Testimonies of how God has touched lives through the ministries and people of the EFC of Embarrass.
I started attending church services in 2004 at the Evangelical Free Church of Embarrass with my wife and two children. They had been members of the church and had been attending services for several years. The reason I started attending church services with them was because I was suffering with an alcohol addiction. I have struggled with this problem all my life and it was destroying my life and my family. I had tried everything to stop drinking and had always failed. I was desperate and decided to "give God a try". I started attending church on a regular basis and was sober for a couple months. Then, I was invited to a Men's Night Out and a Wednesday night Bible study. The love and support I got from the people in the church made me feel accepted for the first time in my life. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have been sober for almost five years! By the power of the Holy Spirit through salvation, I love to read God's Word.
The reason I am giving this testimony is to let others who have an addiction know that there is a way out. I do not crave alcohol anymore. I have found a new happiness, peace, and a new life. Today I have a choice. I used to be afraid; I didn't feel like a man. Today I feel like a man and real men serve God! My favorite book of the Bible is Matthew, and my favorite verse in the Bible is Romans 8:1-2: "1There is therefore now no condemnation tothose who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to teh flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." My favorite quote I heard from a very wise man about going to church: "Bring the body and the soul will come."
Thank you, Lord, for all the things you have done!
- Michael Jankowski
We have spent our married life here. We will be celebrating 25 years on October 6th, and I have our church to thank for this most amazing gift, because without God using them in our life, marriage, and family, I wouldn't be here.
I've been a Christian since 1974. We belonged to First Presbyterian Church in Duluth. We were baptized, got married, and had our first son, Gabriel Jon. Then we moved to Pike from Duluth because we earned more money up here working one day a week, than working 7 days a week with 3 newspaper routes in Duluth. So with the move, it was very important that we find a Bible believing and teaching church with a good Sunday School for the kids and adults. We stopped at EFC of Embarrass first because of Roseanne & Ed Shogren, who told us that their daughter's family, Debbie & Jerry Salin, went htere and it was a really good Bible preaching and teaching church with lots of children.
Our first Sunday there, we came with 2-month-old Gabriel and met people like Debbie Salin and her kids. She introduced us to the elders, Ron and Verna Sutton, and the pastor and his wife, Marlin and Jeannine. There were lots of kids running around and young parents, like us, with everyone coming up to visit. They welcomed us with arms wide open. It felt comfortable. Martin wanted to keep checking out other churches to see what they were like - shop around and get the best deal you can! HA HA HA! There might be anotehr place God wanted us to be. After all, Martin had lived up here all of his life and he knew the area. We checked out other churches, but we came back to the EFC. They met a deep need that was screaming in us and I found peace.
There have been years of teaching, preaching, praying, interceding prayer, sharing, caring, helping, counseling, healing, and restoration. I came from a divorced home with no father and a mother that was a workaholic. I didn't know how to be married and have kids, but it was what I wanted and God wanted. My heart's cry was to show the world that I could be a better mother than what I had growing up and to find the way to do it with God's instructions manual - the Bible.
God has brought me through marriage and personal counseling. He taught me that communication means so much in being married. But to go forward in my marriage and motherhood, I would have to open the door of my memories. Everything was distorted in my mind, even in seeing God as my Father. Char and Bob Pugleasa helped me to see that everything I saw and did was distorted by my past. And I was unable to move forward through the doors of my past. She explained that it was like the peeling of an onion in layers and God wouldn't do it all at once or it would render me uselss for the rest of my life. It was the hardest thing I had ever done. He walked me through each memory to relive them and then He healed them. At times it was excruciating pain to endure. But when we were done, we burned all the notebooks in celebration of His healing.
He has taught me that what I'm lacking in relationships, He delights in replacing them with His new ones. They became the mother and father, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, that I never had before. Bob and Char, Florence and Erve Solem, Ron and Verna, Marlin and Jeannine were included also. They were the older women teaching the younger how to be wives and mothers.
They have been there for us with every birth of our children, to the death of all of our parents, aunts and uncles. These surely would have left us reeling had it not been for God and this body. We have learned how to live and go on even in the tragic of times, when life seems anything but fair. I know that HE carries us when we can't walk or much less think.
It has taken years of Bible study and learning how to be a parent that God wants me to be. I have come so far from when I first got here. My heart's desire is to be a Godly mother, wife, and child of God. We have been here for 23 years and there are so many lessons I have learned time and time again. I will forever be grateful to these wonderful godly people here in this church that have nurtured us to where we are today. Our prayer for this body is that it will continue for many more years to come and continue equipping children of God to become like Jesus and to reach the world for Him.
- Martin & Robin Laulunen, and Gabe, April, Everette, Ebby, Ian, Mylea and Skylar Laulunen
For over 30 years of our lives, we had lived in sin with many misconceptions about godly living. We went to church from time to time, but not on a consistent basis. We thought that we were Christians, but we never really had a clue about Christianity and living a godly life.
After seven years of a struggling relationship and many heartaches, we chose to open our hearts to Christ and truly let Him in, to hear His word and to try our hardest to live His word.
- Kevin and Amy Laine
One of our earliest memories of the Evangelical Free Church of Embarrass was praying for the people of the body when the first building burned down. We were living on the North Shore at the time and attending Palisade Baptist Church. Our hearts ached for the people of this body at that hard time.
Gar was able to come and help in a physical way a couple years later when the new church was being built. He enjoyed working in the "rapture chute"!
A couple of years later when we moved back to the Range, our hearts led us to worship in Embarrass because of the solid teaching of the Word, as well as the connection we felt from praying for this body.
In the eighteen years of worshipping here, our own three children have grown and gone out to find a church home. They have always desired a body where a commitment to solid teaching of God's word was the standard and would settle for nothing less. "Train up a child in the way he should go..."
The commitment and firm foundation to Christ and His word is why this church has been blessed and been a blessing to so many. We appreciate that commitment from the leaders to remain faithful to God's word even when the battle gets hard and trials come. God has blessed this body because of that, and we believe He will continue to do so.
- Gary and Rosemary Baty
"Something happens to a person who has witnessed Christ's Majesty. You become addicted! One glimpse of the King and you are consumed by a desire to see and know more of Him. When Christ powerfully works on your behalf, or changes you, or uses you to further His Kingdom, you are even more eager to experience His work first hand again. Pew warming ceases to be an option. No longer are you satisfied just listening to the testimony of others, you can't wait for the next opportunity when you can say, 'I was eye witness to His Majesty! Let me tell you about it!'"
This quote was on a study sheet from Pastor Marlin's series called "The Transformed Life". This particular message opened my heart and my mind to look for His Majesty everywhere and to tell anyone who will listen how He has changed my life. Learning to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and God's plan for my life has changed everyday life to extraordinary life. I see His Majesty in our church body being living examples of the One Another Principles. Since we began coming to the "Chocolate Chip Church" we have been on a journey that has brought new life, joy, friendships, and most importantly, our salvation. No matter what happens next, where ever God may take us in life, the love and friendships we have experienced here will stay with us forever. It really is amazing what happens when a group of believers sincerely love the Lord and each other. This is my most treasured memory of this church. There have been so many and I know there will be more to come.
- Carol Haasl
I was invited to come to the Evangelical Free Church of Embarrass, Minnesota, by my sister. She had attended the church and said it was a good place to be. So at the age of 16 years I went to the church, which was meeting at the town hall. I must admit the thing that impressed me the most was their preacher. The preacher was a tall and graceful man, with long hair and a genuine smile. He carried himself in a way which indicated to me that this preacher was not one of those tightly wound preacher types. (By this time in my life I was pretty well done with tightly wound preachers!) This one was different. His words were gracious and kind, he was warm and gentle. He hugged most everybody, including me. He reminded me of Jesus.
Shortly thereafter I was introduced to his wife, Jeannine. She wasn't wound tightly either, rather she was just real. And real meant the world to me.
As I became part of the church family I was introduced to more people who blessed my life. One young lady named Gina warmed my heart. She introduced me to her parents, Bob and Char. This family was just plain ole good people. It was here I was introduced to peanut butter and syrup sandwiches.
Eventually my life became entwined with Ron and Verna and Brenna, these were friends of my heart, too. They not only cared for my heart, but they were of great assistance to my belly, too! Their encouragement and smiles and support were God's gracious blessings in this life.
I could go on and on about people, Offie and her son Kenny, friends of mine to this day. The unknown woman who helped me fill out my college paperwork. (To this day I have no idea who she was.) I have often wondered if she were an angel. Dave and his red station wagon... Mike... Larry...
Finally, Irv Erickson. This man encouraged a young, confused high school student in ways he never knew. He told me I was all right. He believed in me. Irv took me under his wing and ministered to my brokenness. I called him dad, and he was one to me. Irv, from the bottom of my heart thanks for the encouragement. Thanks also for taking me under your wing.
The truth is this: We are the Body of Christ. We get to encourage one another, we get to feed one another, we get to breathe life into one another, and we get to walk through the chapters of our lives together. In this entire world there is nothing as beautiful as the Body of Christ!
I praise God for his rich Blessings to my life through this church. To Him alone be all glory, all power and all praise forever and ever. Amen.
- Brad Main
I had reached a stage in my life when I was feeling kind of empty inside. It wasn't loneliness, for I had a great wife and kids. Something was missing. There had to be more to life than what I was doing. Here I was in my early 40s and I was already thinking about what would happen to me when I die.
As I was having all these wild thoughts in my head I started noticing that I keep running into Marlin Bjornrud. At first I didn't even know that he was a pastor. I knew he was my son's Little League coach. I would run into Marlin everywhere. I would find myself standing next to him at football games. If I was pumping gas, he would be on the other side pumping gas. In the grocery store, we would be in line together. Marlin was always friendly and we usually had polite small talk.
I started asking Marlin questions and he would always smile and answer them. He then invited me to a coffee house. I was a little reluctant and felt out of place, but I went anyway because of this nagging feeling that I should go.
Marlin was there and greeted me with that smile and that kind voice of his. He made me feel very comfortable and we talked. I can't remember the exact things that were said, but I do remember asking about God and the church. It stuck in my mind that he said that "The people were the church". Being raised a Catholic this sounded pretty different to me.
Marlin asked if I would like for him to come to my house for coffee and talk some more. I said that would be great.
After a couple of visits my understanding of God, our Lord Jesus Christ was becoming a lot clearer. That feeling of emptiness was no longer there. Marlin, of course, knew God had put us together for a reason. With patience he answered all my questions and explained many things to me including salvation. Marlin knew that the Lord was calling me.
After a few weeks of coffee and friendship, I knew that I was ready to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior, and that I would give my life to Him. I just didn't know how. When Marlin and I next met it was Ground Hogs Day. On that day Marlin asked me if I was ready. I answered yes, through tears and gave my life to Christ. It is hard to explain the feeling that I had that morning, sitting at my kitchen table. I was filled with an energy that was incredible.
It seemed to me that a great weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I felt alive and happy. I could go on and tell of so many times the Lord has saved me. For God always had a plan for me. I just didn't know it. I look back and see how Jesus worked in my life, so many times including bringing me together with my lovely wife. And also my daughter (another miracle story). But I will always remember Ground Hogs Day, the day I gave my life to our Lord Jesus Christ.
- James Grizzard
For almost 24 years we have been blessed by worshipping at the Embarrass Evangelical Free Church. The commitment of our leaders to teaching the word of God has been our main reason for our attendance. But God also gives wonderful people in His body as well. We have had family at this church. Some are still here and so many who have left are sadly missed, but never to be forgotten. The memories we have of special occasions, the teaching of the Word, and the body reaching out to minister are a gift of God to our family. Our children grew up in this church and were fed truth. Now, as adults it is wonderful to see the desire they have to attend churches in their communities that are also dedicated to God's timeless truth.
- Gary and Rosemary Baty
Do you have a "Chocolate Chip Story" because God has touched your life through the ministry and people of the Evangelical Free Church of Embarrass?
If so, contact us. We will post it here and it will bless many!
Marlin was called to the Evangelical Free Church of Embarrass only nine months after it was incorporated in 1979, which means that he has served here for thirty years. He graduated from Oak Hills Bible College and served at White Oak Baptist Church in Akeley, Minnesota, for six years prior to moving to Embarrass. In his ministry, Pastor Marlin is committed to the expository preaching of God's Word as one of the primary means of equipping the body of Christ for the work of service.