First Permanent Church Home, Iowa
“The lady broke the jar of expensive perfume…”
This story starts with the donation of Iowa farmland to the EFCA through the EFCA Foundation. A kingdom-minded widow gifted a portion of her farm, located in southeast Des Moines, to the EFCA, only to be later turned over to the Central District. She wanted to fulfill her husband’s wishes – expressed several times many years before -- to build a good church on that beautiful pastureland. This humble and remarkable lady desired no public recognition, just to build His church.
While the land was waiting for its new owners, God was working in the hearts of 6 people to plant a church, a church that would eventually settle in southeast Des Moines. They struck out to follow their leading and soon grew to 30. These 30 faithful people called Andy Veith and his wife Loree from Fargo, ND to come and be the first pastor. With a pastor on board and soon outgrowing their temporary lodging, the new church did a 5 year plan and presented it to the district with a request for the land. God’s hand is already evident in the short life of Lighthouse Community Church (LCC).
Craig Wood was one of the original 6 people that took that original step of faith in 2000 to help found this new congregation. At that time, Craig was a banker in Des Moines. God has since moved Craig to be on staff as Associate Pastor of Adult Ministries. Craig speaks with awe as he looks back at the path God has led them down. Craig describes it as “a phenomenal ride.”
Though the land was gifted to the congregation, they couldn’t afford to build right away. After several years in the high school, it was time to move. As Craig put it “God was rattling the cage.” As they outgrew the high school space, they needed additional sound equipment for their next location. Frank’s House of Rock, a Christian Nightclub, was closing in the local strip mall. Craig and Pastor Andy Veith went to inquire about purchasing sound equipment and eventually came away with a lease for the space at 30% of market value!
The new relationship with the strip mall was mutually advantageous in so many ways (enough for its own story!). While in the strip mall, the congregation grew to around 350 people. They were now big enough to begin looking at building on the land they had been blessed with.
In 2007, the church asked Ministry Campaign Services (MCS) to assist them with a capital campaign to raise funding to build LCC’s first permanent church home. When I asked Steve Johnson of MCS what he remembered about that campaign, he immediately said “the lady broke the jar of expensive perfume.” After my puzzled expression, Steve went on to explain his reference to the story in Mark 14:1-6.
One of the tenet’s of MCS’s campaigns is vision driven stewardship. Steve referred back to the lady that had donated the land that was in such a prime location. “It all started with her,” Steve shares. Her donation of that piece of land to the EFCA was a step of faith that God used as a home for a piece of His church and an example to us all, similar to the lady in Mark.
God has kept right on surprising LCC with blessings.
• Companies both inside the congregation and outside donated time and materials
• Congregation provided 50% of the labor, saving around $200,000
• Southridge Mall (former home) allowed LCC to store old furnishings for free, enabling LCC to allocate seating and old furniture to local charities instead of quickly disposing of them
• Acquired $40,000 in matching cherry wood office furniture for free
• More than 80 trees and shrubs for less than ½ the retail cost
• Able to use fill from the 20 acres to back fill the building site, saving thousands
• CIF provided us with better terms than we were able to get from a commercial bank
• Able to lower our interest rate in the middle of construction on the construction loan
• Build a $1.5 million dollar facility in one of the worst economic periods in decades, while there is mass flooding in the area
Craig summarizes the story very well. “We began humbly in a school auditorium; we grew in a local south Des Moines mall and have now landed in our own permanent home, not far from where we started. God has been with us from the very beginning and has shown Himself over and over again through Lighthouse church’s faithful congregation. They gave when shouldn’t have been able to, they labored everyday for 18 months when it seemed like we would never reach our goal, and they (we) have all celebrated and given thanks for the completion of the biggest undertaking we as a church have undergone since our conception. We could not have done this under our own wisdom and power, God was present and involved in every aspect. I can hardly wait to see what He will do from here.”
