Julie Samuelson:

Hands for Pine City

MI Alumni Julie Samuelson and her husband Brad, are bringing joy and the love of Christ to their rural Minnesota town through Hands for Pine City. Pastors Julie and Brad are innovative and intentional in how they care for their small town, demonstrating the value of knowing your town, thinking beyond tradition and developing relationships with community leaders and businesses as well as those in need. Here Julie shares a bit about the impact Hands for Pine City is making in Pine City, MN.

What can intentional Kingdom work look like in a rural setting? This was my question as I finished up my classes at MI. I didn’t realize those questions would bring me to church planting in my home town 5 years later. You see, most church planting classes and strategies are modeled for cities. In fact those models WON’T work in small rural settings because there just aren’t the financial resources. However, what small communities do have is generous people resources, and this is where our story at Hands for Pine City begins!

My husband Brad and I pastor a small church that averages under 10 people a week – but our community influence covers over a third of the population. Our vision for Hands for Pine City is pretty standard: We exist to be the hands of Jesus to the city. However HOW we extend our hands is pretty radical: No church building – ever. No full time staff – ever. That way there are more resources to bless the city with. Let me give you an example of how this works as we approach our 4th year of our Toys for Tots Birthday Party for Jesus event that kicked off our church plant.

We book the best pizza place in town for the party and then begin to collaborate with community people to share in gathering toys for needy kids – of which our county has BIG need. For every toy donated, our church gives the donor a free pizza buffet meal. 1 toy = 1 yummy pizza meal. To invite the community to the party, we put a float in the local Holiday Lighted Parade and give out invitations attached with candy. I collaborate with the local Leos volunteerism group at the local high school to have the invites assembled. I even sent some invites up to the local school detention center so the kids could do some community service. Chances are some of those kids will be getting toys from Toys for Tots. The local Sheriff’s department wants to join us in the parade this year and pass out the invites at the parade. We put ads in the paper, but this face to face connection is what really brings people to the event.

Next, I connect with the local piano teachers so the local kids can play Christmas music during our event bringing parents and friends to watch them play and bring toys for pizza. The town royalty will be on hand to work the kids craft table. The Leos come to help inventory and bag up the toys. The local sheriff’s department will be on sight for the kids to get Sheriff badge stickers and try on some SWAT gear for the party. This year a twin cities church is even giving us gift bags to give to each child.

The day of the party the music is playing, the families are enjoying pizza and the kids are smiling with all the fun things to do. Brad gives a short “reason for the season” kid time followed by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and then cake for everyone! 

Collaboration and inviting others to join the Kingdom mission of blessing the town while telling them that Jesus loves them energizes the community. We [the church] are called to be the SPARK that starts this positive process in our communities. So whether it is building a pre-school playground at the ball fields, throwing surprise neighborhood barbeques in the summer, or hosting community Easter Egg hunts in the spring, GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY.  We are even involved in the local chamber praying positive prayers over the businesses weekly.

I remember Keven McClure’s prayer from MI while I was there: Jesus, help me get to know you more & help me be willing to do what you want me to do. The reality is, Jesus already knows where he wants you to engage in your community. We simply need to say “Yes, I’m available” and watch Jesus bring the opportunities to you! Each one of our projects was a suggestion from someone else. We simply told Jesus, “Yes”.

So be brave. Pray and watch Jesus open doors for you to influence your community with the love of Jesus.

-Julie

Hands For PineCity / 300 5th St. SE, PO Box 164, Pine City, MN 55063 / hands4pc@gmail.com / H4PC Facebook