Living Praise

Psalm 67:5-7

New International Version (NIV)

⁵ May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.

⁶ The land yields its harvest;
    God, our God, blesses us.
⁷ May God bless us still,
    so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

 

Ushering in the month of December has been an amazing experience with God! Last night, after enjoying a great Thanksgiving weekend in Forest Lake, MN, Danielle and I prepared to attend the Shift service at our church, Fargo First Assembly of God. I was a shuttle driver for the NDSU students that get picked up and brought to church. I could not help but feel an excitement in my soul about the evening. "Finally! Back at home with my church family," were my thoughts as I drove to NDSU. The excitement in my soul was more expectant than normal. I did not have a reason for it besides being glad to be back. I knew the preacher was going to be my teacher, pastor and friend Pastor Dave Schuster. Perhaps that was enough of a reason for my excitement.

 

After I picked up the NDSU students I queued them in on my unusual excitement. I stated as I dropped them off, "It's going to be a good one!" 

 

I made my way into the service and sat by a new friend that I had met a month before. Service was going as usual until worship started. Immediately as we entered into worship my hands wanted to reach out to usher in God's presence with not just my words or my heart but my very actions. It was more urgent than usual. After a few songs into worship God's presence was just there, for lack of better words all I can say is that it was there. On occasion I would open my eyes to see what the church family was doing in the time of worship. The musicians leading us in worship were jumping, some kneeling, the pastors were enthralled with God's presence, some plummeting their face into their hands, others swaying with hands in the air. The congregation was some standing a few kneeling in the small space between their pew. I almost felt guilty for intruding on their moment with God and yet missing out on my own time with the Creator, The Father, My Father. 

 

 

One section of our church family during the initial worship time

 

As worship was appearing to end (after the 4th song worship is over according to our schedule) one of the pastors went up to the microphone. He spoke to the church that this was not usual. God was doing something different, he could sense it. It was obvious that the whole church sensed it. Then after the meet and greet, Pastor Dave Schuster came forward to the pulpit as if getting ready to speak (according to our schedule). But, Pastor Dave routed my expectant thoughts of normality and said, "The Holy Spirit is doing something new tonight. I will not be preaching. Instead we are going to respond to this and press into God with prayer, praise, and WORSHIP!" He gave the worship team instruction to lead us in more worship and said that we could move to the altar and seek God or move anywhere and seek.

 

The worship team played , our church rushed to the alter and I found myself going from places of tears of joy to praying for more joy into my life. I remembered God's faithfulness and provision throughout my life but, most of all I remember the day I was saved from death by Jesus Christ. That memory and truth fueled my praise to God to the point that I was not just standing while worship played but I was singing and jumping in praise to my God (The King of All Kings).

 

It was in that moment that I knew I needed to remember why I'm doing what  I'm doing. The reason why I tell people about Jesus is because I have never been over the love he showed me by saving me. God wanted to bring us (I believe more than myself had that truth spoke to them) to a place of praising Him. He is worthy not just for what He has done but because of his worth, because He is who He is.

 

The Bible tells us that when we praise God blessings will come. That is why I believe God did what He did that night. He wants to do amazing things in Fargo Moorhead this month, tomorrow, the next semester, forever! We (meaning me) need to live a life of praise to God. Join us in this: Live your life as if you have never been over the day you were saved.

Twitter Ministry Works!

To be honest with you, social media is not one of my favorite things. But, recently I'm beginning to warm-up to a social media network called twitter. Twitter allows users to post statements, quotes,  and really anything in 140 characters or less onto the internet and the public can read what random information the users are willing to share.

To keep a long story from getting too long I am going to share with you a recent victory for the Kingdom of God through a simple post onto twitter (also known as a tweet).

About a month ago from today a woman posted onto twitter about a family in need of help moving furniture into a house. One of my fellow missionaries Stephen Glasser was informed about the tweet and felt the need to respond to this tweeting distress call for muscles to move furniture.

The day after the tweet occurred I found myself with two college students and two other missionaries moving furniture into a house. It was a fun and different opportunity to bless someone we did not know previously. The initial "God Thing" of this whole furniture moving experience is that we were moving furniture for a woman that attended the church we go to, First Assembly of God in Fargo. The woman's name I will not share to protect her privacy. She was moved by this random gesture of young people coming to help her, especially people that she had never met! She thanked us multiple times and was moved to tears multiple times as we carried in beds, a couch and chairs.

It was a blessing to get to help this woman but the story does not end here.

Two days ago this woman and her two youngest sons came to church. Unknown to myself this woman had gone forward during an altar call at the end of the service. Fellow missionary Stephen Glasser was up at the altar ready to pray with people and to his surprise the youngest boy came up to him. Stephen simply asked how he was liking the house since he moved in. The boy replied, "Ever since I've lived there I've wanted to accept Jesus into my life but I haven't yet." Stephen was moved with joy and prayed with the young boy to accept Jesus into his life for the first time.

God is always at work in our lives. He constructs and orchestrates every relationship we have and every connection we make. We need to be ready to act when opportunities arise to share the love of Jesus Christ, even through twitter. God uses everything to His glory at the times of His choosing.

"Be blessed, be a blessing to others"

-Mark Erickson

Do you have a Twitter? Feel free to follow us both at @MarkE116 & @soccerpnut!

Shining Light on the Future

The Chi Alpha interns got the opportunity to travel to Des Moines, Iowa for the Light Conference where all of the Regional Chi Alpha pastors and interns gather for a refreshing time of learning, networking, worship & planning for our SALT Conference in January.

Mark & I at the 2013 Light Conference in Iowa.

It was much needed escape from the everyday Fargo life (basically a mini vacation for me), I got to spend a lot of great quality time with some of my great friends, sharing our struggles, praise reports and just having some great girl time! Mark got to hangout with the guys hot-tubbing and doing who knows what… ;) I know they had a blast!

Mary Krambeer and I got to share a hotel room, this girl is incredible and means so much to me! She's been mentioned on this blog a few times before, it's crazy how God has intertwined our lives with His plans! Mary was only a wee freshman when I was a senior on the soccer team.  We grew so much together that year with our relationship with Jesus as we were both in the same small group. We then co-led together last year and it was an experience I will never forget! She is an INCREDIBLE gift from God and we cherish the fact that we get to experience this internship together (even though I’m not an official intern) :) God's funny like that!
 

These girls are absolutely incredible & beautiful world changers! Get to know them if you don't!

So all in all (I’ll try to keep these posts short, I LOVE to talk/write and love details!) it was great to see what happens behind the scenes when it comes to planning a big regional conference. We gained a lot of wisdom and knowledge from the breakout sessions, we are so blessed to learn from some incredible leaders. After the conference we had the opportunity to make the trek to Ames, IA and sit in on Iowa State's Chi Alpha - which was fun to see the differences between our XA and theirs!

The Fargo/Moorhead crew!

If you could be in prayer for us regarding the future - as we are starting to look and pray very seriously about where God is calling us to go or even stay for the next year. At the moment we are still waiting on God, so if you hear anything from Him please let us know!

Don’t know what the SALT Conference is and want to? You can ask or just wait for an update in January as we know it’s going to be epic!! Be in prayer for it as well! Be blessed friends!

Victory - Soccer - Chi Alpha

After the incredible success of our Chi Alpha soccer student organization fan night a few weeks ago I got a text from the assistance coach asking if I could rally up my “ Chi Alpha people” to come support the soccer girls again at their last home game. The kicker is this game would determine if their season ends or not! So of COURSE I’m going to jump on the opportunity to give these amazing young ladies something I never had: Another actual cheering, crazy fan section!!!!

Mark, Mary & I cheering on our old soccer team!!

I texted my fellow bison soccer alumni, Mary Krambeer and told her the news! She was ecstatic and created a Facebook event "Herd the Bison to the Summit League Tournament". The next thing I knew we had over 40 people coming and they were discussing if it was legal to bring huge drums and megaphones! 

Here’s what the crowd consisted of:

The Chi Alpha fan section!!!!

Needless to say our love, passion and excitement for people was insane! We could not stop dancing and cheering as the Bison ladies won the game, it was an incredible victory in so many ways. I was also able to coordinate everyone to storm the field after the buzzer sounded!

 

It. Was. Awesome.

It’s my prayer that my old teammates would feel and know that the love this fan section has for them isn’t just for show, hype or a good time. But because we truly do love them with the love that Jesus has for us.

Overcoming the Storms in Life - Mark's First Sermon!

I had the incredible honor to watch my husband not only prepare for a sermon but to also preach it at our church’s evening service, The Shift. As I said in the previous post, God has truly been stretching and shaping us into the people we need to be for the roles He has in mind for us. This was just another step in the journey!

Instead of matside (wrestling) I was "alter-side" watching my husband!

 

I honestly wasn’t nervous for him because I knew that if God set this up for him He wasn’t going to let him fail. Also watching the time he spent in prayer gave me confidence that whatever he said up there was straight from God, plus he has an incredible gift of public speaking as it is. But I remembered the heart pounding anticipation I felt for Girls Only night and I couldn’t imagine what it must’ve felt like for Mark as he prepared to speak in front of all ages of people in a legit service!

 

The real deal on the big screen - whoaaa!!

 

As expected God pulled through for him and it was amazing! You might think I’m biased (because I am ;) ), but you can actually listed to the sermon yourself from First Assembly's website here (works best with FireFox & is labeled "David Schuster - The Shift - 10.27.13"). It’s on how to get through the storms in your life - so if you’re going through a storm then give it a listen, we hope it blesses you!

 

Post-preach - so proud of my husband!

 

We would like to again extend our gratitude to you as Mark and I would not have these opportunities if you weren’t obedient in supporting us and praying for us! We love you so much and can’t wait to see you hopefully soon!

 

Walking through a storm in life? Family struggles? Financial crisis? Feeling hopeless? Please check out the sermon and please give us a call or email us at mark.erickson.2@gmail.com as we would LOVE to pray for you and help you in any way!

 

 

A Wonderful Weekend of Growth

We stand in awe as God continues to challenge and shape us both in our ministry calling. This weekend was Guys Only/Girls Only night where our guys and girls have sweet fellowship separately. The guys ate chili, worshipped and listened to a panel of sweet Chi alumni men talk about how to be a true man of God. They ended their night playing dodgeball in the First Assembly gym. The girls had a soup and bread fellowship, amazing worship and four speakers who each gave three points on how to break bad habits (since we ALL have them)!

Mary, Sami, Steph & I making soup before the night began! These selfless ladies did so much!

I actually had the honor of being asked to speak, my topic was "How to Keep Bad Habits Away". The wonderful thing about Girls Only night is that it's just us girls, opening the door for us to be incredibly vulnerable with each other and our struggles. Many of you know my testimony and I was able to share a bit on that by reading a few of my old journal entries from when I was in my bad habit, keeping it away and finally able to keep it at bay.

I spent a lot of time in prayer on it because I had NEVER given a teaching/sermon in front of a large group before. I absolutely loved preparing for it because not going to lie I was INCREDIBLY nervous for it, which led me to fully rely on God throughout the week before. Mark can tell you that I had a break down the Wednesday before because I didn't think I could do it. He said, "Danielle, just speak from your heart. Let God give you the words." And that my friends is what I did.

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My three main points to keeping bad habits away were:

1. Retreat to the Secret Place - spending quiet time with Jesus
2. Accountability - getting help from someone who has God's best for your life
3. An Eternal Mindset - realizing that this life is so much more about God rather than ourselves

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The other speakers were Pastor Alissa Leedahl, Counselor Crystal Dunham & Pastor Whitney Leedahl. Needless to say I was the youngest and most unqualified, but God can do anything and I was up for the challenge! My heart had been aching to stir things up with the women in Chi Alpha for a while now. Mainly to get them excited to fight off the enemy and his pathetic lies. And to encourage them to live for God in an incredibly powerful way.

You see I tend to view this life as a battle. (Jesus vs. Satan) (Light vs. Darkness), basically like a Lord of the Rings battle. God revealed to me that the enemy uses our "bad habits" to distract us from our calling and lead us to sin. They are like arrows which are intended to take us out of the battle against satan.

Yes Mark got me this sword for my birthday this summer - too perfect!!

We have to retreat to the secret place to get restored, healed and fully armed to take the enemy on! We need accountability partners, warrior sisters to carry us and to keep the attacks at bay. To have someone who has not only our best interests in mind, but also God's best interests for us. And finally an eternal mindset, because our bad habits do NOTHING to glorify God or further advance His Kingdom.

After I spoke I felt exhilarated and humbled. It honestly was not me who spoke, but Jesus. There were close to 200 girls in attendance that night. Teaching in front of large groups was a feat I thought impossible not only a year ago. I am honored to be used by God in such a powerful way. I truly believe my faith grew during that process and I'm excited to see what else God has in store for me.

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The next day Mark and I got the opportunity to teach a breakout session together. We taught two 40 minute sessions on "The Secret Place". We wanted to teach the students how to have solid consistent quiet times with the Lord and to grow in a deeper intimacy with Him.

A secret place is where you spend time with God alone. Whether it's reading your bible, listening to worship, journaling, talking to Him, walking with Him or simply sitting in silence and listening to Him.

Mark and I after teaching our first breakout sessions together!

We were beyond blessed by the amazing opportunities of growth we had as a ministry couple. God continues to confirm our calling into ministry and we are so excited as we face the new challenges. We cannot thank you enough for all of your support and prayers. Students are breaking free of their bad habits and forming a lasting and powerful relationship with Jesus!

Speaking of growth, please be in prayer as Mark has been given the opportunity to speak at First Assembly's 6pm Shift service tonight!


If you are struggling with spending time with God just shoot us an email at mark.erickson.2@gmail.com as we'd love to send you our notes from our session! :)

Soothing Worship Night

This album is currently filling the Erickson apartment - it’s an album by Jesus Culture’s Kim Walker & her husband. I can't get enough of it, I just love Jesus!! If you’re looking for more insight on how to love God, I highly recommend lighting some candles, lay down, close your eyes and just worship Him. He loves you friends, go spend time with your King today.

Fall Retreat 2013 - Danielle's Story

Fall retreat is one of my most cherished events Chi Alpha throws because I was never able to go to them while playing soccer because we were always traveling. Something incredible happens when a group of people hungry for more of God take a weekend to get away and worship, seek and enjoy Him! 

 Students in passionate worship, I am in awe of the work He is doing here! 

My first fall retreat was last year and I still get excited sharing all the amazing testimonies of people being set free from their sin struggles and being empowered! I had the honor of praying over a very dear friend of mine to get baptized in the Holy Spirit. We received the gift and we ended up sitting at the altar praying, crying and laughing about how amazing God was. The best part was after fall retreat when she went back to her college and brought the joy and excitement of the Holy Spirit there. It’s humbling to see God produce so much fruit from one experience.

However this year was different…

I’ve always had a heart for the amazing young ladies on my old soccer team, as it’s only my second year of being a Bison soccer alumnus. Even though I still miss playing, the current of season of life I’m in has continued to prove to me that living a life with Jesus in control is so much better than I’ve ever imagined! Luckily God knows my heart and He opened a door for me to play in the alumni game this year and do His will at the same time!
 

Victoria, Gabi, Tristyn & I simply excited about Jesus!

This year the alumni game was during fall retreat BUT there were no games after it. So the soccer girls would be free the rest of the weekend. HOW PERFECT IS THAT?! So I not only got to play but I also got to drive three beautiful ladies on the team to fall retreat! We had SO much joy in that car as we talked about how we see God and what we wanted to get out of the retreat. The whole drive there I couldn’t stop thanking Jesus for allowing these girls the opportunity to take a break from the crazy schedule of being a student-athlete just to retreat to His presence and leave refreshed!

The three girls were:

Tristyn who was in my small group my senior year, we roomed together in Hawaii when we went and I’ve been so blessed to watch her leave her past behind and grow into a powerful warrior for Jesus!

Victoria who I met on her recruiting trip, she has an incredibly intimate and beautiful relationship with Yahweh (God) I am so challenged by her boldness as she proudly proclaims herself as a daughter of the King.

And Gabi who reminds me a lot of myself when I first came to college, she went to Chi Alpha last year and this year has truly grown in her relationship with Jesus, I am so excited to see what mighty things are in store for her! She’s also #17 on the soccer team, which was in fact my old number. The legacy continues… 

                                         The alter time is one of my favorites, I just get to watch God do His thing :)

Anyway God is so amazing and when we arrived there I was told that people could literally see and feel the joy that radiated out of them! They were so excited!! A highlight for me was being able to pray for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit during the alter call at the end. Gabi (wearing #17 on her shirt) came up to me for prayer. It was an honor seeing God empowering her and all the other women who came up.

Mark and I praying for students at the alter. My faith grew as theirs did.

 

Please pray for boldness in these three ladies as they witness on the team! Also for the rest of the people who attended fall retreat, pray that that fire wouldn’t leave when they return back to their campuses. I know that God has incredible things in store! 

Curious about what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is? Read the book of Acts and email us at mark.erickson.2@gmail.com for more information we would love to answer your questions!

Fall Retreat 2013 - Mark's Story

In John 5:19 Jesus says “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the son does also.”
 

It's awesome seeing students passionate about worship!

 

God is working and so are we! In the last month hundreds of students have come to know Jesus and many have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. One amazing story we had the honor to witness and wanted to share with you was a student named Clayton.

A freshman from Missouri Clayton was one of NDSU’s top wrestling recruits. I actually had the opportunity to speak with him and his mother last year during his recruiting visit. My head coach mentioned to me “He’s like you Mark, you’ll get along with him.” – his way of hinting that this kid probably knew Jesus.

Little did I know that God would have us cross paths again. I was working the contact table during the first week of school when who walks up but Clayton and two other freshmen wrestlers. My heart stirred as I knew God was moving and answering prayers.

Throughout this semester I have had the opportunity to sit down with Clayton over lunch and attend our weekly Chi Alpha services together. We have even had the opportunity to wrestle in the NDSU wrestling room, as brothers in Christ of course.

Fall Retreat was incredible as students got to experience incredible worship, teachings, fellowship, healings and growth in their personal walks with Christ. During the end of the evening services at Fall Retreat Clay found me at the altar praying for other students. I saw his face

glowing with a smile and the next thing I knew I was wrapped in a hug by this young man. I hugged him back and he told me, “Thank you! I’ve never been closer to Jesus in my life!”

Clayton had been touched by the Holy Spirit at Fall Retreat. He is set to not only go to school and win wrestling matches but Clayton is ready to share the love of Jesus with his classmates and teammates! If you could keep this man in your prayers we would greatly appreciate it!

Clayton and I with Senior Pastor Bob Ona at Mama Deb's

Clayton is only one of the many students that are being impacted by Jesus Christ. Danielle will share one of her highlights of fall retreat as well.

From the both of us we thank you for your continued support and being a part of our team! We are forever grateful that God has placed you in our lives to help support our mission!

Are you wondering what fall retreat is? If you have any questions or prayer requests please feel free to leave a comment or email us at mark.erickson.2@gmail.com.

Once a Bison Always a Bison

As you probably know I've played soccer my entire life and was offered the opportunity to play 4 years of collegiate soccer with the Bison 2008-2011. To be completely honest I miss it dearly, soccer will always have a place in my heart. It's actually pretty incredible how God changed my heart's desires as I was planning on playing soccer overseas once school was up! But He had different plans as I got connected at Chi Alpha and met this awesome blonde haired kid. Now I have this passion to share the victory God had done in my own life and to watch Him break chains in the lives of others'. Truly all that matters in this life is wholeheartedly serving my King, sharing His amazing love to others, while battling off the attacks of satan! If you couldn't tell I've definitely taken my passion from the soccer pitch and transferred it over to serving Jesus.

Flashback to the past!

This year God spoke to me and opened my heart and eyes to how I can still have an impact on the team that I love so much. God opened up a door when myself and fellow intern/ex-soccer teammate Mary Krambeer found out that the next soccer home game was student organization night where if you are part of an student organization on campus and you get a group to go to the game you get a minute at halftime to shout out your group! I couldn't see a more open door for us to love on the team!

Unfortunately since soccer isn't America's most popular sport our soccer team has never had a large fan base. I realized that this was my chance to give the team something I never had - a CRAZY FAN SECTION! So we created an event on Facebook and a bunch of Chi Alpha people got excited to lparticipate!

Our awesome Chi Alpha fan section!

It was a huge success! Our group was the largest, loudest and proudest organization there! Not only did we get to show our love and support to the girls soccer team but we also had a student, David Mueller, go up and explain who we were. We got to name drop Jesus and His love to everyone in attendance! It was incredible and I'll never forget how amazing it was!

Tristyn after her goal!

To top it off one of the players on the team, Tristyn Walczak, who was in Mary and I's Chi Alpha small group for the past two years and is currently leading a small group within the team scored the winning goal! It also opened up a door to ask the coach permission if I could drive three of the players to our Fall Retreat coming up - he gave the okay so we'll have THREE soccer girls at Fall Retreat - something I didn't get to experience until after I graduated!

If that doesn't get you excited about what God is doing here I don't know what will!

September Starting Off Strong

The 2013 school year at North Dakota State University has begun! New and returning students are roaming our campus once again.

Danielle and I have been meeting with small group leaders that will be on campus this year. We have been able to pray over and encourage them as they impact the students by sharing their lives and Jesus Christ.  

Chi Alpha was back on campus kicking off the first week. Students poured into the Century Theater inside of NDSU’s student union. Over 450 students came to the two services on Thursday evening and over 30 students accepted Jesus into their lives!

Our amazing greeting team! These people are incredibly selfless and greet students as they arrive!

 We had a blast at Momma Deb’s, which is our freshmen outreach event where the famous Momma Deb, (mother of Pastors Nate and Dave Leedahl), makes all of Chi Alpha a dinner picnic! It used to be hosted at her house but our numbers have increased so much we had to move it to a park near campus. Students mingled, ate and played games as they entered into the family-like atmosphere we have. It was our hope that the students felt the Christ-like love and acceptance.

Small snapshot of Mama Deb's!

With the incredible success of HJOY last year we decided to start the school year off strong with another show. HJOY is our student-led stand-up comedy show that started many years ago in the living room of some Chi Alpha students. Last year we have over 1000 in attendance as we hosted it in our Memorial Union. Our prayer is that HJOY will be appealing to non-believers and break down the stereotypes that we don’t know how to have fun. This year was another success as we had over 900 students laughing and crying over the ridiculous skits & games of HJOY! !

 Last years HJOY was so great we did it again!!

We are both electric with excitement for this school year. Our vision is to see this Chi Alpha group double by year’s end. Pray for us as we will be praying for you! Thank you for your continued support!

Wondering why we have so many events in the beginning of the year? Feel free to reachout to us at mark.erickson.2@gmail.com for more information!

First Post as Missionaries!

Hello friends,

This blog will follow the adventures of Mark and Danielle Erickson as they embark on the life that God has called them to. This blog is mainly for our family and friends who want to follow us on our missionary journey. We are so grateful for all the support you've blessed us with and for your continued praying hearts. We love you dearly and cannot express the joy we have for you!

My husband and I are Chi Alpha college missionaries at North Dakota State University. Well at the moment it's only Mark as I am called to the workforce as Partner Relations for a computer software company. It's an incredible job with incredible (nerdy) people! Everyday I'm reminded of how blessed our family is that I have this job, because it is without a doubt from God. I am being shaped and molded as I face new challenges and gain new skills everyday! I'm also honored to be apart of the fan team where I get to pour into and love on a few of our current small group girls.

Mark is the missionary in training. He will be under the authority of Pastor Brad Lewis this 2013-2014 school year. There he will learn all the ins and outs of becoming a pastor and a college missionary. We are BEYOND excited for all the growth and challenges we will face this coming year.

We hold on to the truth that if God brings us to it, He will bring us through it.

Curious about Chi Alpha? Who are we? Why do we love Jesus so much? Just send us your questions at mark.erickson.2@gmail.com and we'd love your feedback!