LCC History 

The American Lutheran Church decided to start several new ministries in the early 1980's. The effort was so successful that they chose to add even more under the theme: "50 more in '84". It was out of this that Lutheran Church of the Cross began. Some of the other ALC churches in the greater Des Moines area sponsored this new ministry start and did so by sending people and financial support, and with support of the national office, a steering committee was formed to begin the new ministry. After much prayer, door-to-door canvassing, the group decided to begin worship services.  They called and received a pastor assigned from the Division for Outreach and began to build a congregation, one person at the time.

Worship services began for this congregation in a rented store front in downtown Altoona on 1st Ave. North.  It was once a flower shop but then became a place of worship for about 38 people. That group began on December 3rd, 1984 and stayed for just over two months in the flower shop. They were the beginning of the congregation we have today.

A few months after being in the "flower shop", LCC purchased the house on 8th St SW from retired attorney Jim Irish. The members wanted to increase the size of the living room for their worship area. This project of expanding the present day northeast entrance hallway would cost $25,000. They were very unsure of where they would get the money to do this, but God had plans for LCC and provided that money. A church in Iowa donated $25,000 in celebration of their 100th birthday. God also arranged for furnishing for this house of worship. Two churches in the western suburbs were merging and donated a lectern, baptismal font, alter, pulpit, as well as tables and folding chairs. The adult learning room was in the garage which had little heat in it. It was very common to see those in class sitting with their winter coats on. 

In October, 1986, they began planning for an addition to their facilities to include a multipurpose room/fellowship hall that would also serve as a worship center. (That addition is what we currently refer to as the nursery and Cross Café.) After it was completed in December, 1987, average worship attendance climbed to 96.

In 1990 the congregation decided it was time to renew it's commitment to outreach.  A group come together to develop a mission statement and form a strategic plan for it's ministry; as people got excited about where the Lord was leading, things began to change. Each Sunday in worship first time visitors would come and then decided to stay. Growth was becoming normal and excitement for the Gospel was beginning to bear fruit.

By the end of 1992 the congregation was still growing rapidly and needed to build. At that time the vital statistics of the congregation included 115 households, 427 baptized members and 268 confirmed members. Our average attendance in worship was 221 and we had a total budget of 131,617. Time to build again, and this time it would be a building dedicated to learning; Sunday School for our kids and Bible Study for our adults. The plans were drawn, the finances put in place and the work was started.

In planning for this expansion, the planning committee neglected to include the cost of furnishings like chairs. We were going to need more chairs or move chairs back and forth between the Learning Center and the Worship Center. God is wonderful and in control. The congregation turned to God with prayer and with 3 weeks to go before the building was ready for use, Mark was approached by a gentleman about donating 230 chairs that a company was not needing.  The real amazing things was...the burgundy color chairs matched exactly the color of the carpet that was already glued to the floor. God has provided for our every need!

In September of 1993 the Learning Center was dedicated to serve the needs of a now rapidly growing congregation that had grown to 232 people in worship each Sunday. On the Sunday it was dedicated, September 8, 1993 it was full.

Early in 1995, we knew that we were again outgrowing our facilities. It was decided that we would double the size of our worship center-but that meant that the existing roof would have to be torn open! Construction began on this project in November of 1996; for about 13 weeks we worshiped at Willowbrook elementary school. Every Sunday morning seven teams would pack up all our stuff, set it up at school and then tear it all down and put it away. It was a great experience and led us to believe that we were "A People On the Move". It allowed construction to continue on the remodeling and expansion of that multi-purpose room of 1987, to create a new worship center, new entrances, a parking lot and room enough to seat over 300 people.

We dedicated that project on June 8th, 1997. By that time our membership stood at 302 households, with 867 baptized members and 599 confirmed members. On that first worship service in our new place we had 569 people in worship that day. It was obvious that the plan to remain at 2 worship services a Sunday would not be enough, even in our new expanded facility.

Not only was the worship center full, our Learning Center was packed. It was decided that beginning in the Fall of 1997 we would begin a new worship schedule: 8:30 New Traditions Worship Service, 9:45 and 11:00, our Service of New Life, and two concurrent Sunday Schools at 9:45 and 11 as well. We were now averaging 535 people a Sunday.

LCC began looking at a new location.  While looking around at available land, Mark heard God speak to him very clearly that the land would have water on it. In the spring of 2000, we bought the land that we refer to as "Cross Creek" (and it did in and does in fact have water on it). We added a parking lot and a bridge.

In the spring of 2001, we broke ground on the new worship center that was completed in November. Remodeling of our former worship space was completed in January of 2002. We dedicated our properties and all that we are to God's glory on Sunday evening, January, 20, 2002.

Our Sunday School program continued to grow and by 2004 our Learning Center was no longer large enough to serve our Children's Sunday School program. During the summer of 2004, again we broke ground for the addition to the learning center. Through volunteer help from our congregation, the new facility was completed and ready by September for classes. This new facility added 9 new classrooms which were greatly needed and now used not only by the children but also by adults.

Cross Creek was demolished on July 26, 2004 for the development of the grounds and construction of our newest building, Cross Creek 2, and for an additional parking lot.

The dedication and open house for the new Cross Creek was held on April 3, 2005. Cross Creek now serves our Jr/Sr High Students and adults in their learning opportunities as well as housing the Church of the Cross Preschool, which opened in September, 2005.