Pastor Matt Bell of Destiny Church in San Antonia (right) honors Pastor Virgil and Linda Amundson for their service to the Lord at the recent conference.

By Tom Shanklin

This week Susan and I attended the 29th annual Shell Lake Full Gospel Missions Conference in Shell Lake, Wisconsin.

It is always a special treat to visit this unique local church and watch God move miraculously to meet the needs of a multitude of missionaries and the people they minister to around the world. This church in a town of 1,329 people in northwest Wisconsin is truly touching many lives–both through their local outreaches and through their world missions program.

It’s great to be in an environment of generosity like the Shell Lake Full Gospel Missions Conference. Shell Lake is not a prosperous area, but yet every year thousands of dollars are given by people attending the conference to nearly 60 missionaries from around the world. In fact, in 2010, the church gave nearly a half a million dollars to support missions around the world.

God’s heart is missions and He blesses people and churches who put a priority on reaching the world for Him. Pastor Virgil Amundson reminisced about the time when the church was facing financial struggles. There were weeks when he and his associate pastor did not get paid because of lack of funds.

During this difficult time, someone from the congregation received a word from the Lord that the church should begin to tithe of their income to missions. When Pastor Amundson first heard this, he thought, “Yes, we should do it!” But almost immediately, the question came, “How can we?” However, they made the decision to go ahead and tithe to missions. It wasn’t long and the church finances began to come in line, and the pastors never missed another paycheck.

Pastor Amundson says, “Sowing into missions is a win-win situation in life. The blessings far outweigh the sacrifices. Wherever lives are at stake without a Savior, and wherever people suffer without any hope, and God’s people arise to bring the good news of salvation and provide physical support to help alleviate suffering, there will come an outpouring of God’s compassion and provision that makes it worth it all! We will not lose anything. We really win everything! Our treasures in heaven are eternal!”

I’ve written an article on the history and development of Shell Lake Full Gospel Church. It’s really an amazing story that can only be attributed to the greatness and the miraculous power of God. I want to encourage you to take a few minutes to read this incredible account. It’s posted on our website.

Click here to read the article, “Local Church in a Small Wisconsin Town is Touching the World.”

I believe that this article will be an inspiration to you. It contains some very practical keys to releasing God’s grace on your life and ministry, and your local church.

Message from Larry Russel

We received the following testimonial concerning Pastor Virgil and Linda Amundson and the Shell Lake Full Gospel Church. It is used here by permission.

Thanks for the good word you had for my pastor, Virgil Amundson.  I’ve known Virgil since the early ’60s. I was fortunate to be there when the plans were being made for the missions conference. At one of the first conferences, I was praying  before the service when the Lord gave a vision. I saw the church as a lighthouse and people of all races and creeds were walking on those beams of light. They were walking from different parts of the globe. Whereever they were on the globe, when they saw the beam of light, they immediately began walking. Today this is literally happening. You mentioned that old church with the furnace in the basement. Yes, we held a service there in the early years. We also held services in the old Lutheran Church. I very distinctly remember that place. It was almost impossible to set up the PA system so that everyone could hear without it being overpowering to some. It seemed that we would have a service there on the way to the Native Churches east of there. Virgil was one of the very few “white” ministers we didn’t feel uncomfortable to be with. In the early years there was racism from both sides. If we went to a Native Church, they would look at me and in their heart would be the thought, “I wonder what this white man will take from me now.” When we were with the White Churches my wife always felt she was being judged and found not worthy. Virgil and Linda were just different. They were special, that is why when we realized we needed to be under a ministry, we went to Brother Virgil and asked him if he would be our pastor.

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