{"id":23339,"date":"2024-05-23T08:54:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/?post_type=resource&p=23339"},"modified":"2024-05-23T08:54:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:54:01","slug":"a-beautiful-chain-reaction-grows-minneapolis-church","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resource\/a-beautiful-chain-reaction-grows-minneapolis-church\/","title":{"rendered":"A beautiful chain reaction grows Minneapolis church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atypical is what it was. Door hangers and block parties and mass mailers and email blasts and Facebook ads and radio spots \u2014 these are the typical mass marketing tools of the church planter\u2019s trade. However, a few years back, when Sam Choi and his friends started All Peoples Church in Minneapolis, Minn., they discovered that their simplest, cheapest and most effective publicity tool was word of mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t do any conventional advertising,\u201d Sam says. \u201cAll we did was tell people, \u2018Come and see\u2019 because that\u2019s what happened in the gospels. Someone encountered Jesus, then they went and told someone, \u2018Come and see what I\u2019ve found.\u2019 Then that someone went and told someone else, and it kept going on and on until it became this beautiful chain reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
North American missionary Sam Choi and a team of other local pastors started All Peoples Church in Minneapolis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elizabeth Efteland came first. Somehow, that made sense. Elizabeth was, after all, the good girl in her family. \u201cWhen I was little, church was like my second home,\u201d she says. \u201cBut then in college, it got confusing and hard. People asked me questions, and I didn\u2019t have any answers. So I started thinking, \u2018Do I really believe this stuff? Is what I\u2019ve been told really true?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Slowly but surely, Elizabeth began to lose her faith. \u201cI ended up in a super lonely place. It was so hard,\u201d she says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t find anybody who could help me, and I got so frustrated with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome and see.\u201d That simple invitation from a friend is all it took to get Efteland to attend one of the first worship services for All Peoples Church. \u201cI figured I\u2019d visit once just to be polite,\u201d she says. \u201cBut something happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elizabeth started attending All Peoples Church every Sunday. She heard the gospel, gave her life to Christ and was baptized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen slowly but surely, the Holy Spirit started doing a work in her,\u201d says Sam. \u201cShe became someone who wanted to tell other people, \u2018Come and see.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny Efteland came next. Johnny is Elizabeth\u2019s little brother and reclamation project. \u201cI adore that kid,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I always had this idea that I was supposed to be the person who fixed all his problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was an extremely ambitious desire because Johnny, a drug abusing, prolifically promiscuous heavy metal musician, had a sizable number of problems that needed fixing. \u201cBack then, I was in a super dark place,\u201d Johnny says. \u201cI always deep down kind of knew there was a God, but I just really didn\u2019t care. I just wanted to do my own thing.\u201d
\nElizabeth will never forget what happened when she told her brother, \u201c\u2019Come and see.\u2019 He told me, \u2018Sure, I\u2019ll come visit with you, but I\u2019m not planning on sticking around.\u2019 But he showed up at church that next Sunday, and if you would\u2019ve told me how things would go down after that, I never would\u2019ve believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny came to All Peoples Church, heard the gospel and decided to follow Jesus. \u201cI\u2019d been such a horrible person,\u201d he says. \u201cBut a lot of times, someone you think would be the last person to follow God \u2014 all you have to do is just reach out your hand, and they\u2019ll take it, you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

The reaction continued and Nolan Nielsen was next. Nolan was Johnny\u2019s long-time, wingman. \u201cI didn\u2019t do drugs, but I drank a lot and had lots of unhealthy relationships with women,\u201d Nolan says. \u201cI was just running as far and as fast as I could to live this lifestyle I thought would make me happy. And the harder I ran and the more I partied, the emptier I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome and see.\u201d That\u2019s what Johnny told Nolan. It was the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, the first Easter after Johnny had made his decision to follow Christ. \u201cIt was two in the morning,\u201d Johnny says. \u201cIt was just me and him at his house and he was asking me all these questions about God and the Bible. And I was just like, \u2018Hey, it\u2019s Easter, dude. Just come to church.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just wouldn\u2019t let it go,\u201d Nolan says. \u201cI think he could see that I was sick and tired of feeling lonely and empty. And so yeah, I just said, \u2018Ok. Let\u2019s go to church.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A sleep-deprived Nolan showed up at All Peoples Church the next morning \u2014 Easter morning \u2014 and \u201cIt was powerful,\u201d he says. \u201cThey talked about the gospel, and I was like, \u2018Yeah, this is what I want. This is what I need.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
“One Sunday not long ago, Johnny Efteland (right) and Nolan Nielsen (left) were baptized together.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Johnny and Nolan were baptized on the same day, and it was beautiful \u2014 just like Sam said it\u2019d be.<\/p>\n

This beautiful chain reaction brought Elizabeth, Johnny and Nolan to Christ. By engaging their city first, All Peoples Church planted and organically grew a new church.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow our church is almost 100 percent grown through \u2018come and see\u2019,\u201d Sam says. \u201cAnd the unbelieving world can\u2019t help but look at us and say, \u2018Wow, Jesus is real, and the gospel really can transform lives.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn how your church can plant more churches by engaging cities across North America, visit SendNetwork.com\/Mobilize.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atypical is what it was. Door hangers and block parties and mass mailers and email blasts …<\/p>\n

A beautiful chain reaction grows Minneapolis church<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23340,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"content-type":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-23339","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA beautiful chain reaction grows Minneapolis church - Send Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/resource\/a-beautiful-chain-reaction-grows-minneapolis-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A beautiful chain reaction grows Minneapolis church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atypical is what it was. 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