Warren County Iowa Genealogical Society

Indianola Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church

Indianola Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church (previously Westside Church of Christ), 202 North Kenwood Blvd, Indianola, IA, 50125, (515) 962-0351, http://www.goodshepherdels.org/

Copied from the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Indianola website at http://goodshepherdels.org/ and information supplied by Pastor Robert HARTING:

The congregation of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church was meeting in City Hall in Indianola and purchased the Westside Church of Christ building in 1999. In February of 2000, Pastor HARTING received a Divine Call to Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church at Indianola, Iowa, and was installed on May 7, 2000. Pastor HARTING was officially received into the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) clergy and Good Shepherd became an official mission church of the ELS at the 2000 convention. The church building has had extensive remodeling and in September of 2013 a new steeple was added to the church.

Westside Church of Christ, history, written by Phyllis MORT, was copied from the The History of Warren County, Iowa, compiled by the Warren County Genealogical Society, Curtis Media Corp., Dallas, Texas, 1987. P.412

The Westside congregation had its first meeting on Sunday, July 24, 1977, at the home of Larry and Barbara CRONE, 610 W. Salem, Indianola, Iowa. There were 28 people present for the morning service. Throughout the month of August the congregation sponsored a door-knocking campaign, a week long gospel meeting with Lloyd DEAL, and a booth at the Warren County Fair. Four people were baptized as a result of these efforts. During this time, services were held in various public buildings in the community.

The congregation held its first services in the purchased building at 202 North Kenwood on Sunday, August 21, 1977. Attendance was 29 and there were five Bible classes. Preachers serving the church were Charles ANDERSON, Larry CRONE, and Bob HESSELRODE. The following families formed the beginning congregation: Charles ANDERSON, Larry CRONE, Gary FULLERTON, Bob HESSELRODE, Bull McCLAIN and Jim MORT. They were soon joined by the CARMEN family, Florence CONN, Shirley HARVEY and the RAU family.

In November 1977, the first bulletin was published, edited by Larry CRONE. Our first Vacation Bible School was held in June 1978, with an average attendance of 23 students.

A 12 passenger van was purchased in September 1979, to aid in the work. Then, in the spring of 1980, an addition to the building was constructed in order to provide a larger auditorium and more classrooms. The congregation moved into the new auditorium in 1981, and an Open House of the new facility was held in July 1981. Further remodeling of classrooms was completed in 1983.

In 1981, the teenagers formed a puppet ministry known as the Thumbodies. They perform at nursing homes, youth rallies, the County Fair, our Vacation Bible Schools, etc. In the summer of 1984 the Crone family completed their tenure with the congregation and moved to Bentonville, Arkansas. In July 1984 E. Hugh HOWARD moved here from Middletown, Ohio, with his family, to resume the responsibilities of our evangelist. The work for Christ was helped tremendously by the Iowa Campaigns For Christ Team located in Des Moines. Indeed, the planting of the Lord’s Church in Indianola was a needed development. Also, the DeSoto Church of Christ, located in DeSoto, Texas, has given her support financially and spiritually, from the very beginning, and continues to do so.