They lost everything. After years of effort and offerings to buy land and build and maintain a worship facility, they lost it all when their pastor began teaching false doctrine, leading a majority of members to side with him. The 27 remaining members were left without a church building. But in the midst of hurt and loss, they faithfully gathered in a home for worship just days later and were reminded that they still had everything. God was still with them. In Christ, they still had God’s grace and peace and a heavenly home—and no one could take that away from them. Even as wanderers, they still had the same mission of growing in God’s Word and working together to share God’s saving love.

Twelve years, a vacant house, and two leased facilities later, many of those who attended that first service can still be found worshiping and working together at Cross of Christ. And God has added even more. By God’s grace, and the generosity of his people, the congregation now owns a piece of property along a major road in the fastest-growing part of Las Cruces, N.M., and is working toward building a permanent facility. But that hasn’t come without its challenges either, including a prolonged property trade and months of waiting for a flood zoning redesignation.

As we now begin working with an architect, many questions we’ve been asking for months don’t have clear answers yet: Exactly what kind of a facility will we build? In what ways will we use our new facility to expand our gospel ministry and outreach? How will we fund our project with current increasing costs? When will we even be able to break ground?

Nevertheless, the reason for our project is clear: We’ve been so blessed, and we want to use God’s gifts to us to create more opportunities to share the saving message of Christ with more people, both now and in the future. We want to bring the good news of Jesus to those wandering through life without the certain hope and peace that we have. We want to reach more people who are at a loss as to who Jesus really is or are growing weary in their faith without a church family to build them up in Christ—like Cat, our newest member, pictured above on her Confirmation day.

She lost everything. Her husband’s stroke left him as a quadriplegic for six years before taking his life. Medical bills left her bankrupt. Lupus later damaged her strength and mobility. Then this summer, a wildfire destroyed her home and belongings. But through these losses, God led her to meet our member Hilda, who showed her the kindness of Christ, invited her to join us for worship, and even gave her a ride.

“I was scared and alone and felt very far from God,” Cat says. “Now I see that God has used all these storms to bring me to the next step in his plan for me, bringing me closer to him than ever before and connecting me to my new church family. I have a deeper understanding of Scripture and of how God has used the challenges and tragedies in my life to bring me to a place to glorify him. His light can shine brightly through all my broken pieces.”

Despite the continuing questions and new hurdles that are sure to come for our congregation and in our building project, we remain both confident and excited. No matter what happens, God will be with us, and he’ll keep doing what he always does—turning challenges into opportunities, tragedies into blessings, and loss into gain.

And in him, we have everything.

Written by Rev. Nathanael Jensen, home missionary at Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, N.M.

The installation of a home missionary. The first Bible information class. A church name. The first event. The first volunteer opportunity. The first worship service. A land purchase. Ground breaking. The first baptism. The first Sunday School class. These are all amazing firsts for our home mission congregations. Each one is an exciting step as God gathers people together around the Word. But what happens before the “firsts?” Have you ever wondered that? What takes place before the first pastor is called, or before this group of Christians even has name? How do our WELS home mission congregations get their start?

Marana is a town of more than 50,000 just northwest of Tucson, Ariz., and it continues to grow rapidly. The prime example of Marana’s growth is a community called Gladden Farms in the area the locals call North Marana. Twenty-five years ago it was all cotton fields but not anymore. What started with just a few small subdivisions is now home to 15,000 people. In the last six months, McDonald’s, Fry’s Marketplace (Kroger), and Starbucks popped up Gladden Farms. But perhaps the most noticeable difference has been the traffic lights. In the last few months three Gladden Farms’ intersections now have traffic lights. Let’s just say that this has taken some getting used to. The commute to Tucson is longer. The traffic is thicker. And, yes, frustration comes more quickly. But what are these traffic lights a sign of? Well, more people of course! More traffic lights means more souls.

And WELS members who live in Marana have noticed. They each attend one of the four WELS congregations in Tucson, but the traffic lights (along with all the signs of growth) have caused them to wonder: might North Marana be ripe for a new mission opportunity?

Currently, a group of about 20 WELS members from area congregations meet one Sunday evening every month in our home for Bible Study. As of December, we have met four times. We gather together and enjoy some snacks and refreshments, study the book of Acts for about an hour, and then have a 20 to 30-minute planning session concerning what might be next. One of our WELS Mission Counselors joined us for one of our gatherings to help us think through what a new mission in North Marana might look like.

At our December gathering we decided that the Founder’s Day parade and picnic in March would be a good events for our first service opportunities. Our group discussed whether we should walk in the parade or simply have a booth later on at the picnic. Finally someone said: “What if we just volunteered to serve in whatever way was needed?” What a great idea! Our first step in reaching this community that is growing by three traffic lights at a time is going to be to simply serve. From there someone in our group volunteered to call the event coordinator to let them know they have 20 eager volunteers. Another started working on a logo so that we might have something to put on a t-shirt as we’re serving together. If you’re curious, for now we’re calling our group “Mission Marana.” The name, too, of course, came out of one of our Bible study and planning gatherings. After all, Marana is the mission.

Please pray for our efforts. Pray that gathering, studying, and serving leads to sharing—sharing the good news of Jesus with souls who need to hear it. And my prayer is that you will never look at another traffic light the same way.

Written by Rev. Nathan Moldenhauer, pastor at Shepherd of the Hills in Tucson, Ariz.

District mission boards, mission counselors, and other area congregations work with local WELS members to build a core group, initiate Bible study, and conduct initial outreach before submitting a formal request to the Board for Home Missions for new mission status and subsidy. These exploratory missions, like Mission Marana, are laying the groundwork for their formal request. View more exploratory mission efforts on the interactive Google map found at wels100in10.net, and stay tuned after the Board for Home Missions meets on April 3-4 to learn which home mission churches will be approved next!