North metro megachurch revived, just weeks after closing

The demise of a one-time vibrant but troubled north metro megachurch has proved to be short-lived.

New leadership at North Heights Lutheran Church in Arden Hills announced in an e-mail to hundreds of worshipers that services will resume this weekend, according to John Tolo, a longtime member who received the news Sunday.

The e-mail added that the church's Roseville location, which was closed last summer, also will reopen. The church board has stepped aside, the e-mail continued, and has been replaced by a council of elders.

Tolo, a member since 1993 who does missionary work in St. Paul, said he's excited about the turn of events and confident of a long run ahead for North Heights.

It was barely more than three weeks ago when some 900 people came to witness what supposed to be the final service at North Heights, a house of worship with a 69-year history that once boasted more than 7,000 members.

North Heights had been in a "downward death spiral" for more than a decade due to a bloated staff, overbuilding, exaggerated membership numbers and expenses far outweighing income, former pastor Mindy Bak said last month.

The church splintered into two factions in recent years, most dramatically so after Bak and the church council closed the Roseville location last summer and laid off half the staff.

There had been no shortage of hostility since. Some dissenters posted allegations on a blog, calling Bak a "man-hater" and accusing church leaders of being deceptive and even "satanic."

The Arden Hills campus — complete with basketball and racquetball courts and classrooms — was built in 1986 as part of the megachurch movement in hopes of growing membership, but instead the opposite occurred.

Prejudice, sexism and scapegoating all played a role in the church's downfall, Bak said. Members of the breakaway group didn't want a female leader, she said, particularly one who didn't shy away from issues that predecessors had refused to address. They didn't want to hear about the prejudices of North Heights or the truth about its finances, she said.

The final service was March 13.

North Heights will hold a reopening service at its Arden Hills campus at 10 a.m. Sunday.