Dave's Story: From Quiet Christian to All In

Above, watch a peek of Dave's story. Below, read more about how God changed him!

I have always been a believer; in fact, even as a very young child, I have always felt loved and protected.

I was raised in the Lutheran Church. The minister preached, and the congregation listened, but it was not an interactive experience. The Holy Spirit was mentioned in church from time to time but never explained or discussed. I knew that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were the Holy Trinity, but I did not have an understanding of the dynamics of the Triune God.

All of this to say that the better part of my life, I was a “quiet Christian,” and while I was a believer, I rarely talked about it.

My knowledge of the Bible was very limited, and although I read selected verses from time to time, to me it was just words on a page. As an adult, I very rarely attended church, but yet I considered myself a good Christian and a good person. In reflection, I now know that God has always been at work in my life, even if I did not acknowledge it or give Him the credit.

All this changed one day about four years ago, when I was taking my mixed Labrador, Mandy, out for a morning walk. It should be mentioned that we did not have a set time for these walks nor did we have a set route; it pretty much depended on what Mandy wanted to do. It was mid-morning around 10am, and it was a comfortable spring day. We were coming down a small hill and coming to a street that intersected with the street we were on. At the bottom was a lady I had seen maybe two or three times before and always in this same general area. 

As I approached her, we said “good morning” to each other, and then she asked “How are you?” 

I have been asked this many times and normally would give a generic response. This time, however, the words that came out of my mouth were “I have a joy in my heart, but I don’t know why.”

They were not my words. I then asked her how she was, and she said, “I have a joy in my heart, and I do know why.”

I asked, “Why is that?" 

She replied, “because I have Jesus in my heart.”

This cannot be overstated; it was like I was hearing those words for the first time. I felt like I had just been struck by a bolt of lightning. I took a step back, I pointed at her and excitingly said, “That’s it; that’s it! I have Jesus in my heart too.”

What happened next happened in a second or the blink of an eye.

God touched my heart, and I had the realization that Jesus had always been in my heart, but that I had never acknowledged Him there. In that same instant, I acknowledged that Jesus Christ was in my heart and that He was my Lord and Savior.

I was then flooded with the Holy Spirit.

The closest I can come to describing that moment is with a Japanese word, satori, which means to awaken, instant awakening, or sudden enlightenment.

I don’t have a memory of what, if any exchange I had with the lady at that point. I continued walking with Mandy, and as I crossed the street, I had a deep feeling of euphoria. I knew that Mandy was with me, but my awareness of her ended a short way down the leash. Filled with the Holy Spirit, I was aware that everything became a blending of the natural with the supernatural.

The colors were very intense and beyond my ability to describe.

Every step, I took was a “wow” moment.

If there were people walking by, or cars passing by, I was unaware of them.

As beautiful and intense as everything was, I had the feeling this was being toned down for me as I would not have been able to handle the full intensity of it. It was like a giant mosaic that had been skillfully blended and connected together.

I became aware that everything was vibrantly alive, connected together, and dependent on everything else.

A single leaf, a single blade of grass has a life onto itself and at the same time connected to all other life.

This includes animals, humans, all life; we are all connected.

Once I was shown this, I started seeing all life differently, and with a greater respect and reverence. It was a realization that we are all creations of God, and we are all children of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

I would look at a single small wild flower, and it was magnified many times so that I could see the veins, the individual pieces that make it a flower, a thing of beauty, and a thing of God.

Everything was not only made by God but was part of God Himself.

This lasted for about twenty minutes, and the intensity of it lasted the rest of the day and into the next. I had the realization that I had been given a great gift, and this gift needed to be shared with others.

I went from being a quiet believer to becoming not only a believer but a knower that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are real and within all of us. A believer and a knower that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and died for us, and on the third day was raised from the dead. A believer and a know-er that the Holy Spirit is in me, gives me thoughts to think, words to speak, and guides me every step of the way. 

I live my life in total gratitude to God, and I spend every morning reading devotionals, reading the Bible, and praying. The words in the Bible have taken on a new meaning; the words now are alive and jump off the page. I am not ashamed to say that there are chapters of the Bible that bring me to tears.

I went from one who did not talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to one who will not, and cannot, keep quiet about the truth: the truth that God is Love, and we need to accept His Love and embrace His Love because it is our salvation.

I want desperately for others to know what I know. This experience has many more amazing stories to it, stories of being led to others that I have witnessed to, stories of how I was led to North Heights Church. Stories of the amazing people in the church that have helped me on my journey. The amazing story of how I, at age 79, became baptized by Pastor TJ and became reborn.

These events and stories are not about me; it is, and always will be, about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And we must always remember to give God all the glory.

There are opportunities and miracles all around us. It is our job to be aware of these miracles and embrace them. They range from a parking spot that opens up in front of us, a person that needs a smile or a helping hand, a person that we can witness to, a healing. There are so many opportunities every moment of the day, and when they happen, we need to seize them, embrace them, thank God for them, and give God the glory.

The more we acknowledge them and act on them, the more they show up in our lives. I do not believe in accidents or coincidences; I literally look for the hand of God in all things, and in all things, I look for what can be learned from this.

I am still learning and still a work of God in progress.

On Easter Sunday on March 31 while at North Heights Church, I closed my eyes to pray, and when I did, I saw a single silhouette cross on a hill. It stayed with me, and as I looked at it, a voice spoke very clearly to me, “David I am going to use you in ways you never imagined.”

Thank you for this opportunity to relate how God is at work within all of us. God bless you, and all glory to God!

Devotion, Friendship, and Laughter: Celebrating the Three Amigas

Diane Armstrong, Luann Pheneger, and Nancy Goodmanson are often called the three musketeers or the three amigas. After this fall, North Heights staff will take a serious hit when all three of them will be officially retired.

As many can attest, their stories and legacy are of devotion, friendship, and laughter.

The three ladies gathered together in late May to reminisce about their time on staff. They all had a similar timeline of discovering and working at North Heights; all three of them started attending in the ‘80s and became paid staff sometime in the ‘90s. Dates and details were fuzzy for them, and because their lives are so intertwined, they often corrected each other, sometimes knowing the others’ history better than their own.

Nancy and Diane have known each other the longest; as flight attendants, they met in Detroit, Michigan in 1978.

“Thanks to Nancy and Tim Goodmanson, I found North Heights,” Diane expressed. Nancy persuaded Diane to attend North Heights with her, often picking her up in downtown St. Paul so that they could carpool. Diane’s journey to North Heights could be another whole story, but after getting invested in volunteering and programing, she eventually landed in the position of executive assistant to the director of internal ministries, which she did for years. She later secured the role of executive assistant to TJ and Bob, which she’s retiring from. 

Luann and Nancy had similar paths at North Heights, so much so that people often got them confused. Both helped with the All-Saints party and then co-directed children’s ministry for years. At some point, Luann needed full-time work, so she transitioned to the business office of North Heights, breaking up the dynamic duo of “Luancy.” Nancy did a stint at the bookstore and a few other positions before she found her sweet spot as the events/wedding coordinator.

When asked about the best part of being on staff for so many years, the answer among the three of them was unanimous: the people.

Nancy spoke about how important community was, especially when the Goodmansons adopted their daughter, Catie: “We were such a family. I don’t know what I would have done without my church family.”

Diane emphasized how much she learned among her community, especially the women’s ministries. “I grew so much – just leaps and bounds.”

Luann shared about the camaraderie on staff and how important those friendships were, even through negative experiences. When the women were discussing the time period when staff were laid off, Luann didn’t hesitate to clarify the date. “July 15. I will never forget it because I had to do all the paperwork to lay off all my friends,” Luann lamented.

But then brighter days came. Nancy shared that one of her favorite memories was one of the first days staff was reunited after the layoffs. She explained that after a lunch, staff got in a circle to hold hands and pray. Then they sang the words “bind us together.”

“It felt like we had gotten through something together and were starting off fresh,” Nancy said.

The memories Luann, Nancy, and Diane have from being on staff are endless, but they shared a few more gems.

They loved planning volunteer events and All-Saints parties. Children’s ministries had a plethora of funny moments, but Luann and Nancy reflected on one specific instance where a donkey pooped in the Sunday School Palm Sunday service.

Nancy also told a story about how during a kids’ Christmas program, in front of a live audience, the girl playing Mary flung baby Jesus out of the manger, crying, “That’s not Jesus!”

Transitioning out of a place that holds so many dear memories for all three of them won’t be easy. All three will remain as members and volunteers, but even so, retirement brings nuance: excitement for their next chapters but also sadness about leaving positions where they invested their everything. They want to see their church flourish and for staff and congregation to embrace North Heights like they did. 

“We want to see people pour into North Heights the way we poured into it,” Luann said.  

“We want to know they’re invested like we were,” Nancy agreed.

“I don’t feel like I’m personally indispensable, but I really care about this position being filled well,” Diane said.

Who will be next to grab the baton from these three amazing ladies? What will be the next chapter for North Heights without these women on staff? These answers may need to be fleshed out, but the confident ground we can stand on is that North Heights will continue to be a Spirit-filled, Bible-believing, Christ-centered church full of people devoted to the mission.

Diane and Nancy’s official retirement will be at the beginning of July. Luann will be officially retired in October. Thank you to Luann, Diane, and Nancy for all your devotion and service to North Heights so far!

If you are interested in joining the North Heights staff, check out open positions here!