Welcome to Messiah New Hope,

I’ve been serving as pastor here since January of 2023. I live in Sioux Falls with my wife Merissa and daughter Everly. Prior to moving here, I served a congregation in Rapid City, I went to seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, have lived in and served churches in Orlando, Seattle, Chicago, and the London area, and am, originally, from the suburbs of Minneapolis.

If you visit Messiah New Hope, I hope you will hear and experience the radical grace and welcome of Jesus Christ. When you walk through the doors, you can expect to be greeted by a handful of people eager to introduce themselves and get to know you. I think this warmth, welcome, and familial feel is one of the defining characteristics of the congregation, and it’s been my personal experience as they’ve celebrated both my wedding and the birth of our child with me over the last couple of years. From me, I hope you’ll hear a proclamation of God’s unconditional grace given to all people through the death and resurrection of Christ and Jesus’ invitation to “come and follow” him in a way of life marked by compassion, forgiveness, generosity, humble service, and the pursuit of a more just and peaceful world.

If you visit Messiah New Hope (or are considering visiting), I would love to sit down with you sometime, share a little more about our church, learn about you and what you are looking for in a congregation, and discern together whether Messiah New Hope may be the church home for you.

In Christ,

Pastor Erik