Paul Klassen
I love the local church!
As someone who became a believer in Jesus Christ at a young age, praying with my mom as we said our nighttime prayers, I have never known a life that didn’t include church. After high school, and moving 1500 miles away for college, God connected me to a local youth pastor where I continued to experience the impact that relational ministry could have in a local church.
Eventually, as I took on a couple of youth pastor positions and helped start a church, I became well-acquainted with a variety of church sizes and types. In short, church is the place that our Lord Jesus Christ has sovereignly heading up, big or small, city or rural, to communicate and uphold God’s love for and directions to His people.
I was born in Canada (became a US citizen in August, 2022), raised in Denver, and God grabbed ahold of my life in Phoenix when I was in high school. I went to the University of Northwestern-St. Paul for college where I met Becky during freshmen orientation and got married soon after graduation in August, 1990. We eventually moved to Phoenix where Becky taught middle school and high school while putting me through Phoenix Seminary, where I graduated with an M.Div. In 1997. During this time of education, training, and youth pastoring, God gave us Brianna, Emily, Daniel, and Kimberly as our first four children.
After about 10 years of youth ministry in the Phoenix area, the Lord called us into church planting in Minnesota with the North Central District of the Evangelical Free Church. We landed in Melrose in August of 2009 after brief stays in Willmar and Sauk Centre. Birch Hills Community Church was birthed in February, 2011 after a year of core group training, and we have lived in Melrose ever since. Meanwhile, God added Elise (2010) and William (2012) to our fold, and we have had two of our older children get married (Brianna married JT and Daniel married Amanda) and have one granddaughter (Dorothy).
Now, as Executive Director of Broken Strength Ministries, I get the opportunity to pastor pastors and help the local church address this under-the-radar-yet-clearly-dangerous issue. Pornography and other sexual sin has been described as the invisible anchor keeping men, women, marriages, and families from stepping out of the boat and freely walking to and with Jesus in their local churches.
There are many churches who faithfully proclaim God’s Word and enjoy great spiritual fruit. Yet, what if this issue was dealt with head-on, with compassion and truth about the gospel? What if each individual, whether leader, congregant, visitor, or community member, was given hope about their own struggle? Wouldn’t that benefit each and every church, no matter their current fruitfulness? I’m convinced that through prayer and regular, authentic, compassion-filled discussions about pornagraphy’s effect on each of us, we can loosen the enemy’s grip on God’s people and this culture.
Paul Klassen,
Executive Director | Broken Strength