If You Build It, He Will Come

Like many things, it all started with a dream. The difference with Upper Room is that it involved a literal dream. Seven years ago, Eric Corson had a vivid dream about hearing music and then seeing a musician playing worship music in the old Curt’s Standard building on Highway 52 in Preston. As the dream ended, he found himself looking down a stairway that went from 100 feet above the north rim of the Preston valley and straight to the front door of the abandoned building. “In an instant, I knew what was supposed to happen. It made no sense to my brain, but it made perfect sense in a deeper place. It was an instant download.” Although he did not have all of the specifics, he had to buy the building and turn it into a place to worship God. “If you build it, HE will come,” Eric laughed, comparing the leap of faith to the 1989 Kevin Costner movie “Field of Dreams.”

As time passed, Eric tried to move on and ignore the dream. From a business standpoint, it didn’t seem to make sense because the building was in disrepair and had no access from any road. “There was this place in my gut where it stuck with me though, and it didn’t go away,” he said. “In fact, it almost seemed to grow in intensity the more I tried to ignore it.” As a Christian, he knew he needed to pray about it for clarity, which he did, and his wife Tara did the same. “We kind of went on a little bit of a journey figuring out what to do and trying to avoid doing it,” Tara said. Time went on and one day in 2020, Eric was driving past the building and knew that today was the day he was going to buy it. It didn’t seem possible as the building was not listed for sale, but he stopped by to see the owner, Curt Haroldson, at his bait shop anyway. When Eric approached the idea of buying the building, Curt informed him that another party had looked at it that day to buy it, but he agreed to sell to Eric instead. “If I had waited one more day, it probably would have been sold to someone else,” Eric said.

As it happened, Eric and Tara had just sold a rental house, so they were able to use that money to purchase the building mortgage free. The next step was to come up with the funds to renovate it, but they knew that they needed to wait on God’s timing for that as well. “During that waiting time, we started to go, ‘OK, God, this is crazy,’” Eric laughed. They didn’t just sit and do nothing though. Eric got to work gutting and ripping things out, and they also put in a driveway to have access to the building. Tara’s brother took the car lift that was still in the building. “We quickly decided that this was going to be too big of a project to do ourselves,” he explained. The couple had renovated flip houses and rentals, but they knew this project was on a whole other level. They hired The Design Connection and CCBG from Rochester to draw up blueprints, solicit bids, and act as contractor for the project. It took about a year to get to the final blueprint and bids, but then the cost of materials skyrocketed thanks to COVID, so things were delayed even more. It wasn’t until the late spring of 2023 that the work really began, but once it did, things went quickly. First, the building was stripped down to the main level cinder block walls. The original foundation had to be used due to zoning restrictions, but they were able to pour a new concrete portion of the west wall and move it out three feet. An updated garage door was installed as a nod to the building’s former life as an auto repair shop. A second floor was added to the building to create a large space for worship sessions. New siding, new roof, new HVAC, new flooring, new windows, new doors, new bathrooms, new signs, stairs, an elevator – the list of projects went on and on.

“The whole process has literally been a process of stepping out of the boat and onto the water,” Eric said. “We still don’t know fully what this will look like. God has revealed one step at a time as we complete the previous step.”

So what exactly is Upper Room? That’s a question a lot of people have asked, even since before the sign went up and construction was still ongoing. Tara and Eric have heard a lot of theories, from coffee shop to smoke shop to daycare to law office. Another theory was that it would be turned into a radio station. “They were the closest,” Tara laughed.

Upper Room is a livestreamed venue for Holy Spirit led music, prayer, and stories that glorify God. Each Wednesday at 6 p.m., an interview show called “The Power Source” is livestreamed, sharing experiences that local people have had with God and the Holy Spirit. Worship sessions are livestreamed whenever someone is led to play or sing or pray. The Corsons encourage people to pray before contacting them with an offer to share to be sure of God’s leading. The only time that Upper Room does not livestream is on Sundays. “We want people to connect with their own churches,” Eric explained. “This is not a church in the traditional sense, it’s more like a supplemental worship ministry or a house of worship and prayer. We want Christians to develop fellowship with other Christians in person- iron sharpens iron.” Eric and Tara are open to any other purpose that God might have for Upper Room as well, and they look forward to seeing what God will do.

Upper Room is set up as a 501c3 non-profit to run as a church ministry. While they do accept financial support, the support Eric and Tara would like the most is prayer and participation. “Prayer for us is the biggest thing,” explained Eric. They also encourage people to share Upper Room with others and tune in to the livestreams. “The result of this (Upper Room ministry) will be a deeper understanding of who God is and who we are and what God is doing in our lives right now,” Eric said.

Upper Room livestreams can be viewed on Facebook at Upper Room Preston, Youtube at UpperRoomMN, and on the Upper Room website at mnupperroom.com. Upcoming events are announced via those platforms as well as on the digital sign in front of Upper Room.