Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Erickson.
Jason, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We’re a church that’s about 4 years old. We started with about 20 people in my sisters living room in January of 2022. In June of 2022, we began to meet at the Northland Arboretum in Brainerd, MN. After beginning to outgrow that space, we were at a church planting conference in Houston in March of 2025 for 3 days. While there, we were praying for God to give us a larger space, but with the cost of space and property in Brainerd/Baxter, we didn’t see a feasible way to move. While we were on our way back from the airport and driving to Brainerd, we received a call from the owner of the historic Northern Pacific Center, and he said that he and his wife had been praying over the past 3 days (the same 3 days we were in Houston) and they felt led to invite Risen Church to begin to meet at NPC. Within about 1 month, we began meeting there, where we are currently in a temporary space, right next door to where we’re doing a build-out for our eventual permanent space. In God’s goodness, we’ve grown from that initial 20 people, to now regularly having over 200 join us for our Sunday service. The location is wonderful, and we’re excited for what God is doing at Risen Church.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a smooth road, but as with all building projects, the buildout has had it’s bumps as we navigate city, state, and federal regulations and trying to build a church in an approximately 120 year old building intended to repair trains.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m currently a pastor for about 10 years. Prior to that I was a family counselor, a school teacher, and my dad and I owned a lumberyard for about 10 years, 5 of which I ran by myself due to him receiving a traumatic brain injury while working at our family lumberyard. That injury, and the next 5 years of life, eventually led me to become a pastor. It was the fact of my dad being in a nearly vegetative state for 6-1/2 years and what God was doing in my and my family’s life, that eventually led me to become a pastor. I initially was a campus pastor for 18 months, we felt led to resign that position, without any existing job or even prospects for a job, and within 3 months, the Lord provided an opportunity to be the lead pastor at a church in Perham, MN. After pastoring there for almost 5 years, one Sunday I preached a message on the “God of comfort” and how comfort can sometimes become what we “worship.” It was after that service, that my wife and I had a conversation in which she posed the question… “if God asked us to give this all up, would we?” Meaning, if we felt led to give up the home we love, in a city we love, in a neighborhood we love, at a church we love, with people we love (in Perham) and he asked us to leave and plant a church somewhere else… would we be obedient? And it was over the course of the next 6-8 months, that God used that question and conversation to guide us to eventually resign from Perham, and decide to plant a church in Brainerd. Again, with no place to live, no specific place for this church to meet, no source of income…. and yet here we are 4 years later, and every step of the way, God has been so faithful! There are many more “God moments” in this story, but for sake of time, I summarized it.
What matters most to you?
Being faithful to what the Lord has called me and my family to do, and in being obedient, seeing His amazing faithfulness in weaving our lives together, as part of His larger plan. It’s important to me/us, because when we choose to live our lives as Christians, it’s more than just “talking the talk.” It’s a matter of trusting Him, and prayerfully seeking and allowing Him to guide our lives, as we do our best to be an encouragement to others, as well as loving others, the way that He has shown His love to us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.risenchurch.life
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risenchurchmn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risenchurchmn
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@risenchurchmn
