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Mission developer Richard I. Crossland arrived on November 15, 1957 to begin work in the Bow Lake-Rancho Vista area just south of Seattle in the vicinity of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The congregation was organized on October 12, 1958 with a membership of 273 baptized and 134 confirmed. The present site was purchased and the first unit dedicated May 22, 1960. Good Shepherd has been adversely affected by the changing community and the experience of being boxed in between the airport and the freeway.

The congregation voted to move out of their building and share church buildings with Our Savior’s in Seattle November 16, 1997. The first service was held in Our Savior’s January 18, 1998. On April 22, 2001, they voted to dissolve the congregation, and their last service was August 1, 2001.

On February 24, 1890, a group of 33 Norwegian immigrants and pioneers organized Immanuel Lutheran. The first church, located at Minor and Olive, was dedicated November 20, 1892. When Dr. and Mrs. H.A. Stub came in August of 1903, they began one of the longest pastorates in the history of the Pacific Northwest- 54 years. During those years, Immanuel became one of the largest congregations in the west. Attendance increased, and in 1907 a new church was built on Pontius and Thomas. It was dedicated June 30, 1912 with Dr. H.G. Stub, father of the pastor and president of the NLCA, as the dictator. It was dedicated before the largest assembly of Lutherans ever gathered in Puget Sound up until that time.

A pipe organ was installed in 1915 to which Andrew Carnegie contributed $1000. A gymnasium was added later, as well as a parsonage and Sunday school facilities. The church was again remolded and expanded in 1932.

Membership decreased and changed at Immanuel. Under Nyer Urness and others the program has changed to aid inner-city people. The church has converted its facilities to include a shelter program which houses people and provides meals for up to 50 persons each day. A food bank has been established and a center set up for an emergency feeding program.

King of Kings in Seattle, Washington, held its first service on October 8, 1961. It had its last service on February 9. 1964. This was a mission congregation serving the Burien area.

This congregation was started by the Board of Hope Missions of the ELC, who called Milton W. Nesse as the organizing pastor. In 1940 Reverend Ofstedal of Phinney Ridge and Shirley Christiansen conducted a survey of the area and a Sunday School was organized in January of 1942. Known as Trinity Sunday School, it met in a store at NE 148th and 15th Avenue NE and later moved to a community clubhouse.

There were 55 charter members on hand when the congregation was organized on Pentecost Sunday, May 20, 1945, and a parsonage was purchased the following June. In 1948 a new site was purchased and construction began on the present church plant. The new church was dedicated on May 28, 1950, and an education unit was completed December 13, 1959. The congregation had their last service November 23, 2003.

Messiah Evangelical Lutheran church of Bremerton was organized May 12, 1946, with 54 charter members. The building was relocated from another site, and remodeled. The congregation was dissolved May 6, 1982.

On January 1, 1970, two congregations in the Burien area merged to form Our Savior’s. They were the House of Prayer Lutheran Church (ALC), and Bethel of Burien (an ALC congregation which had been established by the Lutheran Free Church). The two pastors served the merged congregation until August 1, 1970, when they left for other parishes and Reverend Robert Moylan became head pastor. During the four years that Moylan was pastor a building program was instituted. A first unit was erected and a few years later, a parish education unit was added. They voted to leave the ELCA on January 20, 2001.

Saint James Lutheran Church’s history traces back to 1921, when Pastor Frederick Weisenborn founded a Lutheran Church and Sunday school in the White Center area of Seattle. At first, there was no actual church building, and services were held in local halls and the houses of members, such as Esther Hilborn’s, where the Church’s first Eucharist was held. The church struggled to eke out an existence during its nascent years, but was prospering by 1928, when the congregation was renewed under Pastor P.E. Blaiser. Full-time pastor Kolbein Simundsson arrived in 1928 and served until retiring in 1958.

In 1947, a new church building was finished and received a dedication service. At its peak, Saint James Lutheran Church grew to support 600 attendees in its church and 400 children in its Sunday school. The numbers dwindled with time, however, and eventually the Church serviced a moderately sized group, whose average age increased over the years. The Church increased outreach programs to the community, such as teaching English to immigrants and creating programs to find jobs for them. Projects such as Alcoholics Anonymous, the Girl Scouts and Nutrition Programs were also supported in this time. The church building was consistently renovated over time.

Saint James closed after Easter in 2005, because church attendance had dropped dramatically. The Easter service contained 50 attendees; on average it served 25, most of which were retirees.

This congregation was established in 1955 by the Mission Board of the American Lutheran Church. Holy Trinity Lutheran in nearby Ephrata was a sister congregation, as several members of Faith were from that congregation. In 1956 the ALC gave a $25,000 loan for the construction of a church. Building began on April 20 of that year. Soap Lake was a boom town in the 1950s, and population is now half of what it was at that time.

In 1953 the Board of Missions of the ELC purchased a building site and called Eugene W. Nilsen as pastor. In October of 1954, construction began for a church which was completed in April of 1955. By July, when the charter membership rolls were closed, there were 500 baptized members. By 1966 the Sunday School enrollment had grown to 360 students.

In 2011 they merged with Good Shepherd, and became Advent Lutheran Church of Spokane Valley, Washington.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd was organized on Sunday, March 1, 1953, at the 11:00 A.M. worship service, with Dr. Henry J. Hokenson in charge, aided by Mr. Charles H. Gustafson.

In 1954 their church building was dedicated. In 1957 land was purchased to build a new sanctuary. In 1959 the congregation went off Mission Aid, and the new building was dedicated. A parsonage was also built and later sold to one of their pastors. They used Central Valley High School for some of their Sunday school classes. An addition was built to remedy this problem in 1987.

The congregation worked on ecumenical relations with the Episcopalian and Catholic Church, and had a covenant with Holy Spirit Episcopalian & St. Mary’s Catholic Church. They also had joint confirmation with Holy Trinity Lutheran and Peace Lutheran.

They merged with Christ Lutheran in 2011, and changed the name to Advent Lutheran Church.