Pulse North Dakota has been working with the Minot Ministerial Association to launch the project in the 587 zip code area. Church representatives met Monday with Pulse staff to continue planning efforts.

North Dakota native Nick Hall started Pulse at North Dakota State University in 2006. The ministry, now headquartered in Minneapolis, has expanded across the nation, but Hall still has a passion for ministry in his home state, said Jeff Anderson, senior campaign director for Pulse North Dakota.

Last December, Pulse brought The Reason tour to Minot, kicking off an extended ministry that will culminate with statewide events in Fargo and Bismarck next year.

To tackle the project, Anderson said, Pulse took advice to divide the state into eight regions, centered around the larger cities or zip code areas, and form regional leadership teams. Brent Sanford, former North Dakota lieutenant governor, and his wife, Sandi, were instrumental in that process as part of a 28-member council providing guidance, he said.

Tim Knutson of Minot is director for the Minot region, which also has leaders in the areas of youth, children, pastors, prayer and finance. Churches also are encouraged to set up small teams with their pastors, a congregation leader and prayer leader.

“All these leadership teams that are part of Pulse North Dakota are volunteers within the community who have a passion for the good news of the gospel to be shared,” Anderson said. “That’s what Pulse North Dakota is about is the uniting of organizations, pastors who share that passion.”

The goal is for every person in the state, or more than 700,000 people, to have some type of touch point with the gospel, Anderson said. That touch point can be any encounter with the gospel message, but events are being planned to encourage those encounters, he said.

This month, Pulse North Dakota will be recording a broadcast that will be aired multiple times across the state in various formats the week before Christmas. The recording will incorporate Pulse’s new global Christmas production featuring Hall and a Christian musical artist, but the North Dakota version will have elements and speakers specific to the state.

Churches and other groups are encouraged to host a showing to bring people together to watch.

Anderson said there is discussion about a possible North Dakota version of the global Easter broadcast next year as well.

Other activities include a regional youth leaders workshop Nov. 12 in Minot. The workshop will bring together youth pastors, youth group leaders and mature youth with a heart for evangelism to plan for upcoming events.

A statewide youth training and evangelism conference, For the One Conference, will take place at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds in Minot on March 28-29.

There also will be smaller activities occurring to reach specific populations.

“We’re very committed to going to where people are. For example, going to the five sovereign nations across North Dakota,” Anderson said.

Pulse staff are visiting the State Penitentiary and developing a plan to share the gospel with incarcerated individuals across the state.

“We’re taking a message of hope and encouragement into as many schools that will invite us to come to do a school assembly,” Anderson said. “We’re not able to share openly the gospel message in schools, but we can bring a message of hope and encouragement to young people.”

The capstone events will be large events at the Fargodome on May 10 and at the State Capitol grounds in Bismarck on Aug. 30.

Between those dates, during the Days of Grace, the Minot regional team plans to schedule an event in Minot. Knutson said more events could be held around the region if there is interest.

“Since Minot is the big city regionally, it makes sense to start here. Once we start to get people equipped locally, I think then we’re going to really start focusing on the smaller towns,” Knutson said. However, he added, communities in the 587 zip code area are invited to reach out and connect with the team if they would like to get involved.

Meanwhile, there will be other preparations and training events happening across the state. Pulse stresses the importance of connecting people who respond to the gospel message to a local church.

“It takes a lot of effort to prepare for that – to have people within our churches who are ready to receive those who respond,” Anderson said. “We’re going to do some specific training here in Minot next June to talk about the whole area of follow up, to encourage people in sharing the good news of the gospel with other people.”

In addition to people touched by the gospel for the first time, Anderson said, there are people who have let their Christian commitment lapse and need to be touched by the gospel again. The mission, he said, is to create “an opportunity for them to come back, come home, dedicate themselves to God and to his way for their lives.

“We believe that what’s going to happen through Pulse North Dakota is there’s going to be a stir – we believe a holy stir – that will take place,” he said.