Queen Creek church ready to build

After meeting in Queen Creek schools for nearly a decade, Saving Grace Lutheran Church is ready to build its own home.

"This is eight years of (meeting in) temporary space for us," said the Rev. Augie Iadicicco, Saving Grace's pastor. "That's a lot of putting up and taking down chairs."

The church got one step closer to its goal last week when the Town Council approved its site plans. It will be built on a 12-acre site at the southwest corner of Ellsworth and Cloud roads.

Iadicicco hopes construction will start in early 2010 on the church's first phase, which will include a multipurpose hall that can seat 350 people, a central courtyard with an amphitheater and playgrounds and a one-story building that will serve as a day care and preschool facility.

Saving Grace bought the land in March 2007 and almost immediately began making plans for facilities on the site, Iadicicco said. The parcel currently features a small building that functions as an office.

The church has been in the community since 2001, first meeting at Canyon State Academy and now holding Sunday services at Queen Creek Middle School, Iadicicco said. It's attracted 250 members in that time, ranging in age from children to 90-year-olds.

And those members are ready for permanent buildings, said Keith Lantz, chair of the church's building committee.

"It's going to mean everything. We've been going through this process for two years for the building," said Lantz, who has attended Saving Grace for eight years. "We're ready to break ground."

The church community is full of very giving people, and visitors comment on the closeness of the congregation, Lantz said.

"We work together, we play together, we pray together," Lantz said. "People don't have agendas except to praise God."

Saving Grace has been active in the town, something the mayor and two council members recognized at last week's council meeting. Iadicicco said members have participated in painting projects, parades and helped local nonprofit Pan de Vida.

Still, Iadicicco said members can do more with the stability and space of their own facility.

"Other than worship and some basic Bible studies and basic Christian education, there's not a lot we do now without the facilities," Iadicicco said.

For instance, offering day care and before- and after-school care for families.

Current plans would let the facility house up to about 170 kids at a time. However, it's designed with the possibility of adding a second story down the road, which could turn into an elementary school, Iadicicco said.

The church also wants to open an adult day care facility eventually, a location where elderly adults participate in activities to give caregivers a break, Iadicicco said.

Iadicicco envisions Saving Grace as a regional church. It is part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a specific sect of Lutherans whose next closest church is 10 miles away. There are 81 in the state, including Saving Grace, a church in Gilbert and three in Mesa, according to the synod's Web site.

Iadicicco said future phases will include a full worship facility with space for up to 800 congregants, the adult day care facility, a chapel, a youth center, an administrative building with a food bank and an outdoor prayer and memorial garden.

As to when those future projects happen, Iadicicco isn't sure.

"As the Lord leads. At this point, it's too difficult to project," Iadicicco said. "The time line is going to be determined by the Lord."