Last time the Rev. Jeff Gauss started a church, its members met in a gas station.
So he's not afraid to get creative again when starting a new congregation in Grand Forks.
The 43-year-old pastor is hoping to get a church up and running in the south end of Grand Forks by September. If possible, he wants to get another one going across the river in East Grand Forks, too.
"We really want to be integrally involved in the community," he said.
He didn't think he was going to leave the Thief River Falls church, Epiphany Station, he started in 2008, but Gauss has been working for the past two years to create Grand City Station, the name of the church he's creating in Grand Forks.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We had a young leader here who was really starting to emerge," he said. "He didn't seem like he was a good fit to send to Grand Forks."
So Gauss decided he was the one who should go to Grand Forks. He had his final service at Epiphany last Sunday. The Thief River Falls church will transition over to the Rev. Matt Towse.
Gauss has never lived in North Dakota. He's originally from Owatonna, Minn., but he, his wife, Heidi, and their six children are planning to move next month to Grand Forks.
He said he hopes to have the first Grand Forks service in September, but he doesn't have a definite location yet. He's still waiting to hear back from some properties.
He said he knows the vision for the church: "Here. For good."
He said he wants it to be a lasting, active part of the community. That's why Epiphany Station and Grand City Station are named what they are. The Grand Forks church Facebook page has a train as its profile picture.
"We're a station, not a destination," he said. "Our job is to fuel people up and send them back out. That's what we want to do with this new church."
There's a lot that drew Gauss to start a church in Grand Forks, he said: the growing region, a large young-adult population with UND and Grand Forks Air Force Base's impact.
ADVERTISEMENT
Plus, he said feels the ratio of churches available in the area are low compared to the growing population, including in East Grand Forks.
"Grand Forks is growing so fast," Gauss said. "I think a lot of things in North Dakota are playing catch up, and churches are one of them."
He said he understands church doesn't play as large of a role in as many people's lives as it once did, especially with young people.
"We're living in a day in age where our country is less Christian than it's ever been," Gauss said. "A lot of Christians in churches are unsure of how to live in this new reality."
What he hopes to accomplish with his churches is work for the "common good" and build relationships with the community. He still is forming his team, but he has an idea of what services will be like come fall.
"We'll have very modern music, like what you would hear on the radio," Gauss said. "My speaking style is very laid back, authentic, conversational type."
He's been meeting with his team at the Ember weekly to work on the plans and get more people involved, though he added there still is a lot of work to do.
"One thing is right now is we're just trying to gather a group of like-minded people that want to be apart of this and help us launch this church," Gauss said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Grand Forks churches and Epiphany Station have been support systems in the process, he said. That's kind of the idea behind Converge Worldwide, with which Grand City Station is affiliated.
"It all begins with the church planter," Gauss said. "The person having a vision for the community.
"Then other churches come around that person to support that new work."
