When on sabbatical in Tuscany attending a bread School, Pastor Bryce Johnson baked bread in a one-hundred –year-old, wood-fired brick oven. In Europe during the 1800 and early 1900s, brick ovens were the centerpiece of village life. Once or twice a week the community oven was fired, and villagers brought their homemade bread dough to the center of the village to bake. As they waited for the bread, villagers conversed with each other and politics debated. The bread was essential for building strong bodies; the oven vital to building strong community.

Before departing on this 2009 sabbatical a church member said , "When you come back, we ought to build a brick oven on the church grounds." And, we did.

Today, White Bear Lake United Methodist Church has a very unique pathway to build connections in the church and with the community, making this oven of brick, mortar and fire a centerpiece for strengthening body and soul.