On the Move: Duluth, MN
I haven’t posted anything official about this yet, so I thought it was time. I’m in the car right now with Deanna and we’re on our way to Duluth, Minnesota. This will be our new home for, at least, the next four years. Deanna was accepted into UMD for medical school this fall and although we’ll be very sad to leave our family and friends in Rapid City, SD, behind, we’re excited and expectant for the journey we are about to begin. We’re on a scouting trip, searching out a place to live, visiting some churches, and also some other areas of interest before we move our family towards the end of July. We’re moving forward in faith and are confident that this is where God is leading us next.
Before our trip, we’ve been visiting sites such as visitduluth.com and perfectduluthday.com. Looks like there is lots to explore!
To those wondering, our last Sunday at Destiny Foursquare Church as pastoral staff will be Sunday, July 25. Leaving behind Destiny and the student ministry, friends, students there will be hard, to say the very least. On the plus side though, the Council has decided to keep me on staff as a “technology pastor” to help and assist on design and tech stuff from afar. That way we’ll still get to stay somewhat connected with our church family as we go.
We’ll try and take some video of our adventures here this weekend. Stay tuned! 🙂
Does the church you visited have a website?
Check out http://hillsidealive.com. We loved it!
Hi, my name is Larry Jackson and I am the multimedia coordinator (guy at the computer next to the sound board) at Hillside Church in Duluth. I'm glad you liked our church and hope you come again this Summer when you move to Duluth. Sorry you missed Ryan our Lead Pastor preaching, he is great! You can check out his sermons on our website. We have a large college ministry at UMD and a lot of them attend as well as a great youth and childrens ministry. During the Summer, when the college kids are gone, the service is usually "Family Style" where the kids stay during the Sermon, but the pastors involve the kids with contests, plays and skits. Our worship leader is Aaron Booth (aaron@hillsidealive.com) who would love to talk to you if you have any music related questions.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. We really enjoyed our time there and I've been communicating back and forth with Pastor Ryan since than. Seems like a really great guy with a heart and a passion for God.
Is Aaron the female that was leading worship when we were there? Deanna and I both commented to each other that it was refreshing to have a female lead us in worship. I'm a musician myself, and am currently a worship leader and student pastor at Destiny Foursquare Church in Rapid City, SD. Here's a sample (free download) of what we do: http://shawnmichael.bandcamp.com/track/pour.
I look forward to moving to Duluth. My plan for the first year is to be a stay-at-home Dad and help my family (four girls and a baby boy due in mid-June) work through the transition. It's gonna be a busy time with a lot of change, but we are confidant that God is faithful and that it's gonna be good!
Again, thanks for connecting. Looking forward to meeting you in person. We plan on coming back. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed service! Come again when Pastor Ryan is preaching, his sermons are amazing and he committed to living life as Jesus did.
The woman leading worship is Heather Bulgram. She used to be the head worship leader, but now has two young children and stepped down to lead one of the backup teams. She has more of a folksy acoustic sound.
Aaron Booth is the singer/songwriter/musician who is the current head of worship music.
He is younger in his twenties and has a more Christian rock sound, although he does switch it up by going acoustic/unplugged or letting the female backup singers sing lead.
I listened to your music and I'm sure the leaders would welcome you to jam with them.
As far as being a stay at home Dad, I've been there and done that for 12 years.
I work at home and my wife is a family doctor who works part-time covering in-patients for a local hospital. My wife and I met in college and got married between med school and residency.
We moved to Duluth when my second child was born for a part-time (locums) job for my wife
that allowed her to slow down and enjoy our childrens lives.
God Bless and we look forward to seeing you again.
Very cool! Thanks for stopping by the blog and leaving a comment.
We LOVED our visit at Hillside and look forward to making a return visit in the near future. We make the move in late July.
My wife is also going to school and wants to go into a family practice-type situation. You guys might be a good information resource to us as we start this journey. Can I ask what you do at home (for work)? I'm looking at options in that regard.