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PEACE LUTHERAN HAS A NEW HOME
“A Land of Our Own” at 8250 Roscoe Road, Gulf Shores, AL 36542

by Esther Nance

Praise God! Peace Lutheran has a new home. Thank you all for your prayers and support, which helped make it possible for us to have “a land of our own” at last.

There has been much progress in our mission church on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico this year, and we have great hopes for 2004. God has blessed Peace with growth in membership, and willing hands to serve in various ways as needed.

Our journey began this spring when Peace extended a call to the Rev. Michael Bonham to serve as our pastor. He began leading our worship services at the end of May. In July, Pastor Bonham’s home in Florence, AL, sold and he purchased a home in Orange Beach, AL. With his family barely moved in to the new house, Pr. Bonham, Mrs. Barbara Bonham, and Mrs. Esther Nance attended the Augsburg Convention (“Here We Stand”) in Audubon, IA. At “The Gathering Place for Confessional Lutherans,” they met many new friends in the ALC and LCMC, and heard the powerful preaching and teaching of God’s Word “Augsburg Lutheran Churches style.” Inspired by the preaching, prayer and mutual conversation and consolation, they decided to work purposely at finding a permanent home for Peace. The Baldwin Theater was nice for the “snowbirds,” but it didn't seem to help Peace Lutheran’s efforts to reach out to the native members of the community.

On August 10, 2003, Mrs. Lenae Rasmussen came to visit and install Pr. Bonham. Our retired pastor, CH (COL) Jim Hansen and his wife, attended the service, and all three of the organist’s daughters and their families attended. Some visitors came for the first time, and a few "regular visitors" who own vacation property in the area also attended, which made for a nice little crowd. Later that week God gave us a real miracle, a chance to buy 10 acres of land and a house that could serve as a new home for Peace. Scared, but realizing that the location on the Foley Beach Expressway was perfect for us (and the price was right—$225,000), we made an offer. To our delight, it was accepted. Another offer was made a few days later for $375,000, but our offer for the full purchase price had already been accepted. Praise God!

With a $10,000 loan from LCMC, and loans from ALC members, $80,000 was raised for the down payment. We closed on the purchase of the property October 10, 2003—biting off a little more than we can handle on a monthly basis—trusting in God to provide new members and inspire other LCMC churches to designate part of their benevolence funds in 2004 to help us.

Five "new" families who live in the area year around have joined, and helped us clean, paint, and fix things. Some of the "disaffected Lutherans" who left the ELCA congregation in Foley, and weren't attending church anywhere, have been attending services at Peace since our “opening” at the new location on Roscoe Road. Another couple from Silver Hills has been very supportive. They bought our pews–stacking chairs that interlock and have a hymnal shelf underneath and a slot for a pencil and pad on the back. Another new member and her son do our newsletter. They do newsletters professionally, so this is a great benefit for us.

Peace would appreciate your help in obtaining a new sign and exterior lights, and repairing its driveway. Our cheerful sign from the theater was moved, but it is too small to be seen from the Foley Beach Expressway. A much larger sign and spot-lights are needed, which will cost around $2,000. Our gravel driveway is in desperate need of grading and filling. One couple came to choir practice and turned around because they were afraid they'd get stuck! Eventually we'd like to blacktop the drive, but for now, $3,000.00 for road grading, fill, the “driveway cloth” and crushed rock will help a lot.

Above all, we need your prayers and we need some steady monthly support for the first six months until we get our membership built up. Currently, the cash-flow is short about $1,000 a month. We're asking LCMC members to help us fill this gap. In twelve to eighteen months, we should be able to handle the payments and utilities ourselves but it is a leap in faith for us to simply exist each month at this point.

We realize the opportunity God provided for us was a miracle. If we didn't trust God enough to provide for us "somehow" after we closed, we would lose the opportunity for an ideal permanent location to reach both local residents and vacationers. We leaped out in faith, accepting the challenge; thus far, God has graciously provided the needed gifts and tithes to help us make it through the first three months of this glorious journey with the Lord. We're trusting that He will continue to provide for us one day at a time.

In faith, Pastor Bonham made a major commitment to minister and evangelize in the Gulf Shores area—giving up stable employment and moving his family from Florence, to serve our mission church. We are blessed by their faithful witness and leadership, which has encouraged local people to join. We are sure that God is providing the most important part of all—His Word and a Pastor to preach the Living Word and lead our Bible study. We ask now for your prayers and support to further our evangelical efforts among the disaffected and the unchurched in the Gulf of Mexico.

Esther Nance is the fellowship chair and Treasurer of Peace Lutheran Church in Gulf Shores, AL, a charter member of Augsburg Lutheran Churches and LCMC.

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