History of Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church

Spirit of Hope started as the vision of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Mesa, AZ.,  whose members wanted to more effectively meet the spiritual needs of residents in the rapidly growing  southeast valley.

Spirit of Hope was born on March 28, 1999, when 175 people packed the Stevenson Elementary school cafeteria to give thanks to God.  Later, in the fall of 1999, the congregation moved a mile east to the newly constructed Patterson Elementary School.  

On March 4, 2001 worshipers gathered and 104 members signed the charter affirming their commitment to this new ministry.  Office space was rented at the Sun Valley Plaza on June 15, 2001.  We organized into a full-fledged financially independent congregation on November 3, 2002, with 183 baptized members on the rolls.  We moved our worship site south to Desert Ridge High School on January 5, 2003. 

The very next month a 5 acre parcel of land was purchased on Signal Butte Road for $450,000.  Spirit of Hope experienced its first capital fund appeal for the land in the spring of 2003.  It was less than three years later that our second capital fund program was launched for a new building.  In May of 2006 the Mission Investment Fund approved our building loan of $1.65 million.  There were some construction delays, but construction started in January of 2007.    

The congregation grew…. and on August 26, 2007 the Rev. Sondra Krogstad was called to be our second pastor.  The first worship service in our new building was on September 30, 2007, as 367 gathered to thank God.  By the end of the 2007, Spirit of Hope had grown to 441 baptized members and averaged 281 per Sunday in worship attendance.