Emmanuel Christian Center

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Our History In the early 1960s, a group of people in the Northeast part of the metro area of the Twin Cities wanted an Assemblies of God church in Fridley. In 1962, God began speaking to Mark and Shirley Denyes about moving to Minneapolis to pastor an Assemblies of God church in Fridley. They arrived in March. A committee from that same group of people met in April. Services began the next Sunday. By the second Sunday of their existence, Hayes Elementary School was rented enabling the congregation to grow, and it did. That second Sunday was Mother's Day and Pastor Denyes spoke. The steering committee approached the Assemblies of God and requested affiliation. On June 1963, the new church officially became Fridley Assembly of God. A few weeks later, Mark Denyes was officially elected pastor. On August 21, 1963, a building at 472 Osborne Road was purchased for $33,000. Three years later an additional three lots were purchased and plans for a 500 seat auditorium were developed. In 1968, the bulding was completed and in 1976, it was enlarged and a gym was added. More land was purchased to accommodate growth. The church family was growing spiritually as well as numerically. The Lord challenged us to be willing to minister to the hurting, bruised, sighing, crying, and those hiding behind closed drapes. He said He would bring them in, and He has by the hundreds. In 1979, we purchased eight-and-a-half acres at 7777 University Avenue and plans were started for a new 3,000 seat sanctuary. It wasn't until 1987 that the building could be started and another eight acres was purchased. With a move out of Fridley and into Spring Lake Park, it was evident that a new name was in order. On November 4, 1987, the congregation decided on EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN CENTER. May 1988 was our twenty-fifth anniversary; we had our final service at 472 Osborne Road the last Sunday of May, and both worship services were packed. We moved across the street on the first Sunday of June to our new home. The 1,500 seat sanctuary was full and by September 1989, we returned to two morning worship services. Our building was designed to be twice the current size. A step was taken toward the doubling of the bulding in 1992 when we added 16,000 square feet to our education wing. May of 1997, construction continued as we enlarged the sanctuary to seat 3,000, added a new chapel to seat 450 people along with new classrooms, and enlarged our parking lot with an estimated 500 additional parking spots. The most current phase of the construction was the addition to the office area to make room for our growing staff. This is a growing church and we anticipate and look forward to the ongoing leading of the Holy Spirit as we grow spiritually and in numbers. n 2006, after 43 years of successful leadership at ECC¿s, G. Mark Denyes stepped out of the Senior Pastor role and became our Founding Pastor. Pastor Denyes continues as a speaking pastor to our Sunday evening crowd at 6 p.m. as well as a premiere speaker in churches around the Midwest. After much prayer and consideration the congregation invited Pastor Dwight Denyes to transition from his position as Executive Pastor into the Senior Pastor role. Pastor Dwight took leadership of Emmanuel in March of 2006 and leads with sensitivity to the Holy Spirit as well as a down to earth pastoral style.