TOGETHER. Pastor Rick’s Story

Pastor Rick Millikin has been the Senior Pastor at Mat-Su Covenant Church in Wasilla, Alaska since 2014. He and his church have partnered with Praying Pelican Missions over the past three years, both hosting and leading mission teams.

Praying Pelican Missions entered our lives by a chance meeting that, honestly, I didn’t feel equipped or available to take. Overwhelmed by ministry, working with a new church call, finishing post-graduate studies, and trying to stay connected in the community...how could I add one more thing to a plate that was already overflowing? 

More than three years later, wow, am I ever glad I took that meeting! Three PPM staffers shared the vision of connecting churches for mission and outreach. This was an answer to prayer, especially as we wrestled with how to engage our community in powerful and meaningful ways with limited resources. Allow me to share just one such experience.

Like so many locations around the world, Alaska presents unique challenges for marginalized and at-risk populations, especially in the summer months when volunteerism plummets. We serve food pantries and soup kitchens year-round but, in the summer, many people leave the cities to capitalize on the short fishing and hunting season in order to stock freezers. Not to mention getting out of the house following a long, dark winter. PPM, through the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit, has harnessed the willingness and missional intention of churches that are resourced to mobilize and have partnered them with resource-challenged faith communities to meet the demand for holistic assistance. 

The result is that a once-broken system of public help is now revived and thriving because of Christians partnering together on mission. PPM facilitates this in ways that would be daunting for the local church to tackle alone. 

These partnerships have continued to grow throughout south-central Alaska, where teams help to prepare meals for around 2,000 people at a time. Sometimes, ministries would be so short-handed that only 300 people could be fed at a time. Having the teams available to expand this reach is a major win for the church, for the kingdom of God, and, more importantly, for those without hope that are facing the reality of their family going hungry or living on the street. 

Thank you, PPM, and the army of believers that make impossible missions possible!

To learn more about how you can support PPM’s ongoing ministry alongside leaders like Pastor Rick, click the button below.