Our History1
Our church was birthed by several small group Bible Studies
from Elmbrook Church that met in Shorewood, Whitefish Bay
and the Eastside of Milwaukee. In the Fall of 1979 the leadership
of these groups met with Stuart Briscoe, senior pastor of
Elmbrook Church, who gave the group encouragement saying they
Acould start a church as long as they took 1000 people with
them.@ Their initial meetings for prayer, worship and study
met in the home of Bill and Lucy McIlvain in Whitefish Bay
on Sunday nights.
In the early winter another meeting was held with Elmbrook’s
deacon board on 12/17/1979. They continued to encourage the
leadership by helping them rent the Junior Achievement Center
on north Port Washington Road. Elmbrook also provided hymnals
and teaching pastors for the Sunday evening services. The
pastors included Stuart=s brother Bernard and Mike Franz from
the pastoral staff. These meetings grew and a larger facility
was sought. Many wanted to meet on Sunday morning.
Several places were visited including Nicolet High School
and Hartford Avenue School. Some felt Nicolet would be perfect
with great parking, large auditorium and classrooms for childcare
and Sunday school. Others were more comfortable with Hartford
but there were concerns with parking, access to the auditorium
and classrooms. On the second visit to Hartford school hosted
by the building engineer he revealed that parking was available
on the playground allowing easy access to the auditorium.
In addition there was a gym and several classrooms available.
Hartford Avenue School was chosen and soon services began
there in the middle of the UWM campus. The board of Elmbrook
graciously offered $ 30,000 to help with rent, and pastoral
salary if needed. Marc and Nancy Erickson were offered to
the new church as their first pastoral couple. The initial
service was attended by over 250 and the fledgling church
was self funded from day one. Because the Ericksons had been
the College Age pastors for Elmbrook the initial congregation
was composed 1/3 college age, 1/3 young singles and 1/3 families.
It is worthy to note that in the second year of Eastbrook
Church a contract was signed with the Somali Government to
rebuild an old SIM mission hospital at a place called Bulo
Burti. This development project continued until 1989 when
chaos descended on Somalia and our medical, building teams
had to leave. During these last days the team members in the
capital were miraculously delivered from death at the hands
of three violent mobs.
Office space was found in the basement of an office building
on Wilson Drive and Capital Drive. This office was the center
of weekly meetings until the purchase of the Pellman Theater
a few years later.
The Sunday services were crowded and soon they were moved
to Riverside High School which boasted a 1300 seat auditorium
and limitless classrooms. Each service required complete set
up and take down of a rather sophisticated sound system. The
parking proved to be a limiting factor so the great search
for a large building that could be converted into a church
began. This search ended in September 1995 when the St Nicolas
Campus of Blessed Trinity Parish was purchased. The rest is
His Story.
1Based on recollections of Bob Brock and Pastor Marc Erickson
Pastor Marc & Nancy Erickson
Marc Erickson, Eastbrook's Senior Pastor, has been with the
church since Eastbrook's generation. Through him God has graciously
provided us with a physician, teacher, shepherd, leader, counselor,
truth-teller, friend, husband, father, grandpa, neighbor,
prayer-warrior, citizen, helper, and a disciple.
“Pastor Marc” grew up in a Christian family with
a Baptist heritage. He is the second youngest with three sisters
and one brother. His father spent most of his life ministering
as a VA chaplain and moved the family often. Despite this,
Pastor Erickson calls Seattle his “growing up spot.”
Marc met his wife, Nancy at Wheaton College and married
40 years ago last August. After Wheaton, he went on to medical
school, an internship, a period in the U.S. Army, and work
in Ethiopia and Somalia with S.I.M. missions. When the Ericksons
and their children returned to the States, Dr. Marc took a
position in Emergency Medicine at both Milwaukee County and
St. Mary’s Hospitals. While still working as a physician,
he served on staff for seven years at Elmbrook Church.
Pastor Marc says that his time at Elmbrook helped set the
stage for his helping to start Eastbrook Church. Pastor Marc
says that his title of “Senior Pastor” simply
means that he is “older than most everyone on the Eastbrook
staff is.” In truth though, he makes it his responsibility
to pray for, encourage, and join the rest of the staff and
ministry servants in proclaiming Christ and His love to the
city and the nations. Marc delights that he is able to “preach,
teach, train, pray, and live in the midst of the most loving
people he has ever known.”
So what is a typical day like for the Senior Pastor? Typically,
Marc says he “prays and then prays some more, meets
for breakfast with people all week long, studies, reads and
meditates over his upcoming messages, listens to leaders,
seekers, hurters, and even unrepentant sinners. He also celebrates
the gift of life by running through the hills of Brookfield,
walking, golfing with good friends, eating; reading history,
science, apologetics, and other good stories; discussing,
and vacationing with his wife, Nancy.
“I really like to be with Nancy,” he adds again.
Pastor Marc’s vision for Eastbrook Church is that every
member of the church would be “awash in the love and
life of Christ.” He envisions a Christian community
that looks and functions like the body of Christ, filled with
the Holy Spirit, where each member draws seriously near to
the Lord in order to be more like the Body of Christ. Pray
that his vision would be realized in each of us, and that
together, we would be fashioned by the hand of God to be the
community God wants us to be as we wait for the coming of
His Son, Jesus Christ.
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