The Chippewa Valley Church was planted in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by Joeland Christy Peed, along with Kenny and Laura Tubwell and Preston Peterson, in2006. Now, in 2018, we are a family of over 100 members with inspiring“God-stories” to share, stories of how God has powerfully moved amongst us!
The 12-yearripple effect of the first conversion. Heather was the first conversion of the church planting in 2006. She has faithfully followed Jesus for 12 years and served as a worship leader while sharing her life with her husband who is an atheist and their two children, who were not that interested in faith throughout their childhood. She was alone in her family in her faith for many years, but remained faithful. Just this summer, her daughter Lilia was converted as a freshman in our campus ministry…and a week later, her son Will was baptized as a sophomore in the high school ministry!
The cross-country restoration. Tabitha was baptized in Minneapolis in1996 while the Peeds also lived there, long before the church planting in the Chippewa Valley. At the time of the Chippewa Valley church planting, Tabitha was a single mom with two young children and had wandered from the church. After living in California, she returned to the Chippewa Valley to live closer to her family. One day Joel and his three young children were playing in a neighborhood park, and Tabitha happened to be at that same park. Joel and Tabitha recognized each other, and after all those years, Tabitha was restored and is now a strong disciple in the church. She has since married a disciple and has another child she is raising in the church!
The costly conversion. Cole was a young man at the end of his college degree and began studying the Bible in the campus ministry. As he studied the Bible, he reached the topic of baptism. He set out to prove the campus minister wrong and bought $300 worth of books to research baptism. Three hundred dollars and a stack of books later, Cole returned, convinced of the truth, and was baptized into Christ!
The fruitful teen ministry. The church began as a family with many young children. Our first group of kids entered high school four years ago, and now all but one of them have become disciples! There is a high school one block away from the church building and there are about 25 kids from that school who are regularly attending our teen ministry events. Last year, we sent over 30 teens to the Chicago teen camp!
God-provided buildings. One of the amazing ways we’ve seen God work is his provision, primarily through sources outside of our church, of enough funds to purchase two church buildings. Our first building was purchased with only 19 members! Within a few years we outgrew this building and God again provided generously for us to purchase a larger facility. We are currently beginning to explore a possible third building as our current facility is slowly reaching capacity!
A sending church. While our church has grown and we cherish our family full of relationships and memories, our dream from the beginning was to be a sending church. Our campus ministry has been a part of converting, training, and sending out leaders to places like Des Moines, Madison, Minneapolis, Duluth, Milwaukee, and even Estonia. Our campus, teen, and adult ministries have sent eight disciples to strengthen the church family in Duluth. We have also been able to help support a full-time ministry couple in Malawi, Africa. Our preteen, young teen, teen, campus, and adult ministries have also sent disciples on HOPE worldwide trips to El Salvador, Africa, and Alaska. Currently, we are supporting some Bible Talk leaders to move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to strengthen the church planting there. Three young ministry couples are also being trained to prayerfully lead churches and ministries of their own soon!
These are just a few of the ways God has moved in our history, and how he has shown that our story is really “God’s story!”
