26 Years of FCA Impact in Warroad, MN

Shelley Pearson • December 6, 2021

Less than 10 miles from the Canadian border lies an idyllic little town of 2,000 people. At first glance, the town may seem insignificant, but God sent a young couple there over 26 years ago to do the work of spreading the Gospel to as many people as possible.

Steve and Darla Adams arrived in Warroad, Minnesota, in October 1994. Amazingly, they stayed after spending that first winter in one of the coldest places in the nation. When Steve was hired as the youth and associate pastor at a local church, he was charged with starting a campus ministry. He requested help from several campus organizations, but only FCA sent a staff member six hours north of the Twin Cities to help them get started.

That was 26 years ago, and there has been an active FCA huddle there ever since. The ripple of impact is immense as the huddle has intentionally multiplied disciples who multiply disciples over two and a half decades. Their approach is twofold: discipleship and outreach, and this is accomplished largely through two avenues: the weekly huddle and events.

The Weekly Huddle

The Adams and six other adults have committed to support the huddle, and each week students gather for food, fellowship, and most importantly, the Gospel. It is largely student-led, and students intentionally invite their unsaved friends to attend. While the food is often the initial draw (and remains the main draw for some kids for a long time), it is the Gospel that keeps them coming back. Student leaders and other special speakers like teachers, coaches, and alumni share their faith stories, and they spend time in the Bible together.

Student leaders meet to plan the meetings. One of the greatest thing these high school students do is agree to share their faith stories, which can feel daunting. However, as they witness God using their stories to draw the hearts of others to Himself, they want to share their stories of God’s grace again and again with those who don’t yet know Jesus as their Savior. It also drives them to consider who else they can invite to the weekly huddle to hear the truth about who God is through the stories of their peers.

Steve and Darla also provide the students with prayer cards at each weekly meeting. At any time, they can turn in confidential requests which Steve and Darla commit to praying over every day for the next eight days. They are intentional to not just take the cards and forget about them. Darla says, “We try to get back with them on a one-on-one basis to see how they are doing. It means a lot to them to know we are actually praying for them. They know we just didn’t forget.” Steve says, “It breaks your heart to hear some of the things they share,” but they have built a culture of trust so that kids are willing to share their hearts with them.

The Events

Each winter, Warroad FCA sponsors a six-week floor hockey tournament. Student leaders recruit their own teams (outreach). They break in the middle of each game, and someone shares the Gospel message with the teams. Last year, the season was cut short due to Covid, so they switched gears and finished with a 9-square competition. They brought in a speaker whose daughter had died to suicide. Steve said, “It was the neatest thing. She pointed a finger at the kids and said, ‘I want you to know you’re loved and you’re worthy.’” The room was silent as they took in her story and her words to each one of them.

They also hold an annual Christmas dinner where they shower the kids with a special meal, gifts, and the Christmas story. They also just held an outreach event where huddle members invited friends to meet at a restaurant, divide into groups, and go out for what they’ve termed “Road Rally.” In Steve’s words, it’s a “scavenger hunt on steroids.” The next day they co-sponsored a nationally known motivational speaker at the school. FCA students passed out cards at the end of the school assembly inviting them to hear him speak that evening where he shared his life story and the Gospel with them.

The Impact

Everything Warroad FCA does is about sharing the Gospel and multiplying disciples. The impact of that focus has changed countless lives over the last 26 years.

Casey is just one girl who grew through the Warroad huddle. She recently served as the president of her campus ministry and points to FCA as a place where she was equipped with valuable leadership tools and provided a space to grow in her relationship with Christ. And it was even more than that. She says, “Part of how it impacted me is how I could impact others.” Through FCA, Casey developed a heart for reaching her lost friends and learned how to talk to them about Jesus.

Hundreds of students like Casey have been impacted by the huddle in Warroad. Many alumni have gone on to serve in college campus ministries. Several former student leaders serve in full-time ministry, both locally and abroad. Dozens of others have served in short-term missions. And many, many more have learned how to live intentionally for Christ in a way that draws others to Him.

The Driving Factor

Steve and Darla are driven by the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and a lesser-known passage in Jude that says, “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy . . .” (Jude 22-23). Warroad FCA is committed to “snatching [young people] from the fire” and seeing lives transformed every day as youth make commitments to follow Jesus with their whole hearts.

The Adams are grateful for the support they have received over the years from FCA staff, from the Mark who was the first person to make the drive to Warroad to Bill Adamson and Cal Barr today. We are so grateful for how God is using Steve and Darla to reach generations of young people with the Gospel of Christ.