OUR HISTORY

We welcome your research into our church. You can tell a great deal about any church by looking at what it has stood for in the past. It can give you an idea as to where that Church is going.

Ascension Lutheran Church was organized on September 22, 1987, by Lutherans in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area who desired to continue faithful to the American Lutheran Church’s Statement of Faith and as an alternative to the merger of the ALC into the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).

The seeds of our beginning came about in June of 1987 at Trinity Lutheran Church (ALC) when a vote was taken regarding our merger with the ELCA. A vote of over 60% was against the proposed merger to become a part of the ELCA, but this vote failed to meet the required 2/3 majority, and so the merger would take place.

A group began meeting on Sunday evenings at what was called “Prayer and Praise” services as a means to pray for our concerns, for our families and as a means of holding together “a scattering flock,” those who did not wish to be a part of the ELCA.

Events moved along with numbers growing weekly at these services, and organization began to take place to form a new Lutheran congregation as an alternative to the ELCA. On September 22,1987, the congregation was formally organized. Those who were charter members of Ascension Lutheran Church totaled 334, of which 261 were confirmed members and 73 baptized members.

The Ascension Congregation voted to become a charter member of the newly formed American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC) on November 8, 1987.

We were a nomadic congregation from 1987-1991  meeting for worship in various locations. In April 1989, 3.9 acres of land was purchased at the corner of Greenhill Rd. and Maynard Ave., at the crossroads of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. Construction of our church building began in July, 1990, by volunteers from Ascension, workers with The AALC’s Builders for Christ program and by various sub-contractors. Our first regular worship service in our new building was held on September 15, 1991.

Several interim pastors served the Ascension congregation until November 15, 1987, when Rev. Dr. Duane Lindberg accepted the Call to be our Pastor. Rev. Robert Salge was Called to be a part-time Assistant Pastor from May, 1991, to July, 1993, at which time Rev. Roger Twito was Called to be our first full-time Assistant Pastor. Rev. Twito became our Associate Pastor on January 29,1995, and July 1,1998, was Called to be Ascension’s Senior Pastor, with Dr. Duane Lindberg serving as Pastor Emeritus. The congregation has continued to grow through baptisms, adult confirmation, Lutheran transfers and outreach into the community bringing souls to Christ.

We have added to our staff a full-time Youth Director, Shanda Knight, (October 1, 1997) and Angela Holman, a part-time Director of Christian Education (July 1, 2002). We have also been served by two pastoral interns beginning in 2001.

In November 2003, we started a program to feed the poor, lonely and needy in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. It is a great success in reaching those who were in need and continues today. On December 13, 2003, Vicar Tom Jahr (student pastor/ vicar) was ordained to become Ascension’s Associate Pastor, serving his first call.

In September of 2004, Shanda was promoted to director of Youth and Family Programming. Matt Klein also joined the staff as Worship Team Leader. As the church life continued, Adam Lorenz was hired on as the Junior and Senior High Youth Director in July, 2005. As 2005 came to a close, Pastor Tom departed to Petersburg, Virginia  to obey a call to serve as a chaplain at the Federal Correctional Complex.

In April of 2006, Pastor Len Brokenshire accepted the Call to become our new Associate Pastor.  What a blessing to have him come aboard to share in the Pastoral care. In June of 2007, Dave Deik came to serve as the Director of Youth Ministries.