Welcome to Lord of Life Lutheran Church, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation founded in 1991. Our mission is to deepen and enrich our connection to Christ, our Community, and each other. We are a thriving congregation with activities for children, families, and adults and a vibrant music ministry.
As Lutherans we at Lord of Life believe in the Triune God. God created and loves all of creation – including the earth, the seas, and all of the world’s inhabitants. We believe that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, transforms lives through his death on the cross and his new life. We trust that God’s spirit is active in the world.
When we gather together for worship, we connect with believers everywhere. When we study the Bible or hear God’s word in worship we are drawn more deeply into God’s own saving story.
The convictions shared by Christians from many different traditions are expressed in statements of belief called creeds. These ecumenical creeds that Lutherans affirm and use in worship confess the faith of the church through the ages and around the world. The “Confession of Faith of the ELCA” is a part of our constitution. We accept the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed as the true declarations of the faith of our church.
In the 1980s, Brainerd area ELCA pastors envisioned a congregation in the growing Baxter area. When the ELCA was unable to provide financial support, Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis agreed to become a mission partner and pledged $60,000 over a three-year period. This contribution, along with the support of other congregations, enabled the start of a congregation in Baxter. In 1988 the ELCA purchased 14 wooded acres in Baxter and in 1989 a parsonage.
Pastor Darrell Pedersen was called as a mission pastor in November 1989 and began knocking on doors and meeting people. The first worship service was held on April 22, 1990, in the Baxter School cafeteria with 125 people attending. During the summer of 1990, Wednesday evening services were held in a clearing at the future church site. Logs were used as benches. Many mosquitoes were in attendance. Having outgrown the Baxter School cafeteria by the fall of 1990, services were moved to the gym and a Sunday School was begun. A constitution committee was formed to create a constitution in anticipation of incorporating as Lord of Life Lutheran Church.
The first official meeting of the Lord of Life congregation took place on Sunday, February 17, 1991. On the following Sunday, February 24, 126 charter members and three associate members were formally received. Construction began in the spring of 1994 for a sanctuary, fellowship hall, offices and classrooms. The first service in the new building was held on Christmas Eve 1994. Membership was over 500 and average worship attendance was 250.
As the church continued to grow, Pastor Jennifer Wilson was installed as Associate Pastor in March 1998. In 1999, as membership passed 1,000, an addition of classrooms and a multi-purpose room was constructed using mostly volunteer workers. In July 2001 Pastor Erika Nilsen was installed as the Youth and Family Pastor.
In 1992 Frank Barrett joined Lord of Life, followed by his wife Faye and brother LeRoy. All three were baptized and regularly attended worship. When the Barretts died, they left Lord of Life 100 acres of their family farm along the Mississippi River in Baxter. When the estate was settled in 2005, 63 acres of the property were sold to the City of Baxter for the “Mississippi Overlook Park.” Sale proceeds, along with member contributions from a capital fund drive, were used to build a new 410-seat sanctuary which was completed in August 2008.
Pastor Jennifer Wilson resigned in December 2007 to accept a call to Hope Lutheran in Bozeman, MT. In December 2011 Pastor Darrell resigned to accept a call to First Lutheran Church in Aitkin. After a time of interim ministry, Pastor Steven Rye was installed in September 2014.
The 2010’s brought an expansion of our child and youth summer ministry programming. We launched Summer Stretch which mixes Bible study, service work in the community and fun summer youth activities once a week during the summer. ServeCamp packs all the Summer Stretch activities into one week, with the option of camping overnight for the full summer camp experience. Club 56, for 5th & 6th Graders, and Club 34, for 3rd & 4th graders, soon followed.
During Pastor Steven’s tenure, our church council was reorganized around the ministry areas of Upward (our connection to God), Outward (our connection to our community and the world), Inward (our connection to each other), and Ground (the church facility and financial support that sustains the other areas). We also became a Stephen Ministry congregation.
When COVID shut-downs prevented in-person worship, we fulfilled a long-term hope to start live streaming worship services. We also launched a coffee hour via Zoom to give our congregation the chance to see each other and connect. World events during that year also brought about the formation of our Micah Group (named for Micah 6:8, Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly), which is active in volunteering, supporting the community, and spreading the word about how to help others.
Pastor Steven resigned in October 2024. In April 2025, we launched the Forward Together Capital Campaign. Our goals for the campaign were to pay off the remaining mortgage from the 2008 sanctuary construction, replace the HVAC systems in the sanctuary and education wing, make needed sound systems improvements in the Sanctuary, replace the windows in the sanctuary corridor and make roofing improvements and make other additional improvements to the entrance, kitchen, bathrooms, and columbarium. The Campaign was a great success, receiving $914K in pledges.
Also in 2025, we installed a 48-niche columbarium to the west side of the building. More information about this can be found here [link to ___]
In the summer of 2025, the congregation began a time of discovery to determine what was needed in pastoral leadership, staff and structure. As result of that process, we began a partnership with Bethlehem Lutheran in Brainerd to share the pastoral services of Pastor Sarah Marshall and in April 2026, the congregation voted unanimously to call Pastor Erika Nilsen as our next senior pastor. Both Pastor Sarah and Pastor Erika were installed in June 2026. We look forward to the years ahead and the ministry we will share with each other and our community.
There’s something for everyone, and we invite you to come grow in faith, build meaningful relationships, and be part of our church family.
The foundation of our worship is sharing the good news of God’s grace and serving a good relationship with Christ in creative, inspiring and engaging ways.