Mayor uses her spiritual and civic authority to bless city
Stephanie Klinzing is on her second term as the mayor of Elk River, Minnesota, USA. Previously she served one term in the Minnesota House of Representatives and as Sherburne County Commissioner. She heard a clear call from God to run for mayor of Elk River, which to some was a demotion, but not to God.
The City of Elk River is blessed to have a group of pastors and marketplace leaders who pray together weekly and believe that God will answer that prayer. They pray, God hears, and we receive. The pastors pray for the city and its leaders. They pray for the schools, the teachers and the students. They pray for the county government. They pray for the state government. They pray for the organizations operating in the city, both religious and secular. They pray for the businesses. They pray for our natural resources. They pray specifically for issues that arise such as neighborhood disputes (which resolve peaceably); a high incidence of teenage suicide (which has decreased significantly); a coming school bond issue; high crime areas (where crime has gone down and criminals arrested); and new organizations (which are growing and succeeding).
One answer to prayer that focused the state's attention on our city was when the sheriff discovered a Methamphetamine lab exactly a week after he had personally received prayer from this prayer group regarding an evasive group of illegal drug makers. Many new ministries have found their way to the pastors' Tuesday noon prayer meeting at the public library and have been commissioned into the city by these pastors. New pastors coming in to plant a church in the city can hardly believe the warm reception they receive and genuine support to see their new ministry succeed in the city.
I am blessed to be Chair of Love Elk River, a faith-based nonprofit entity that offers a network of support for relationship-based assistance. Through this network we are able to connect business, church, education, and government to provide a “net” to serve those in need. On October 1, 2000, a citywide, joint worship service united seven congregations in the Elk River area. Those attending gave $15,600 to me as the mayor to help those in need in the community. A year later Harvest Evangelism helped to develop and expand what I was doing into Love Elk River. We have dispersed an additional $25,000 to help meet physical, emotional, and spiritual needs in the community.
Since November of 2002, Love Elk River has also served to facilitate Elk River's first transitional house, which we called The Thanksgiving House. Our first family and City Hall have been thrilled with the results. One of the local congregations oversees this specific house and its tenants, and we will have another congregation oversee a house that will soon be available. We have also discovered that I have spiritual authority in the city as well as civic authority. I have stood, in the spirit, against things that I believe God does not want in my city, and I have also opened, in the spirit, the city gates to things that I believe God wants in the city. This has had powerful results. There is so much about being mayor of a growing city that is out of my control. And since I don't want to operate under my control anyway, I easily give it over to the One who is all wisdom and power. It is so freeing to know that I can pray, let it go, be obedient to His will, and watch what He does.
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