epiphany Station and Thief River Falls.

  It really is a remarkable series of events that
  brought us together.  "We didn't pick Epiphany
  Station.  And Epiphany Station didn't pick us," Jeff said during his message.
  "God picked us to be together!"

  You can listen to his message "To Catch a Thief" above on our new Sermon
  Player.  It should be tops on the list.

  As usual, the music was awesome, the fellowship was warm, and the mood was enthusiastic.  We've posted several pics on the Photo Gallery page.  Come and see for yourself if you've never been to "the Station" to see what all the excitement is about.

Posted 7/13/08


Novice Nation wins "Battle of the Bands" at Grand Forks Fair!

Major kudos to Novice Nation, who is essentially our worship band on many Sunday evenings at the Station!  They took first place in the "Battle of the Bands" competition at the Grand Forks fair.  Novice Nation is Jason Hicks, Ben Kosharek, Chris Hultgren and Grant Asp.  This is why you gotta come and check out the worship at Epiphany Station.

Novice Nation plays a variety of local shows with local bands where they focus on their own original music.  They've just finished their first album, and began getting significant concert invitations, including the Marshall County Fair (in Warren), Extreme Faith (in Fosston) and the Clearbrook Summer Fest.

All the members of Novice Nation are strong supporters of the ministry of Epiphany Station.  They are the regular Sunday night worship team along with a few other musicians who sub in occasionally.  They've also been seen building walls, hanging drywall, pulling out car lifts, and painting walls as part of our facility renovation project since we moved into the Station.

You can buy their latest CD at DFJams Store online.

Posted 7/10/08


E-Station story in "The Times"

We received a nice writeup in this week's local newspaper, the Thief River Falls Times, on page 4, announcing Jeff Gauss as our new lead pastor.  Pick up a copy for your scrapbook, folks, or click here to read the piece.  Sorry, no pictures.

Posted 7/8/08


Acoustic Rides Again...at the Station!

We had a nice turnout for our second Acoustic Show at the station, featuring local musicians playing their own tunes, some covers and a few Napoleon Dynamite one-liners to smooth the transition between sets.

Thanks to Ben for putting everything together, but especially to the local talent who stepped up and provided the actual entertainment!  It was great to provide the venue for some aspiring musicians to get an opportunity to play, and it's obvious there are some very talented young people in our community.
There are some more pictures on the Photo Gallery page.  Thank you to everyone who came.  We look forward to doing it again in the not-to-distant future.

Posted 6/8/08


Novice Nation CD!

Novice Nation just sent off all the music and artwork for their new album. They've worked on this for a very long time to get it as perfect as they knew how.  The album is available here!

Check out their website here for upcoming shows, and check out this great article by Mark Curtis Askelson of Pioneer 90.1.

Posted 6/6/08


Houston, we have a pastor!!!

We still have plenty of details to plow through, but it is with great joy and excitement that we announce the calling of Jeff Gauss and his family to become our Lead Pastor/Church Planter here at Epiphany Station!  We formally extended "the call" after our meeting the past Sunday (May 11).  We received the official response on May 13:

Dear Kevin & the good folks of Epiphany Station,

With great joy and a healthy dose of fear, we humbly accept your call with the understanding that any subsequent details will be put into writing and mutually agreed upon before the first date of service.

Let the fun and craziness begin!

Genuinely in Christ,

Jeff Gauss and family

P.S.  We told our boys this morning that we were moving to Thief River and they surprised us with their excitement and joy.  They started yelling and jumping up and down!  It warmed our hearts.  May it warm yours, as well.

May the fun and craziness begin indeed!  Continue to pray about our financial support.  We have a plan in place but a ways to go still with securing sufficient ministry partnership support.  Pray also for future meetings with additional potential partners, housing, moving, insurance, facility renovation and the bazillion other details we still have before us.

Posted 5/13/08

The three-year plan

We've laid out an aggressive financial plan with a goal of generating $175,000 in support over the next three years -- $75K, $50K and $50K.  As we continue to seek ministry partners to join us in this next chapter in our history, we are extremely grateful for the foundation of support we have on which to build.

In less than two years of existence, we have a 3,400-square-foot facility from which to operate.  It still needs lots of work, but it's ours and we've been able to make the mortgage payments, cover utilities and other ongoing operating expenses.

Our three-year plan is over and above the existing mortgage and basic operating expenses -- to bring in a well-qualified lead pastor/church planter to take the keys and drive us into the future AND significantly renovate "the Station" AND be able to aggressively promote our existence and ministry within the community.

So without further ado, here's the plan:

2008-09
Epiphany Station:  $20,000
Minnesota Baptist Conference:  $15,000
Journey North:  $15,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $12,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $5,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $5,000
Other Ministry Partners:  $3,000
Total (Year One):  $75,000

2009-10
Epiphany Station:  $25,000
Journey North:  $5,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $12,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $3,000
Other Ministry Partners:  $5,000
Total (Year One):  $50,000

2010-11
Epiphany Station:  $30,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $12,000
Potential Ministry Partner:  $2,000
Other Ministry Partners:  $6,000
Total (Year One):  $50,000

Amounts attributed to specific sources/partners are confirmed; all others are pending or to-be-determined.  Please pray for God's moving in the heart of potential ministry partners and other supporters.

Posted 5/13/08

LAN Party at "the Station" rocks

We hosted a LAN Party at "the Station" on May 2-3.  Special thanks to Jason Hicks for putting this thing together.  For those of you into gaming, this was the place to be.  It was an all-nighter!

Posted 5/13/08

Acoustic show at "the Station" a success

It marked the first of what we hope will be many shows we're able to host at Epiphany Station, when we provided a home for some of the musical talent in the local area with an Acoustic Show on April 26.

The show produced a nice turnout of various ages to listen to some quality, home-grown musical ability.  Another Acoustic Show is already on the schedule for early-June, and we hope to host full-scale shows with bands and the like once we're able to join "the Station" with "the Warehouse" to accommodate more space and larger crowds.

We'll keep you posted as future shows make our calendar.  Our goal, as always, is for our facility to be utilized as much as possible by the young people in our community.  So if you have other "events" that might need a place to meet, let us know.

Posted 5/13/08

A State-of-the-Station address

After our recent leadership retreat, we’d like to take this time to articulate where we see our church – Epiphany Station – at with still just under two years under our belt in ministry together. We praise God for everything He has done in our midst in this short time, we celebrate the things that are going well, acknowledge our shortcomings and limitations, and endeavor to cast some vision toward the future direction of the ministry.

Positives

Worship:
Ben Kosharek does a terrific job of consistently facilitating our worship services, blending a variety of talents to initiate us in connecting with God in spirit and truth. Authentic worship is important and we do it well.

Preaching:
John Kelley does a great job of unpacking God’s word and preaching with passion and relevance. Others have also taken an occasional turn with a steady, consistent mix of expository bible teaching and a focus on what is real.  We do that for Alvin.

Fellowship:
Carol Brown laid out the blueprint – several others have stepped in as well – for providing snacks and goodies to create an environment for warm, genuine fellowship each week.

Stewardship:
For a modest group of participants each week (typically 30-40 of late), we’re pretty strong with the giving of our time, talent and resources to support the ministry. For the most part people give generously and many, many, many people do a lot of things behind the scenes week after week to make the ministry go. Thank you!

Small Groups:
We currently have three weekly small group opportunities with strong leadership, sound material content and warm fellowship and camaraderie:
1. Sunday AM Bible Study (at Lyle & Suzanne Molskness)
2. Tuesday PM Women’s Study (at Epiphany Station)
3. Thursday PM Dude Group (at Epiphany Station)

Facility:
After humble beginnings in a living room, several months of renting on a week-to-week basis, we moved into our own facility in November 2007 and made the purchase of said property official in December 2007. We raised the $23,000-plus we needed for the down payment, more for the various other “blue sky” expenses that come with something like that, and we’ve managed to pay our bills each month. We have our own facility with room for at least short-term expansion and growth!

Negatives

There are essentially two areas where we honestly assess ourselves as being limited. Both really speak to our resources for growth:
1. Experience, education, credibility
2. Financial resources

While we do a solid, consistent job of facilitating worship, preaching and teaching the Word and promoting fellowship and relevance at every turn, we quite frankly to not have the extensive experience or education that would better maximize our credibility within the community we are trying to reach.

And, despite our impressive work ethic, commitment and giving as a smaller group, we currently lack the steady flow of finances to really accelerate the renovation of our facility.

Future Goals and Direction

We’re not geniuses. Our future goals and direction really just address the limitations we acknowledged above:

1. Find a financial ministry partner.
2. Call a full-time 50+ hours per week pastor.
3. Intentionally mentor John, Ben and others for future ministry and leadership.
4. Ramp up our ability to renovate “the Station.”

So we are actively seeking other churches or ministries who might share and appreciate the unique vision and niche for ministry we see within our community. If you know of potential partners, please let us know.

We are also actively seeking the right fit for a pastor/family to call to become our full-time pastor.  Our current leadership would submit to and support this person 110%. If you know of prospects in that regard, please let us know.

We are also making efforts to allocate more of our existing monies toward facility renovation.

Summary

Please pray for God’s continued will for Epiphany Station. Pray for His hand in the details and for wisdom as we continue and move forward. And pray simply that He will provide the resources and the right people to reach others and encourage them to continuous growth in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Our motto: Love God. Love People. Period.

Thank you and God Bless

Posted 4/7/08

Wanna encourage a US soldier?

Mailing a letter is easy!  Just put a regular stamp on it and the
post office takes it from there.  If you wanted to send a package
just remember that chocolate melts!  But I would google search
"sending soldiers packages to Iraq" and you would get all the info
you need.  The post office has all the mailing info and also free
packing supplies.  You have to get a special form from them to get
your package through customs.

Jeremy would love letters
from "home."  Thanks!

PV2 Hicks, Jeremy
2nd SBCT 25th ID unit #6260
C Co 1-14th IN 4th PLT
APO AE 09378

Posted 3/24/08

How many Epiphanists can you fit in a limousine?

Answer:  At least this many.  We stuffed a dozen in for a road trip to Grand Forks to see the Toby Mac concert at the Alerus Center.  Weather conditions delayed the return a bit, but a good time was had by all.  More pics on the Photo Gallery page.

Posted 3/12/08

Dude-Group now meeting at "the Station!"

Updated 3/12/08

Tired of Playing Church?

So are we!  Ever wonder how this whole thing got started?  You know, church?  Well, the book of Acts offers the historical account of the beginning of the church.

Doing church might not be quite as complicated as we've made it out to be.

Join us on Sunday mornings at 10:30AM at the home of Lyle & Suzanne Molskness (map) as we learn more about the foundation of the church -- a model we at Epiphany Station are striving to be like -- without all the window dressing that has crept in over time.

Posted 2/24/08

 

Baptism celebration

Updated 1/5/08

Closing set for Friday at 3:30PM!

The day has finally arrived!  We are scheduled to officially close on our purchase of the former Roger's Conoco gas station this Friday, Dec. 15, at 3:30PM.  All technicalities have been addressed, financing has been approved, and we are set to officially call 403 Main Ave. North our home.  No more renting...yay!

Updated 12/11/07

Our work crew is chomping at the bit!

We had our first official "facility renovation" meeting and were overwhelmed with the number of people and enthusiasm for turning the station into the station.  Jesus started with 12 disciples (1 a really bad egg, though).  We're starting with 11 and a dog, so anything is possible.  Lyle Molskness will serve as our crew foreman with demolition and (hopefully) construction to commence almost immediately.
 
 

 
E-Station Work Crew:  (standing L-R) Andrew Johnson, Ben Kosharek, Daren Asp, Jared Asp, Dale Schneider, Chris Hultgren, Grant Asp, Alvin Asp, John Kelley; (kneeling L-R) Luke Roseen, Liberty, Lyle Molskness

Posted 11/14/07



We're open for business!

We had our first official meeting in our new location - 403 Main Ave. North - this Sunday (Nov. 11)!  What an awesome feeling to have our own place from which to operate.  We think we had a record crowd (50+?), for us.  If you missed this week, join us next week.  You can check out more photos from the evening's festivities on the Photo Gallery page.

                                                      
              
               

Posted 11/11/07

MBC Affiliation is official!

Dale, John and Kevin represented Epiphany Station at the Minnesota Baptist Conference Annual Meeting in Duluth, Minn. this past weekend where we were enthusiastically voted in as a member church of the MBC.

We enjoyed an excellent worship set by Bob Kilpatrick, including what if Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles or Willie Nelson did "Lord, Be Glorified."  Here's a YouTube link of his spoofs from the classic, which demonstrates the point of being culturally relevant nicely.

Leith Anderson (Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie) delivered a thought-provoking message on what God can do through even one person.  And we got to have dinner with our good buddy Dave Widerski and his family.

Posted 10/29/07

City Council approves Conditional Use Permit!

Two more key hurdles have been cleared as Epiphany Station received formal approval from the Thief River Falls City Council for a "conditional use permit" for the property at 403 Main Ave. North as the site for our church.

We appeared before the City Planning Commission on Monday, October 15, then in front of the City Council on Tuesday, October 16.  Our request was granted without opposition both times.  Our sincere thanks to Mike Moore with the city for guiding us through this process.

Posted 10/16/07

Thumbs up from MBC Recognition Council!

Three representatives of Epiphany Station met with a Recognition Council for the Minnesota Baptist Conference on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the MBC offices in St. Paul, Minn.

During this meeting we shared the history and vision of Epiphany Station and received valuable input and guidance regarding the formation and implementation of our formal by-laws and constitution.  The meeting concluded with a unanimous "thumbs up" vote of approval by the Council, who will now present the recommendation to the MBC Board of Stewards.

Epiphany Station is scheduled to be recognized at the opening session of the Annual Meeting as an MBC/BGC church at the MBC Annual Get-Together to be held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center on October 25-27.

The formal council was comprised of Joel Nelson (Coordinator of Multiplication & Mobilization), Vic Winquist (Director of Church Ministries), Rob Boyd (Director of Church & Pastoral Vitality), Dr. Truett Lawson (Executive Minister), Ron Gullman (Associate Pastor, Cross of Glory, Hopkins, Minn.) and Dave Widerski (Pastor of Family Ministries, First Baptist, Alexandria, Minn.).

Present on behalf of Epiphany Station were Kevin Brown, Ben Kosharek and Lyle Molskness.  It was a long day of travel, but well worth the time and a blessing in camaraderie along the way, detour and all.

Posted 9/26/07


Understanding Culture
From a focus and strategy standpoint, this message echoes the vision of what Epiphany Station endeavors to be in the community and culture of Thief River Falls, Minnesota.  Dr. Ed Stetzer, author of Breaking the Missional Code, and pastor of Lake Ridge Church in Atlanta, talks about why it is important to understand the culture in which one ministers.  What is the culturally relevant ministry for Epiphany Station?
Listen Now

Posted 9/22/07