Donna Barstad said she and her husband, Randy, were called by God to minister in the Littlefork area.
So even after a March fire that destroyed much of the log church they built themselves, they plan to rebuild the structure and start anew on the Lindford Road.
Donna Barstad had lit an outdoor stove and returned inside to continue her morning chores. When she went back to check on the progress of the fire, she found the back side of the church, which she can see from her County Road 1 home, was billowing with smoke and flames.
She said by the time the fire department got to the Lindford Christian Fellowship Church, there was nothing salvageable in the building.
Barstad’s husband, Randy, had been in Vietnam on a mission trip that weekend. He has since returned, and the Barstads have been hosting church services inside their house for their congregation of about 30 people.
She said they hope to rebuild the church by fall. Until that time, the church will begin holding services in the Littlefork Community Building. The Littlefork City Council approved use of the city facility during its April 21 meeting.
The Barstads built the church with logs donated by the community in August 2003. They have been pastoring in the Lindford area near Littlefork for 18 years.
“God called us up here,” Barstad said. They had previously been living in the Grand Rapids area and came to Littlefork to preach.
She explained that as they had the funds to complete projects, they have steadily improved the 40-foot by 60-foot log building. Recently, she said, they had made updates to the kitchen.
“We know that what the devil meant for bad, God will turn around for good,” she said. “We just know we’re going forward and everybody has a really good attitude. We just know God’s going to help us.”
She said they hope to build a larger, 40-foot by 100-foot church in its place.
Barstad said she has already felt their luck turn around, in which she sees God’s work.
They had helped saw logs for the Church of the Living Water in Baudette for an addition to that building. That church decided to go with a prefabricated material instead when doing their renovations, she explained, so the logs remained unused.
She said they had previously offered to sell the logs to the pastor of that church, Dave Gens. Not feeling that was the moral thing to do, Barstad relates, Gens held onto the logs. After the fire, she emailed the Baudette pastor, and found that the logs were still available to be returned to Littlefork.
So the logs which they had intended to help another church will likely be used to rebuild the Lindford Christian Fellowship Church.
