Friendship Assembly of God

Meet Pastor Gary and Jan Shaw

 

Hi! My name is Gary Shaw and it is my privilege to pastor this exciting new church in Braham, Friendship Assembly of God.

I like to tell people that my life is a testimony of the fact that God can take the ordinary things in life and use them to accomplish His will. (In fact the Bible says that God delights in using us ordinary folks to do unbelievable things.) You and I love to read the stories of people who God has saved from desperate circumstances, delivered from hopeless addictions, or rescued from a life of crime. But guess what? My story doesn't include any of those things. And yet my conversion is no less dramatic or supernatural than those that were saved out of such darkness.

I started life with my family on a small farm in the Soderville area near Coon Lake and spent my teenage years on the family farm just east of Braham on the "Day" road. Someone had given me a diary during this time and the few entries I found in it said something like: Tuesday, July 17th 1973. Weather: warm. Not much going on.

I was surrounded by a family that loved me and was known for being honest and hardworking. I was taken to the Braham Covenant Church where I remember the Quiggles faithfully ministering to us teens. I heard what was said at church and did not disagree with anything, but like most teens, faith matters were not at the top of my list of concerns.

After graduation as I was preparing to head to the cities for Photography School my mother came to my bedside and shared her desire to know that I was saved before I left home. I prayed with my mom that day and mom wrote the date September 13, 1975 in the Bible I had been given as a kid in the Methodist church at Cedar, Minnesota. I prayed the prayer, but honestly I'm not certain if that was the day of my conversion. You see the desire of my heart was not to go the cities and "serve the Lord", it was to go and do the things that nice farm boys didn't do. I wanted to go have some of the "fun" that you couldn't do in the presence of your folks.

But whether or not God heard my prayer, I believe He heard my mom's prayer. And God began to work behind the scenes to bring me to the point where I would recognize the true condition of my soul and my need of a Savior.

The very first day of Photography School, instead of finding my new freedom to "indulge myself", I was introduced to a fellow classmate whose boldness to speak of Jesus with others caught my attention and made me wonder why his "Christianity" seemed so much more real than mine. Through this new friend and several others (including my future wife Jan) at a local Christian hangout called "The Lord's Barn Coffeehouse", I was introduced to a life of surrender to Jesus Christ. Before this I thought that Christianity was something you added to your life. Now I understood that following Jesus IS MY LIFE!

The Holy Spirit was doing His work of convicting me of sin. You see it only takes one sin to separate you from God for all eternity, and even this "good" kid from the farm knew that I had sinned much more than that.

Finally late one night, I found myself kneeling at my bedside all alone in the little room I was renting in the cities. Jesus had revealed both my lost condition and the fact that He was my only hope of salvation. The prayer I prayed that night was one of surrender to the Living Lord. God had miraculously moved through too many people and circumstances to mention here in order to stop me from entering a life of greater sin and regret.

My life from that day on has been one of looking for the doors that God has been opening and praying for the courage to go through. God has given me my beautiful wife Jan, four wonderful children, and now pastoring this young church is just the next step in this adventure we call... following Jesus.

Jan and I and everyone at "Friendship" would love to meet you and hear your story. Whether you've come to that place of surrender, or you're not quite at that point in your journey, I believe Friendship is a great place to meet and follow Jesus together...Pastor Gary

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Hi! my name is Jan and I'm excited to be working with my husband to plant this new church in Braham!

I was very blessed to have a Christian mom and dad who introduced me to Jesus Christ at an early age. Throughout my school years I attended Sunday school, youth groups, youth camps and youth retreats and I always came back with a desire to share the Lord with others. I can remember my mom and I holding our own little Vacation Bible school in our back yard for all the neighborhood kids. My parents were very active in the church and growing in the Lord was essential to them. They helped me to see how important it is to know the Word of God, be active in a local church and to love people.

After we were married and had our first daughter, we moved from Bloomington to the Braham/Mora area. I enjoyed being a fulltime wife and mother and was able to stay at home until our fourth child was born. Then I took a job as the part time secretary at Mora Assembly of God. As our kids grew older I took a full time job at a local bank working in the loan department. I have always loved working with numbers.

Throughout the years, Gary and I have been involved in music ministry, drama, evangelism outreaches and ministry to the cults but of course my greatest ministry has been to our children. (And now our grandchildren.)

Gary and I enjoy entertaining at our home. We like to take people on hayrides and sit around a campfire after dark laughing with our friends. We've had pygmy goats, chickens, ducks, cats and dogs. We raise blueberries and I like to make pie and bake.  I'm also a game nut!

God has given us this opportunity to start "Friendship Assembly of God" in Braham and I am delighted to meet new people and make new friends. I hope to see you there.

Jan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Articles & Resources for Church Workers

  • Starting a Greeter Program
    Four years ago I accepted the challenge of evangelism chairperson for our church. One of the first programs the pastor and I developed was the Sunday morning greeter program.
  • Motivating the Right Person into the Right Ministry
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  • “I TRIED, BUT NO ONE EVER CALLED ME”
    “I tried, but no one ever called me” are painful words for a leader who has much work to do and not enough people willing to do it. These words are painful for the person who wanted to contribute, but was never called. These are also painful words for a person who is committed to helping people connect and contribute in meaningful ways within the church.