Celebration's Beginnings

by Lowell Lundstrom

I was born in Minneapolis, November 28, 1939. My father moved to the Twin Cities from the family farm in South Dakota, and attended Dunwoody Institute, where he became a tool & die maker. We moved back to South Dakota in 1945 at the end of World War II. 

We didn't have a Christian family, but we worked hard on the farm--ranch where I grew up. When I was 13 years old I started playing the guitar and at 14 organized my own "rock-a-billy" dance band. 

After two near-death accidents and after attending a Bible-preaching church in Sisseton, South Dakota, I gave my life to Christ on April 7, 1957. It was so wonderful to be forgiven and free from the guilt of sin that the first words I said after rising from my knees were, "Wait until everyone hears about this!" 

For the next 10 years Connie and I traveled to churches conducting soul-winning revivals. We started our "Message For America" radio broadcast that grew to 140 powerful stations. 

Then, God opened the doors to large, city-wide united crusades. For the next 35 years, we spent 300 nights per year traveled from city to city. We also appeared each week on our TV program & presented prime time specials.

In 1994, the Lord began to impress us with the need of another soul-winning center in the Twin Cities. With over one million not attending church, we felt certain that an evangelistic style church would win many to the Lord.

After two years of prayer and searching for the right location, we held our first service at Burnsville High School's Mraz Fine Arts Theatre on September 8, 1996. We were happy to see over 500 in attendance. Because this was a new venture, many friends, well-wishers, and curiosity seekers attended that first Sunday. We were greatly encouraged the following week when around 300 came for church. Celebration Church began to grow from there and Sunday attendance is approximately 1,000 currently.

God also raised up an impressive team of workers, enabling us to minister to more people.  He also made a way for the church to purchase property for our own sanctuary and offices located on Interstate 35W just south of the Buck Hill Ski Resort area at Highway 46 on the border of Burnsville/Lakeville.

Ground was broken in the Fall of 2001 to build a 1,000 seat sanctuary on this property and after much prayer, hard work, and generous giving by Celebration partners we held our first Sunday morning services in the theater at Celebration Ministry Center on September 22, 2002.

We have a great task before us:

• Evangelizing this region where one million lost souls reside.

• Reaching America with 160 million astray.

• Sending missionaries to a world with three billion in darkness.

So, your partnership is very important in reaping this last-day harvest. Together we have the opportunity to win thousands of precious lost souls to Jesus Christ.