HISTORY

From 1981 - Present...

1981 The SELC District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) bought 4.89 acres of land in Lake Mary for a new mission.

1983 Pastor Paul Hoyer and his family moved to Lake Mary and began mission work in a storefront on Lake Mary Blvd. The first Worship Service was in December of that year.

1984 On September 9, Holy Cross Lutheran Church of Lake Mary was formed with 48 adult members and a few children. A Building Committee was formed.

1986 In June, work was begun on the first building for Holy Cross Lutheran Church. The building was built with volunteer labor.

1987 The building was completed at a cost of $330,000.00 and dedication was in March of that year. Attendance then topped 100 per Sunday. Betty Hoyer started the Preschool. Holy Cross became a part of the Christian Sharing Center.1988

1988 The Preschool flourished with two teachers and many of the preschool and VBS families became members of Holy Cross. Attendance at worship hit 120 with two services.

1992 The church added a contemporary service on Saturday nights.

1993 Another contemporary service was added at 9:30 on Sunday mornings; weekly attendance was around 200. Plans were begun for additional classroom space for the preschool.

1995 The debt on the building and land was reduced $150,000 through congregation donations; the church also received a bequest from Evelyn Haygreen for more than $500,000.

1996 The timetable for building was moved up, more than 150 volunteers worked on a capital campaign and pledges for more than $500,000.00 were gathered. In education, Edie Herota became our Preschool Director.

1998 On February 2, the new building was dedicated and the next Sunday there was over 300 in worship and attendance numbers began to climb.

1999 In the new building the preschool continued to grow and with the urging of the community an elementary school was begun. Holy Cross and St. Peters worked together to build a Habitat House.

2000 Five acres of land was bought on Highway 46 for a childcare center. The church called Pastor Nathan Guelzow to be the first youth Pastor. Attendance was up to 425 per Sunday.

2001 The Childcare Center opened and the Holy Cross Lutheran Academy used one of the rooms at the church in order to have school up to 2nd grade. After 9/11 attendance averaged 485 for that year, making Holy Cross one of the 30 fastest growing churches in the LCMS.

2002 The church sold a little less than an acre of land that had been our retention pond and with the proceeds built 6 more classrooms by the childcare for the Academy and built a music room and a youth room above the preschool building on the church campus.

2004 Holy Cross Church started a new worship service on Sunday nights called “Hearts A Fire” geared for High School and College age people as a result the church finished the year with 500 average attendance.

2005 The childcare and the Academy merged and we had seamless support for working parents from 6 weeks to the 5th grade as well as the preschool. The education part of Holy Cross Lutheran Ministries had over 350 students.

2006 Holy Cross was a part of Purpose Orlando with 30 small groups in addition to our other small groups. 45 people went to Panama over 8 weeks.

2008 Holy Cross hired a third pastor with the installation and ordination of Benjamin Hoyer. The 20th VBS held at Holy Cross was a tremendous success with registration filling up in less than 24 hours after it opened.

2009 Holy Cross celebrated 25 years of bringing Jesus to everyone by serving the needs of our community and growing the faith of all who believe.

2010 The students of Holy Cross Lutheran Academy raised $5,214 and along with 200 volunteers made and packed 30,672 meals for the Kids Against Hunger Program.