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(left to right) Associate Pastor Bob Beasley, artist Ross Nelson and Lead Pastor Vern Donnell

ARTIST ROSS NELSON PAINTS FOUNDERS WALL
During the morning worship service on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008, Family Life Assembly of God dedicated the portraits of their founding families. In the Easter service of 2007, the Dakotah Gospel Assembly Church family and the First Assembly of God Church family merged together to form one church family. Ross was commissioned to create three panels for the church foyer. The center panel is Family Life’s new logo. The left panel portrays the founding families of Dakota Gospel with a picture of the church building which still stands on Walnut Street. The right panel portrays the founding families of First Assembly with a picture of the original church building in the background. The panels are a reminder of each church’s beginnings and points to their commitment to come together as one fellowship. Ross Nelson was honored by Family Life’s church family with a star quilt.

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Think about the number two. It’s small and mostly insignificant. But if you live in Sisseton, ‘two’ is ever-present. Schools, the government, hospitals and churches are all separated by between races. “With so much of the polarization in this community, there’s so much division. And someone has to make the first step. It should be Christians,” says Bob Beasley, former pastor of the Dakota Gospel Assembly.

As the Dakota Gospel congregation moves into the Easter season, the mostly Native American body has elected to merge with its sister congregation, the predominantly white First Assembly of God. “It’s more of God’s timing than it is either Pastor Bob or myself,” says Vern Donnell, Senior Pastor of First Assembly.

Beasley says time had run out for Dakota Gospel. The church building originally housed South Dakota First Assembly of God parish as the Assembly of God Tabernacle. The congregation donated the building to the Native Americans in 1971. Beasley says it had begun to show its age, and was in need of major structural repairs, forcing the congregation to make difficult decisions. “We were kind of at a crossroads at Dakota Gospel,” Beasley says while talking with Donnell last year about expansion plans at First Assembly the idea to merge came up. “The Lord spoke to us,” he says. “The two say both congregations hopped on board with the idea and “all agreed it was time.” The doors were locked officially Palm Sunday.

The partnership began Easter Sunday. The congregation meets at First Assembly on West Highway 10. They have one council, who oversee one body. Vern Donnell acts as Senior Pastor, while Bob Beasley retains missionary status, just as he did at Dakota Gospel. And while the duo acknowledges there may be a few growing pains, they are already working together on an expansion project. “We’re looking for a blessing. We’re looking for growth,” Donnell says. The congregation plans to foster that growth with an aggressive strategy to reach out. “We need to be community minded, and be willing to be flexible,” Donnell says, “I see a lot of churches struggle because they haven’t been flexible.”

A new multi-purpose community center is going up south of the First Assembly building. The Family Life Center will have kitchen space, classrooms, and a gymnasium for concerts, after school programs, wedding receptions. “Imagination is just about going to be our only limitation,” Beasley says. The men are also discussing adding Saturday evening worship to the schedule. Currently about 130 members attend Sunday services between the two churches. Donnell says the promises of the Psalms help rid both sides of any worries they have about the merger. “Where there’s unity, God commands his blessing,” and unity he says, is what the community, and the state need most.