SAGINAW, MN (September 24, 2015) – Members of New Life Covenant Church gathered on Sunday to dedicate their new building, one that was paid for in part by pastor Brad Shannon’s 2,000-mile snowmobile journey to raise funds.
The previous building was far too small for the congregation. It was in an old one-room schoolhouse that added indoor plumbing in the mid-1970s and a sanctuary in the 1980s. The church has an average attendance of 100 people.
Jeff Burton, director of pastoral care and development for the Northwest Conference, spoke at the dedication and said the people represented a “building within a building.” The physical building was just a symbol of the people brought together and built up, he said, referencing Ephesians 2:22: “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Shannon spoke about the mission he envisions. “I don’t want to be known as the rich church or the poor church, or the liberal church or the conservative church, or the smart church or the gifted church. We want to be known as a church that believes God can do immeasurably more, and we want to ask God for the power to do not only what’s possible for us, but what’s impossible.”
It was a seemingly impossible mission that Shannon undertook when he decided to snowmobile across 2,000 miles of frozen ground to raise funds in February 2014. The three-week trip started in Twig, Minnesota, and ended in Churchill, Manitoba.
National Covenant Properties provided a construction loan.
