In the last twenty years, Cross of Hope has grown from an initial community of 75 adults and children to a community of almost 700 adults and children. It is estimated that over 1,000 people use our facility during the week.
Three different building phases have provided a home for our ministry. The first unit went up in 1985, the second, including our current worship and office space, was completed in 1988. In 1996, we added a portable classroom building. For more than a decade, we have struggled with inadequate space for classrooms, administration, and storage.
Believing that our current space was damaging our ministry, a Building Task Force was appointed in late 2000. A consulting architectural firm, Station 19, Minneapolis, Minnesota, was hired to examine our current facilities. They concluded that our facility for many years had been inadequate to the size of our congregation. Plans, under their direction, call for an addition of close to 10,000 square feet.
In spring, 2002, a fund drive, called Building Hope, Together, resulted in gifts and three-year pledges of $623,000. This amount resulted in the Mission Investment Fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church approving a construction loan of $1.1 million or a long-term loan of $1.5 million.