The
Winterset Community Church (WCC) is an Evangelical Free Church (EFCA)
with their first community service occurring in April 1999. WCC
started as a church plant by the Martensdale Community Church,
Martensdale, IA. The church began with five families doing a group
bible study to determine if there was interest in establishing a
church in Winterset. The church's goal was not to compete with or
take people away from the established existing churches
but to reach the un-churched and offer a different type of church.
WCC’s
vision is “To Abide in Christ" (John 15:5). This vision is
carried out by:
1.
Abiding in Christ Personally. Live our daily lives with an
awareness of God's
Love for
us and all people. (John 15:9)
2.
Abide in Christ Corporately. Attend Sunday morning
worship. (John4:24)
3.
Abide in Christ Together. Be a part of a Community Group,
building relationships
to encourage
us to live in the Way of Jesus. (John 14:6) |
WCC’s
values are:
1.
A community driven life.
2.
A conservative Christian faith.
3.
A casual Christian environment.
4.
A contemporary style of ministry |
The
location of the church services and meetings changed a lot during
the first five years of existence. They began meeting in the
Commons area of the Junior High School building, then moved to the
High School Cafeteria lunch area, and finally held meetings at the
Winterset
Elementary Building using the gym and several classrooms. During
the summer months, when the School needed to reseal the gym floor,
they met at various places such as the Winterset Theater, the
Fitness Room on the second floor of the Farmers & Merchants
State Bank building, and the Jackson Building.
In
late 2004, Bill and Karen Brookhart offered to let the church use
the vacant storage area
of a building at 113 South Second Street that they had purchased
for their business, Jackson Medical Supply. This building was
constructed during the Depression (1930) by the the Civilian
Conservation Corps. The building changed ownership over the years,
but for at least 20 years, Bill Meyer owned the building operating
as Meyer Auto Repair shop and rented part of the building to Dan
Madison, who ran the Big A Auto parts store. Brookhart's purchased
the building from Russ Schoenauer in 2004.
WCC
renovated the storage area which took about six months to
complete, finishing in the fall of 2005. This space became WCC's
next interim meeting space with the church actively looking for
land to purchase and build a church home. But then on February
5,
2007, the Brookhart's offered to sell the building to WCC for
their costs in the building, allowing this location to become
their permanent home. WCC also purchased the rental property
directly behind the building to the East in order to expand the
sanctuary area.
In
2008, WCC began their first remodeling project at a cost of
$730,000 to expand the
current sanctuary to increase visibility and seating space,
enlarge the cafe area, create an office space for staff, build
classrooms for their growing youth program (K to high school),
widen the hallway, expand the bathrooms, and renovate the nursery
and toddler area.
In
the Spring of 2017, they began their final building expansion
project at a total cost of $1,810,000 which involved the purchase
of 5 homes so that the church owned the entire block except for
the Four Square Church on the NE corner and the adjoining lot to
the west of their building. New construction of 8,508 ft2
plus the existing 1I,945 ft2 created a total usable space of
20,453 ft2. The project consisted of adding a half
court gym, additional men and women's restrooms, a youth
kitchenette, and a remodel of the existing youth room. The expanded
sanctuary allowed for seating of 320. Also, two additional
classrooms were added along
with a new sound room and a cry room for infants.
The
current (2023) Senior Pastor is G. Scott O'Conner, who has been
with the church since October of 1999. Scott, a native Iowan,
received his undergraduate degree from Simpson College, and his
Master of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. Eric Fulton is
the full-time Youth Pastor since January 2011. He is a graduate of
Iowa State University and has a Master of Divinity with a
concentration in Ancient Hebrew and Greek from Bethel Seminary.
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Source: WCC
Church History submitted to IAGenWeb by Tim Rethmeier,
2023 |
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