How It Started Part 2
February, 2005
February proved to be a busy, significant month:
February 13: We held the first of three “Taste of Grace” Sunday night events. The purpose of this first meeting was to model the worship service we would be using.
JOURNAL ENTRY
02/15/2005
The Bishop’s Assistant and I met with Steve Talmage and Mark Huggenvik (American Lutheran Church).
Although it looked like the meeting might begin dicey as no-one realized how far along we were in the process, the meeting could not have been better. All three were honest and open. We have decided to meet together regularly to see if our views of mission make a match for the land.
February 20, 2005
I preached my final sermon at Joy. That evening we held our second “Taste of Grace” event and used the time to set the vision for the new church. Because we would only have the school for Sunday worship, we decided to create “clusters,” groups of 10-30 people who would get together at least once a month for a meal, prayer time, and relationship building. We tried it at this Taste of Grace and it was well received.
February 21, 2005
My daughter, Alycia, and I, along with Michelle and Joe Halonen, flew out to Rwanda. The trip was planned before Grace was an idea, motivated in part by Alycia’s Master’s paper on the genocide, which I edited. Now the trip would take on a different vibe as it was a chance for our new soon-to-be-congregation to establish a mission partnership with the fairly new Lutheran Church in Rwanda, back in that country for only a few years after the genocide. We had some great meetings and made some wonderful friends. On Sunday, we made the trip to Nyamata, not far from the capital, Kigali. Nyamata was one of the hot spots of the genocide, and we headed there to worship with our new sister church. The ride took a few hours (even though it’s not far from Kigali) because the roads were so bad. (It now takes about 30 minutes!) That trip was the beginning of a meaningful partnership that has seen Grace help build a few church buildings, a mission center, and support many of the pastors. In 2023 we had the privilege of helping our friends in Nyamata build a new worship facility. While in Africa, we learned that Sunrise Mountain High School would not be available on Sunday mornings until June at the earliest. The current church had some building issues. So we once again had no place for worship—a month out from our first service.
March 6, 2005
We held our final of three “Taste of Grace” meetings at Sunrise Mountain (even though we were now not going to be able to use the school as our temporary worship site). 233 people showed up on this Sunday night. Dave Wahl presented us with a beautiful lighted cross (it’s in our lobby to this day!). After a time of worship we broke into clusters. 71 families committed $220,000 for our first year of mission with another $6,000 given for launch.
JOURNAL ENTRY
March 9, 2005
On a flight to Maui
Jeff had learned that Zuni Hills Elementary School was now available for Sunday morning worship. Two days ago we received the good news that we’ve been approved… but we still needed to wait on the janitor to agree to open and close the building. We had met with him. He seemed excited. So we felt like we were in.
Just before boarding the plane today Jeff called. The janitor turned us down—but two of the women who work at the school, who will be coming to Grace, volunteered to open and close for us. So we are back in!
JOURNAL ENTRY
March 27, 2005
Easter Sunday
Last Sunday night (March 20) we had our Grace commissioning service at Joy. It was a powerful night of worship. A fairly simple event with worship, a video of Joy highlights and Terey Summers doing her Eunice character. I shared some rambling thoughts—the best I could—I was quite emotional. Walt and Paul shared a few brief thoughts and then gave us a beautiful Thomas Kincade painting. We ended with Jeff and the band singing “Amen.”
Cory Miller and his wife Julie joined the staff just in time as our worship leader.
Yesterday we spent the entire day @ Zuni Hills School getting ready—setting up, cleaning, and rehearsing. What a gift to have that day without being charged for it. We needed it!
My sense today was that we’d either have 200 in attendance or we’d be in big trouble with too many folks. We set up for 400. But we had 600! What a morning. Beautiful weather. Excited volunteers. Enthusiastic worshippers. Great worship. 19 baptisms. A great start and a wonderful affirmation that this is God’s thing. I fully expect to drop to around 300 next weekend (as we had so many well-wishers with us), but 300 would be awesome.
April, 2005
We hovered between 300 and 450 in attendance for many months, with strong giving, and strong participation in our “cluster” meetings held after the worship services. Good momentum and a good spirit.
JOURNAL ENTRY
June 2005
Organizing Sunday. A wonderful morning. 387 in attendance as we became an official congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—in record time.
Normally it can take three to five years or more for a church to move from mission status to being an official congregation. We did it in three months. Pastor Jose Valenzuela from the Bishop’s office, came to oversee the organizing meeting after the service. (Years later Pastor Jose would join our staff as our Pastor of Pastoral Care!). One of my first responsibilities at Joy back in 1984 was to work with Jose’s mom, Maria, in starting a Lutheran Church in El Mirage.
JOURNAL ENTRY
June 11, 2005
On Thursday, June 9, the Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA officially welcomed us as a congregation. About 10 of us stood before 400+ Lutherans who, with a resounding YES, accepted us into the family as a new congregation. Very cool.
The next day, by a fairly large margin, we voted to give pastors the right to perform same-sex blessings and the Bishops the right to ordain practicing, monogamous gays and lesbians. This will be sent off for a vote of the National Assembly in August.
At this point in my life, I was torn on this issue. I was raised to believe that God loves us all but doesn’t accept everything that we do. And homosexuality is one of those things God didn’t accept. On the other hand my understanding of grace was being stretched all the time.
In 2009 this became the official policy of the ELCA. By that point I was in a different, but still evolving place. Where many Lutheran congregations took months to study the issue together, where many ELCA congregations split over the issue, and where many, including Community Church of Joy, left the ELCA over the decision, I decided to do something different.
I knew that this had the potential of causing a rift in our still new congregation. So instead of debating the issue, I stood up on Sunday and said we are staying in the ELCA. We will not build a reputation on what or who we are against.
To my delight and joy, we didn’t lose many people over the decision. Maybe two to three families. That said a lot about our commitment to being a place for anyone and everyone.
(A few things that reshaped my thinking about this and other sexuality issues: 1—I did a lot of listening, especially to my kids who saw things differently than I was raised to see them. 2—I discovered that there are different, better, more true-to-the-Bible ways to interpret the “gay clobber passages” in the Bible. The homosexuality condemned in the Bible is not the homosexuality of committed relationships we’re talking about in our world today. 3—My friendship and partnership with Dr. Michael Gurian, who showed me brain scans of “gay brains,” demonstrating that homosexuality is not a choice. People are born that way. And if people are born (created) that way, who am I to condemn what God created and loves? In the end, my wrestling with this issue expanded my understanding of God’s radical, inclusive grace.)
Today, Grace has become one of the churches where those not accepted in other congregations are sent to us. The work we do together is vital for the sake of all whom Jesus loves, especially those not accepted in other congregations.
(See this Youtube video for where Grace stands on this issue of sexuality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGs0W39a0PU&list=PL7ss_nBzbl5klm9WKGREJaHeWMRKgqk3k&index=2&t=4s)
JULY 21, 2005
Bishop Michael Neils officially installed me as the Senior Pastor of Community of Grace Lutheran Church.
JOURNAL ENTRY
August 8, 2005
Attendance in July was around 430, so we decided to move to two services a month early—starting August 7 (yesterday). Once we announced this last month, attendance dropped to about 380 the next few weeks—but it was summer.
This was the last weekend before the start of school and many said they would be out of town. I was nervous, to say the least. Nervous about a lack of energy in the building if both services were low (because we were splitting the attendance), losing the family feel, and all those things that keep churches from moving to two services (one of the hardest moves to make for a young church).
But 329 showed up for the first service and 200 for the second, making this Sunday the highest attendance since we started.
DECEMBER, 2005
Christmas is my personal favorite time of the year… so that means it is a great time of year at Grace, as well.
December 24:
Our first Christmas Eve was on a Saturday. At Community Church of Joy, we always pulled out the stops on Christmas Eve with about eight services. We decided to go for four at Grace. Because Christmas was on a Saturday, we knew we had some scheduling issues with NFL games. So we decided to use it to our advantage. We created the service schedule around the Cardinal’s game, and then advertised on ESPN sports radio locally using the NFL as a hook. We had 1,200 people attend!
One of the big issues for churches was what to do on Sunday, Christmas Day, after a big Christmas Eve schedule. I was interviewed on KTAR radio on that subject, saying we would be doing worship because it was Sunday.
We decided to do something different. We created what was to become an annual Cookies, Carols, and Communion Christmas Party. We played “Stump the Band” by taking Christmas carol requests (but the band only played the Christmas carols we had already planned—part of the joke). I had some bad Christmas jokes. And for the sermon I read a story I had heard as a kid: The Three Trees. One of our members, Brent Dubberstein, said I should read that every year at Christmas, and so a new tradition was born. Depending on when Christmas falls, we either do that service the weekend before Christmas Eve or the weekend after.
MARCH 26, 2006
We celebrated our first anniversary. A lot had happened in that first year, including several guest speakers: Pastor Mitri from Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, Pastor John from Rwanda, Pastor Wilbur from Uganda, Steve Talmage from Peace Lutheran, and Walt.
We made a commitment from the beginning that we would give away at least 10% of what we take in—including 10% of any capital/building campaign. In our first nine months we gave away over $100,000. Not bad for a congregation that nine months earlier had $0.
With the permission of the Bishop, I flew up to Luther Seminary to interview graduates about the possibility of joining the Grace staff in the hope of launching a new congregation out of Grace down the line. I was introduced to Brian Beckstrom, who was graduating in May. Brian was called as the Associate Pastor and began in June.
MAY, 2006
Peace Lutheran and American Lutheran both voted unanimously to give Grace the 9.5 acres of land!
Once we were given the land, we began some prayer meetings on the property. Dave Wahl built a cross that we set up, and a few of us would spend some time praying about the new campus on Saturday mornings.
At one point, we gave out rocks from the property to everyone to put somewhere so that we could remember to pray for the campus. I still have mine.
JULY 16, 2006
Brian Beckstrom was officially installed as our Associate Pastor by interim Bishop Al Zenker.
DECEMBER 17, 2006
New Bishop Steve Talmage gave the title to 9.5 acres of land to Community of Grace—a gift from American Lutheran Church, Peace Lutheran Church, the West Valley Lutheran Thrift Store, and a congregation in Kansas. This land was purchased five years before Grace was even an idea. That’s a God-thing.
JANUARY 28, 2007
We launched our first building campaign: Building a Community of Grace. We had already been meeting with Jerry Patton (our contractor) and Paul Prosser (the architect) for months, coming up with ideas for the campus. The goal: $1.5 million over three years. The congregation pledged to meet that goal.
2008
We were in the midst of the Great Recession, with Arizona one of the hardest of the hard-hit states in the country. We were ready to build, but weren’t sure, considering the economic uncertainty, if it was a good time to do so. Thrivent Financial had agreed to be our lender. They were taking a risk on us, but all of our financials told them we were a safe bet (and we haven’t missed a payment!).
In September my daughter, Alycia, and I attended a unique event in Boise, held at a Vineyard church. This church had organized itself around seven missional/social initiatives. During one of the presentations we heard a story about a large church that had raised something like $40,000,000 to build a new campus, and then God told them to give the money away to mission. I was deeply moved by that and came back on Sunday and asked if we were willing to do that if God asked us to.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
Here is a portion of an email I sent out to the congregation on September 23, 2008
As I said in worship a few weeks ago, even though all the pieces are in place to make it happen, before we put a shovel in the ground we will have a “come to Jesus” meeting to make sure we really want to commit to this. Once you commit to a $6 million loan there is no turning back.
So I’d like us to begin the process now. We began Sunday by reviewing our mission, our call to move from a Come and See Church to a Go and Show Church. For a come and see church, the building is crucial. For a go and show church, investing resources in getting out and demonstrating God’s love is crucial. Which leads congregations like ours, who are passionate about doing mission, to ask tough questions about the best use of resources.
Now that we have all the facts-we know exactly what it takes to be a church in Zuni and what it would take to build a facility-now is the time to ask the resource questions; questions about what is the best use of the resources we have, not for building a church, but for serving the city.
In terms of building, I offer the following questions with an assignment at the end (and remember, all the resources are in place to build. So this is not a financial issue. This is a mission issue. Is building the best way we can serve the city?)
Questions:
- Is building this new campus the best use of our resources for serving the city?
- What will the new campus allow us to do in serving the city at an investment of $10,000 per week plus upkeep, etc
- Vs. $600 per week in this place?
- What will the new campus allow us to do in serving the city at an investment of $10,000 per week plus upkeep, etc
- Will a permanent facility better enable us to serve the city?
- On Saturdays, when we’re setting up and dragging 350 chairs across a hot parking lot, setting up communion tables, nursery, Sunday School, sound systems, I can’t wait for the building to be done
- On Sunday after worship, when we’re tearing down everything we set up on Saturday, and mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms, I can’t wait until the new building is done
- But… when I sit in worship and experience the power of our worship together
- And I see the people gathering in clusters
- And I see our youth on retreat
- And I see us out on Make a Difference Days
- And it’s only costing us $600 a weekend for the building vs $10,000+ if we build
- I wonder what advantage at $6.5 million dollar building gives us in serving the city
- And it’s only costing us $600 a weekend for the building vs $10,000+ if we build
- What if, rather than having to raise $500,000 per year to pay a mortgage
- We raise money for special missions projects?
- $100,000 in a year to start a new church?
- $100,000 in a year to build a medical clinic in Rwanda?
- $100,000 to help build some new homes for the homeless?
- $100,000 a year to support missions locally and around the world?
- We raise money for special missions projects?
- Are there other options that enable us to do the same thing
- But with less financial resources?
- Lease a mall?
- Land swap for something with lower infrastructure costs?
- Work with Zuni and upgrade this place/get some better classrooms for kids?
- But with less financial resources?
- What if we wait a few years?
- While the costs will go up
- What if we wait until we can grow into our identity for a while?
- We’re still making the shift from come and see to go and show
- Still sifting
- Some of us are still trying to figure out if this will be the congregation we commit to
- Do we need more time to grow into our identity as a congregation before we build?
- Some of us are still trying to figure out if this will be the congregation we commit to
- While the costs will go up
- Is God calling us to build right now?
- After all, he’s provided the land free and clear
- We have a company willing to make us the loan at fantastic rates
- We have the commitments to make the payments
- Is God saying that this sacrificial investment will help us best serve the city for generations to come?
- Will this new facility give us a stability, a base of operation out of which to send disciples back into the world to bring God’s grace for years and years to come?
- When I sit in the building meetings and imagine the kind of equipping and worship that can take place there I can hardly wait to get into it
- Will this new facility give us a stability, a base of operation out of which to send disciples back into the world to bring God’s grace for years and years to come?
- Is God saying that this sacrificial investment will help us best serve the city for generations to come?
Between now and December let’s pray about this together
In January we’ll begin to talk about what we’re hearing from God
God has provided the land. God has provided the financing. God has provided the commitments to cover the financing. The assumption is that we should build-and perhaps that’s exactly what God has in mind. But let’s spend some serious time in prayer to make sure we’re going where Jesus is leading and that we’re willing to follow him wherever he might lead us.
Thanks for your willingness to be a missional congregation-willing to lay aside our own needs for the sake of bringing grace to the world, whatever that might mean. I believe this process is one of the ways that God is going to use to shape us to live Christ-ianly as a congregation.
MARCH 29, 2009
We did come to the conclusion that God wanted us to build. We had looked at other options including big box stores that had gone out of business and a church building that was no longer in use. But we believed God wanted us to build. The land was given to us. It was purchased five years before Grace was an idea. It had been sitting vacant since the creation of time waiting for us to build. The question: Is this the right time?
We held a vote of the congregation to delay the building by up to one year. The design work, however, continued.
NOVEMBER 8, 2009
We had learned that one upside to the Recession was that costs for supplies and labor were lower. If we built soon we could save about $300,000. So we held another meeting of the congregation and over 95% of us voted to step into a huge God-Moment and build a new campus in the middle of the Great Recession.
DECEMBER 6, 2009
We launched a new one-year campaign called, Launching a Community of Grace, to raise commitments to help us manage the general fund once we got into the new building. We took in twice what we expected in commitments.
DECEMBER 13, 2009
Ground-breaking. We held the ceremony on the property at 3:00. It had rained all day so things were a bit muddy. But the rainbow came out just in time!