Partner Stories
Growing Church Lives the Call
“Do you really want me to take down the ‘No Parking—Fire Lane’ signs?” the facility director asked Pastor Bruce Konold of Eagan Hills Alliance Church in Minnesota. “Yes,” Konold reluctantly muttered, “and hopefully, we won’t get in trouble!”
“Does this church have any adult Sunday school?” a recent visitor asked the pastor. “No,” said Konold, trying to appear upbeat. “The children’s ministry needs all the classrooms.”
These are welcome problems, but problems nonetheless for a congregation that formed when two struggling churches merged in 1997. The new congregation averaged about 150 each week. Today, nearly 1,000 people, most between the ages of 20 and 50 from religiously diverse backgrounds, call Eagan Hills their church home. Less than 5 percent have an Alliance background. “Each week dozens of cars are parked in a cul-du-sac, on the lawn, and yes, where the ‘No Parking’ signs were,” says Konold.
The church is midway through its second capital expansion program, with the help of the Alliance Development Fund (ADF). “While we have raised nearly $2 million in our capital campaigns,” says Konold, “these expansion projects would not have happened without ADF as our partner.”
What is causing the growth? When people are asked why they attend Eagan Hills, many, like Phil and Joan Pennington, say, “I was just looking for a church that taught the Bible!” The Penningtons, who serve the church in numerous ways, say, “Since [we’ve been coming to the church], our faith has continued to mature and grow. We have learned what it means to live in obedience to God’s Word. Our children also have been blessed and are walking with the Lord. We feel God’s presence at Eagan Hills and thank Him for the opportunity to serve Him there.” (See sidebar.)
Konold, whose expository teaching and focus on prayer and missions has ignited a passion in his congregation for completing the Great Commission, has a rich Alliance background. “As a pastor, I am excited to be part of The Christian and Missionary Alliance,” he says. “My grandparents helped start Watertown Alliance Church in South Dakota around 1930, and my parents met at St. Paul Bible Institute in 1951. I am excited that my children want to pursue studies at Crown College, with a desire to enter full-time missions. We’re all living the call together.”
Mad at God
The death of a child is a devastating blow to parents, especially to those without the hope of eternal life. Phil Pennington recounts how his daughter’s tragic death led him and his wife, Joan, to Jesus and Eagan Hills.
Joan was mad at God. I was on the verge of depression. Jennifer did not survive the lightning strike that hit her and Joan in August 1996. As we stood in Jen’s empty room shortly after her death, half expecting her to walk in at any time, our eyes caught a hand-written laminated sign hanging from her bedroom door. It said, “Do Not Disturb. I’m having quiet time with God! Thanks, Jen.” We paged through Jennifer’s Bible, the Bible her friend Lindsay had spoken about at Jen’s funeral. Lindsay said Jen brought it to Girl Scout camp and “even knew how to use it.” It was worn, and the pages were falling out. Jen’s small white board was on the wall next to her bed. She had written “Verse of the Day” at the top of the board. Underneath were the words from Psalm 23. We were dumbfounded. How did our 12-year-old daughter’s devotion to God escape our attention? One thing became clear to us—our daughter is in heaven. God willing, we were going to do whatever we had to do to make sure that we would see her again.
Jesus had not been at the center of our lives. Although we were regular church attendees, Joan and I were Bible illiterate. We had no concept of what it really meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ. So, we began attending a Bible study with close friends. The first topic was heaven. We wanted to learn as much about Jennifer’s new home as possible. This study led Joan and me to begin our own daily personal study of the Bible, which ultimately led to a hunger for learning and understanding God’s Word. Then we discovered Christian radio programming and Christian bookstores. Our eyes were opened, and we were born again.
As our faith began to grow and mature, so did our reliance on Christian radio to provide the teaching that, sadly, we were not receiving at our church. In August 1999, we made the decision to find a new church that faithfully and boldly taught the truth of God’s Word. And the Lord led us to Eagan Hills Church.
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