Holy Cross to Celebrate 50 Years
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Holy Cross Lutheran Church
By Missy Klatt
Glenwood City — On Sunday, September 22nd Holy Cross will be celebrating 50 years from when the corner stone was laid for the new Lutheran Church which became known as Holy Cross. The corner stone was put into place on September 21, 1969.
Holy Cross will begin their festivities with worship at 9:00am which will feature several kinds of special music. Angela Heirlmeier’s group Mood Swing will sing as well as the Holy Cross choir. The Holy Cross Handbells will also play. Following worship there will be a program and potluck meal.
All are welcome to join in the festivities.
While the Lutheran Church has been a part of Glenwood City since 1887 when St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was formed, the celebration will focus on 50 years of Faith, Fellowship and Outreach as Holy Cross.
At the time there were two Lutheran churches in town, St. Paul’s of the Missouri Lutheran Synod and Faith Lutheran which was part of the American Lutheran Church. Like today both of these churches were seeing declining numbers of active members and it was getting harder and harder to maintain the old church buildings. Faith had already been part of a merger when Trinity and Our Savior’s joined together in December of 1962. Then in November of 1966 Zoar in Emerald closed its doors and most of the people joined Faith Lutheran.
When talks first began about merging the two remaining Lutheran churches in Glenwood City it was decided that it made more sense to build a new bigger church. The Gavic family donated the land east of town where the old ski jump used to be.
Ground breaking for the new church took place on May 25, 1969 with the cornerstone being laid in September of 1969. It wasn’t until March 22, 1970 (Palm Sunday) that the first service was held in the new church. However between groundbreaking and when that first service was held there was still much work to be done and not all of it at the construction zone.
The two churches were from two different synods so it needed to be voted on which synod the new church would be a part of. Long time Holy Cross member, Bob Bartz who was on the Faith Council during the construction, recalls meeting with the two church councils and the two synod bishops. He said the bishops came from Wausau and rode in the same car which was a surprise for some of them. It was shortly after this that a vote was put to the two congregations.
For some who don’t like change, tensions were high. Orv Jeske another long time Holy Cross member who was previously a member of St. Paul’s stated that many of his relatives didn’t approve of the merger because they didn’t want to switch to the ALC from the Missouri Synod. At the time of the meeting to vote which synod the new church Holy Cross was going to be, most of Orv’s relatives didn’t even show up for the vote. Had they, Holy Cross might now be a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. Many of Orv’s relatives ended up going to church in Boyceville rather than attending the ALC church in Glenwood City.
At the time Bob Bartz noted that there was only one other time that churches from two different synods merged together and that was in California.
The name Holy Cross was chosen for the new church as it is the translation of Saint Croix which seemed fitting for a church located in St. Croix County.
Holy Cross eventually became a member of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) in 1988 when the ALC, the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches all merged together.
Pastor Maynard Larson was the first to serve at Holy Cross. He was the pastor at Faith and agreed to stay on for just a short period of time until a new pastor could be called to lead the new church. Pastor Robert Esse was called and served from October of 1970 till 1978. Pastor Ralph Thompson who has served the longest began in 1979 and continued until 2011. Julie Brenden then served as an interim before Pastor Diane House was installed as the Pastor. She served from 2012 till 2017 when Pastor Jonathan Zielske first came as an interim and now serves as Holy Cross’ called pastor.
Holy Cross remains a vital part of the community opening its doors as it hosts Blood Mobiles, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, AA meetings, the Queen’s Tea for Rustic Lore, the Community Easter Egg Hunt, Community forums and various other activities.
Vacation Bible school in the summer and JAM (Jesus and Music), their Wednesday after school program for 1st through 6th graders are some other activities where Holy Cross serves the community. They also welcome the community to join them for Trunk or Treat the Sunday before Halloween.
As part of the 50th celebration, Holy Cross will be officially kicking off their “50K for the 50th” campaign. Their goal is to raise $50,000 partially for the up keep of the building and the other part to continue their outreach ministry, especially with youth and families.
