The church and pastor Jeffrey Jones recently celebrated the dedication of its new 10,000-square-foot facility during a ceremony attended by more than 200 people (see accompanying photos).

Biwabik Mayor Cathy Niemi, City Planner Scott Dane and Northwest Conference Supt. Paul Erickson were among the special guests of the church during the Sunday afternoon event. Erickson (accompanied by his wife, Joan) preached at the morning worship service hours earlier, challenging the congregation not to be tied to possessions, especially those at the new church site, so that the building could minister to the entire community and reach people for Christ.

In many ways, the long building project has already done that and more. While his church has held Sunday worship services at a local senior center since August 2000, the congregation has expended many volunteer hours in the construction. Along with being thankful for his parishioners' work, Jones has been blessed by the support of local churches, generous individuals and both the Northwest Conference and the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) as his church overcame many financial barriers in the construction effort after an arson fire destroyed the previous building on August 23, 1998.

"It has been miracle after miracle, God providing in miraculous ways, just when we have needed it," he said following the dedication. "Without the City of Biwabik (especially the Fire Department), more damage would have been done not only to our old building, but the surrounding houses. Without the assistance of the City Council and City Planners, we would not have our current new property or the development agreement that has allowed us to build as we have had the resources. The dedication service alone tells of how the resources have continued to come, assisting us in the construction of our building."

Although the congregation was able to secure 7.3 acres of land for a new building (a groundbreaking was held in May 2000), finding the funds to construct the facility was another story. Jobs are hard to come by in Jones' neck of the woods. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune recently reported that more than 2,700 jobs have been lost in the Iron Range area since a large steel mill closed in January 2001. Still, the local and denominational communities have stepped forward to help their Christian neighbors. Jones thanked Niemi and a number of others on Sunday, including Rob Hall, associate director of technical and legal services in the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism. Through the Covenant's Kingdom Builder/Frontier Friends ministry, Covenanters from all over the world contributed more than $27,000 to help the church rebuild. Other organizations giving significant amounts of money were the Oldham Little Church Foundation of Houston, Texas, (more than $4,700) and the Northwest Conference Second Miler Program (about $2,300).

Jim Underhill (chair), Linda Carlson (treasurer), church chair Doug Bliss, Rosella Bronczyk, Gene Potter, Glyn Skinner and Jones comprised the church building committee and Jones took time to thank the committee for its perseverance.

Underhill was among those giving testimonies on how the construction process blessed them. Others included:

• Pastor Darrel Nelson of United Covenant Church in Poplar, Wisconsin, whose own hard labor helped spur his congregation to service for their Covenant neighbors
• Tom Pappenfus of Grace Covenant Church in Little Falls, Minnesota, who recruited others from his church and helped the Biwabik church on jobs ranging from constructing outside and inside walls and putting on the church roof to painting ceilings and tiling bathrooms
• Daryl Heino of Britt Evangelical Free Church in Britt, Iowa, whose "Edge" youth group gave testimony to how complementary efforts aided the project. The youth group ran two Vacation Bible School sessions that blessed the congregation and impacted the lives of area children while the church was in the throes of construction.

The Biwabik building project dedication could have included many other testimonies, said Jones. Dr. Myron and Ora Lee Fessler of San Diego, California, made a sizable monetary donation. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Covenanters Matthew and Vicky Portfleet provided significant financial gifts, helped generate more than $7,000 from a church fundraiser and spent three months in Minnesota helping with the building project.

Collaborative efforts of churches and individuals were also noteworthy. A group of churches in and near Biwabik combined forces to provide $9,500 in donations for the effort. And a Fort Dodge, Iowa, man named Kendal Pliner donated sheetrock for the church's Christian education wing that was transported to Biwabik by a seminary classmate of Jones, Brian Peterson of Maple Grove, Minnesota.

Jones also gave tribute to another Covenanter from Little Falls, Ken Dalquist, who died of a heart attack suffered only a few hours after he had finished a day's work volunteering on the building project. Ken's wife, Viola, was among those attending the dedication.