RR Covenant Church celebrates 65th Anniversary Sunday

By Mark Mast
RR Ev. Cov. Church

This Sunday (September 14), the Evangelical Covenant Church will be celebrating 65 years of serving the Lord in and around the community of Rainy River.
There will be 65th Anniversary Celebration Banquet at the Rainy River Legion at 5:30pm. Everyone is cordially invited to attend. There will be a scrumptious banquet with all the trimmings. Pastor Mark Mast will provide a special historical presentation. Pastor Doug Doyle of Redwood Park Church in Thunder Bay will address the audience. The Messengers will minister in music. For free tickets, please contact Susan Douglas at 852-1937. There will be a free-will offering for the new church building fund.
The Rainy River Evangelical Covenant Church was founded by Vivian A. Smith. Smith moved to Rainy River from Blue in 1942 to take a job caring for Mrs. Jim Bell Sr. who had had a stroke. Vivian took it upon herself not only to care for her physical needs but also her and her husband’s spiritual needs. “They were the first ones I had the joy of leading to the Lord,” said Smith in a church history book.
In her spare lime she began doing some visitations and started praying with Mrs. R.L. Read and Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Books. However, they had never all gotten together as a group. Smith said that “God was at work,” leading them to the humble beginnings of the church.
While she felt inadequate to lead a flock, she prayed to God to send someone to do just that. She began travelling to Spooner (East Baudette, MN.) to worship. There she found encouragement and counsel. All the while she continued
her visitations and guidance with the Bells and others, still not meeting as a group.
In May of 1943 she travelled to special services at the Covenant Church in Fort Frances where she heard LeRoy (Oscar) Larson, an evangelist speak. There was also a singing evangelist, August Schragge, at that ser vice. Their words spoke to Smith. “Where He leads me, I will follow.” As she prepared to leave for life back in Rainy River, Larson approached her and placed a sum of money in her hand telling her it was for the work in Rainy River.
Spooner’s Pastor Diskerud encouraged her to gather the few Christians together she had been praying with as group. Late in May of 1943 that is exactly what she did. She and six elderly ladies gathered, one of which was unsaved. Later, Mrs. Read was saved and became a charter member of the new church.
Plans were made to hold weekly meetings every Friday but they had little money. God provided for them in unique ways. Mrs. Read, with her crippled hands, copied out some songs on sheets of paper, as they did not have money to buy hymn books.
As the weeks went by Pastor Diskerud recommended to the General Superintendent of the Northwest Conference that Smith be called to be a full time missionary in Rainy River. Hence, God had answered Vivian’s prayers to send someone to lead the fledgling congregation by leading her to that post.
August 1, 1943 marked the official date she began her mission here. In May of 1944 they rented the small space in the former Podskalny Shoe shop on Main Street where Smith says, “It was a place for the repairing of shoe soles, now converted into a place for the repairing of human souls.”
The Spooner church donated some old pews to them, which had to be carried across the railroad bridge in rows as they were all attached together like theatre seats. Smith said it was no easy task as it was windy the day she and Mr. Books carried them across the rainy River railroad bridge.
Their little patched up portable organ was dying on them so they made that a matter of prayer. Not long after, a Christian family from Blue offered a good pump organ for $25. A pulpit was built by Mr. Canavan and donated by Mrs. Read. Canavan was brought back to the Lord through their ministry.
They fanned out into the community ministering to many folks including many homeless men that had been put up in an old railroad box car by Olive Carpenter. Vivian reminisces that, “We were viewed upon by some as a fanatic movement the would soon die out.”
However, they did not die out. In fact the church continued to grow. Smith recalled that in early 1946 the Lord was going to organize them into a church and not just a mission. On the eve of May 3, 1946, a gathering with Rev. Elving, the General Superintendent from Minneapolis, resulted in the signing of a charter. Thirteen in all signed. The next step was to get a full time pastor.
In spring of 1947 the land lord evicted the church group and they still did not have a pastor. So they held meetings in a cottage they had acquired to someday house a pastor.
In December of that year the first pastor, William Frederickson, arrived. He and his family moved into the house and the congregation rented the Rebekah Hall for services and Sunday School.
A temporary church was constructed in 1948 on the southwest corner of 5th and Mill and was used for 18 years. The house for the pastor was also sold and a better one purchased at 101 3rd Street.
The Fredericksons stayed until the spring of 1950.
0ver the years a number of pastors would follow:
1950-52 Pastor Rolland White, 1952-54 Pastor Paul Larson, 1954-60 Young people from Baudette and Dr. D. Setterholm, 1956-60 Layman Krist Amundsen, assisted by Stan Jenson and Vivian Smith, 1962-65 Rev. Wes Morris, 1965-66 Pastor Carl Metoxln, 1966-67 Rev. Rolland White, 1967-68 Pastor Charles Johnson, 1968-70 Pastor Dave Erickson, 1970-76 Rev. Rolland White, 1976-78 Rev. Earl Swanson, 1978-83 Pastor Brad Ricci, 1984-97 Rev. Doug Stapleton, 1997-2008 Co-pastors Gord Armstrong and Mark Mast
In 1963, the former Lutheran Church on First St. was purchased and still used as a place of worship to this day. The congregation is presently constructing a new church on Atwood Avenue, just west of town. It is being constructed by numerous volunteers. It is hoped that construction will be completed by early spring. Everyone is invited to stop in and see how progress is coming! Volunteer work days are on Wednesdays and Saturdays. All are encouraged to stop in and see what God is doing!
In the early years, Vivian Smith always worked hard to help young people establish a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. That focus is still very much alive in the church today. There are a lot of children and teenagers that attend church regularly. The church has also been a long-time sponsor of Vacation Bible Schools, summer Bible camps, Bible clubs for children and youth events.
On May 31 of this year, Gordon Armstrong resigned from his position as co-pastor. He still remains actively involved with the church. He is also very engaged in the construction of the new church building.
Mark Mast continues to serve as pastor, along with ministering to youth and children with CSSM Ministries. Weekly worship services are held each Sunday at 11:00am. The welcome mat is always out.
A search committee is presently reviewing applications for a new pastor. The congregation is excited about the future that God for this community.
Rainy River Evangelical Covenant Church (RRECC) is a Bible-believing fellowship where God the Father is Lord, where Jesus Christ is central and the Holy Spirit leads in the teaching and preaching of God’s Word to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of all people. The church is focused on offering Christ’s caring love and help to those in need; much like Jesus did.
For those who can not make it to the 65th Anniversary Celebration Banquet on September 14, you are encouraged to send a few remarks via email at: masts@tbaytel.net