~ About Us ~

Pastor Keith and Angie Vik

keith and angie

Pastor Keith Vik

Pastor Keith grew up in Iowa, became a Christian in high school, and grew spiritually during his time in the Marines.  In 1984 he graduated from Western Bible College in the Denver area and married his wife Angie. He taught high school Bible at Colorado Springs Christian School for two years.

In 1991 Pastor Keith graduated from Western Theological Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and moved back to Denver for four years. In 1995 he returned to Iowa and pastored two churches.

Keith and Angie have been with Grace Bible Fellowship since 2008. They have 7 children and 6 grandchildren.

 

Angie's blog http://messycarsandmuddyshoes.blogspot.com

Daniel & Emma Meyer

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Daniel and Emma have served with 2 separate music ministry teams, one of which is how they met. They have traveled the US and abroad using music to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They finally landed in Ashland in 2013. Beginning with the Christmas season in 2014, they started serving as the Worship and Tech Coordinators for Grace Bible Fellowship and continue to serve this community with a passion for leading others into Worship through music.

Daniel and Emma have been married for 21 years and have 2 children.

Karen Thomas

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Karen began serving as Grace Bible Fellowship's Ministries Coordinator in 2021. She has a passion for the people who love to work for The Kingdom, and strives to help everyone find the place that God has called them to serve.

Karen has been married to her husband, John, for 23 years and they have 3 children.

Council and Elders

Grace Bible Fellowship has a congregational based system of government. It also has a Church Council made up of 4 members who serve 2 year terms.

GBF also calls on Elders of the Church, men who have shown faithfulness in their spiritual and personal life, to be a support to the Pastor and to be available to the congregation for encouragement, prayer, and service. GBF currently has 2 elders, along with Pastor Keith, who meet regularly to pray over the the congregation and seeks God's wisdom for the church.

Statement of Faith

Distinctives of The Evangelical Free Church of America

The Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of autonomous churches united around these convictions:

 

"In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, charity. In all things, Jesus Christ."

~ Chrysostom ~

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit

One great heritage of the Evangelical Free Church is that fellowship and ministry opportunities in the local church are based solely on one's personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, trusting in Him alone for salvation. Membership requires commitment to sound doctrine as expressed in our Statement of Faith. However, a person is not excluded from membership because they do not agree on every fine point of doctrine. The EFCA allows for legitimate differences of understanding in some areas of doctrine.

History

Grace Bible Fellowship began in the early 1990’s when three Ashland families felt God’s leading to start a new church. They held Home Bible studies and the group began to grow in numbers.

They started meeting at the Barksdale Town Hall with Kevin Haworth of Superior, WI as their first pastor. Kevin and Shirley Haworth were missionary candidates with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and appreciated the pastoral experience before going overseas in 1995. The group adopted the name "Grace Bible Fellowship" and purchased a parsonage in Ashland at 313 12th Ave. W.

Pastor Lorenson

Grace called Pastor Sheldon Lorenson in the fall of 1995. He had served churches in Minnesota, Trinidad-West Indies, and Johannesburg, South Africa. On May 19, 1996 the church voted to join the Evangelical Free Church of America. In October, 1996 the group began meeting in the Ashland CESA #12 building.

In 1998, the congregation established a building fund, sold their parsonage, and purchased 14 acres of land two miles south of Washburn on Highway 13. On Easter Sunday morning,  April 4, 1999 Grace Bible Fellowship held its first meeting in their new church building.  Church members did much of the building work.

In December 2007, Pastor Lorenson left to plant a church in Osceola, Iowa and Dr. Ron Bergman served as interim from January to September 2008.

Currently

On October 1, 2008 Pastor Keith Vik moved from Northwest Iowa to begin his work at the church.

Grace Bible Fellowship consists of people from Ashland, Washburn ,Bayfield, Cornucopia, Herbster, Iron River, and Mason.  The church currently supports missionary work in Southern Africa, China, Spain, Alaska, Bosnia, and Honduras.

Grace Bible Fellowship desires to be recognized for sound Bible teaching, commitment to the complete authority of Scripture, evangelistic concern, warm fellowship, emphasis on holy living, and acceptance of Christian people from many walks of life.