Sometimes God has to uproot before he brings growth. On September 1, 2007, Faith Presbyterian PCA made a move from Warren, Minn., to the city of Grand Forks, becoming the only PCA congregation in North Dakota. Since that time, the Lord has enabled them to reach new people, add new members, and call the church’s second pastor, Luke Herche.

Faith PCA began in 1995 when some members of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) in Warren decided they wanted Reformed teaching. Rev. Michael Rico had been the pastor of the ECC but had decided to leave to return to his Presbyterian roots. At that point, they asked Rev. Rico to stay and help them start a Reformed church. Mr. Rico said that he wanted to be part of the PCA, and they agreed.

Mr. Rico served that congregation for over ten years. The congregation had experienced little growth, and many of the members were tired and ready to quit. At the annual meeting in 2006, the members decided that it would be best for Mr. Rico’s ministry to come to a completion in Warren and that he seek another call.

The church held what easily could have been their last service in August 2006 on Mr. Rico’s last Sunday. Most of the members stopped attending at that point. But the family of ruling elder Lynn Waldorf decided to try and continue the church. As RE Waldorf stated, “We had embraced the Reformed faith wholeheartedly. We knew God would not leave us or forsake us, but we didn’t know exactly how he would care for us.”

In September 2006, the Presbytery of the Siouxlands (POS) formed a commission to serve as the Session of Faith. The work continued on in Warren with little progress until the commission was reconstituted at the April 2007 meeting of POS.

Once the new commission met, they made the big decision to move from the rural town of Warren to the larger nearby city of Grand Forks, N.D. “This had always been an idea in the back of our minds,” said RE Waldorf. On Sept. 1, 2007, the idea in the back of their minds became a reality when the church began meeting for worship on Sunday mornings at the Grand Forks mall.

The move produced almost immediate results. They took in several new families who were happy to find a PCAChurch in Grand Forks.

On March 1, 2008, they moved into a new location in the mall, right next to the climbing wall. Their new location gave them much greater visibility, resulting in more visitors.

By September 2008, the commission felt that they could move toward the call of a pastor, and the commission asked the churches of Presbytery to contribute $250 a month each toward the salary of a pastor for Faith.

Many of the churches responded, and by January 2009, Luke Herche was recommended to serve as the pastor of the Church; he would be the first pastor of Faith in North Dakota, and Faith would be his first pastorate.

Luke Herche did not grow up as a Christian. He went to college at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. During this time, he was invited by some friends to attend Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia. It was while attending there that the Lord opened his heart to embrace the gospel.

After Mr. Herche became a Christian, many people started asking him questions about Christianity. By his junior year in college he started leading Bible studies at the university. This taste of teaching led him to believe that his true calling was not primarily in the arts but in pastoral ministry.

While attending Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia over six years, he worked full time and to support his family. He graduated in 2007 and continued working at Tenth Presbyterian’s CityCenterAcademy. By 2008, he decided to leave CityCenter to spend more time looking for a call.

A friend of Mr. Herche’s told him about the new church in Grand Forks. Mr. Herche had actually thought about North Dakota before: “I was friends with [Rev.] Lane Keister (serving out of bounds in North Dakota), and I knew he was in the middle of nowhere. I always joked that I would be willing to go anywhere except North Dakota, because in our minds it was the end of the earth.”

In January 2009, Mr. Herche examined for licensure. He then was sent to the MNAAssessmentCenter before approving him for the field. He received approval to serve as a church planter.

With his call in hand, Mr. Herche arrived in Grand Forks on May 30 to begin his work. After only a few months, he has already seen the Lord’s blessings. He has his study at the mall, and many people have come in to talk to him about the church. Some of them have become regular visitors. On July 5, they had their highest attendance, 34, since in 2006.

Mr. Herche hopes to bring his wife Debra and his three sons, Thomas (5), Nathaniel (2), and Andrew (9 mos.) at the end of July when they close on a house. His ordination service is planned for August 28, 2009. Rev. Philip Ryken, the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian, will preach the ordination sermon.

There is an air of excitement and expectation among the members at Faith PCA. The Lord has brought them through many trials, but he has also demonstrated his goodness as well his faithfulness to his servants in Grand Forks. God in his grace has given what seemed to be near an end of a church in Warren new life in Grand Forks.
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Wes White is pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church in Spearfish, S.D. He write a regular blog.