You Are Not Alone.
Service: Sundays at 10:00am
Our History & Timeline
1941
1944
1960
1961
1965
1966
Erich Hoefer Called to Christ
"[At a 1941 bible Conference]…God gave to me so very graciously and powerfully, an experience of a personal relationship with Jesus."
Pastor Erich Founds Four Congregations
Dr. Gerhart Melchert, the Pastor of Trinity in Waterloo, Iowa (where Erich lived with his wife and children) challenged him to become a mission pastor and in 1944 they called Erich to be their full time pastor. He called Sister Sina Hestad (who Hested Hall at Abiding Savior is named after) as Parish worker. Over the following 12 years, Pastor Eric would move to Tucson, AZ, start American Lutheran and another church, and later, another church 90 minutes east in Wilcox, AZ. Every Sunday morning, Pastor Erich would preach at each church in Tucson, then drive his wife Marie and six children to Wilcox to preach there, then come back to Tucson. He did this until March, 1960, when he felt led by the Lord to start a 5th congregation in Tempe.
Builiding abiding savior
June 14th - 114 degrees outside. Refrigeration not working. Erich Hoefer and his family spend their first night at 115 E. Garfield.
July 3rd - After knocking on 1500 neighborhood doors, the first service for the new congregation is held in the Western Floor Covering showroom on Scottsdale Road [now NAPA Auto Parts]. 62 people are in attendance.
August - Ground is broken to build Abiding Savior Lutheran Church.
September - First service held in the Parish Hall (behind the door in the picture above, in what is currently the offices).
The first sanctuary
January - What is now Hested Hall (named in 1977) was the first sanctuary at Abiding Savior and was dedicated to the Lord. With 120 members no more mission money needed to be raised to complete the building of the church.
%20.jpg)
Pastor Hoefer wrote in his journal about the occasion: "We praised the Lord for His grace to surround us once again with a people who were growing in personal Faith in Jesus Christ."
Sunday School
March - Building added to church for Sunday School
Sisters of Mary
From Erick Hoefer's Journal: "Sister Lucia and Mother Martyria [of] The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary's walked into my study with the far out suggestion Phoenix might become a branch of their U.S.A. outreach."
The Sisters of Mary attended every Sunday morning service until around 2009 as they began to age. Some newer Sisters came in over the years, while some of the older ones moved back to Germany to serve. As of 2022, the church council still has an annual retreat at the Sisters of Mary Phoenix location. One or two of the original sisters is still around and Paul Parks still does audio and video transfers of their sermons, editing, etc for the Sisters of Mary.
1967
1969
Scottsdale mobile meals
From 1967 to 1997, Abiding Savior was involved with Scottsdale Mobile Meals. Along with other churches in the area, meals were delivered to shut–ins. Joy Miller served as chairperson and provided faithful leadership by co-coordinating volunteers.
From 1998 to 2010, Abiding Savior’s 5 O’clock Angels continued to deliver meals during times of bereavement.
pre-school
The Abiding Savior Pre-School and Daycare Center ministered to hundreds of students.
It was first directed by Beth Weise (below), whose staff of dedicated women provided young lives with individual discipline, nurturing and loving care as well as academic achievement, fostered by their own witness and testimony of their love of Jesus.
By the late 2000's, the neighborhood had gotten older as the young kids grew up and moved away. Then, the state started to provide free preschool. This was impossible to compete with and in 2010 the Abiding Savior Pre-School and Daycare Center closed.
A church library was begun by Ruth Johnson, continued on by Beth Pettys and Dorothy Pientka.
The library thrived until the late 1990's when digital books became mainstream. As the years based and the digital format became more popular, and the congregation aged, and the neighborhood got older as well, the church library eventually closed in the mid 2010's.
1971
associate pastor john stake
Pastor Stake served Abiding Savior from 1971 until 1974
1974
associate pastor James Hoefer
Pastor James Hoefer (son of Erich) served as associate pastor from 1974 until 1984.
1984
1988
1988
1989
2002
2012
senior pastor James Hoefer
Pastor Hoefer served as lead pastor from 1984 until 1987.
pastor Tom Ashbrook
Pastor Ashbrook served as pastor from 1984 until 1993.
pastor Jim Schwarz
Pastor Schwartz served as pastor from 1988 until 2001. He passed in 2011.
shepherds warehouse
The Shepherds Warehouse was conceived in the mind and heart of Mel Havick.
The ministry was created to provide food to those in need. It began in a small spare closet at church and developed into a much larger food, clothing, and furniture ministry based in a house directly across the street from the church. There were several directors who followed in Mel's footsteps, directing the warehouse to touch lives until with the visible, practical reality of God’s love.
The Shepherd's warehouse served the community faithfully until 2018. For several years prior to that, for various reasons, it was only open two days a week, and then later, by appointment only. By 2021, the director ran into health issues and it was sold.
pastor Shealds Smith
Pastor Smith served as pastor from 2002 until 2011.
Revered Dr. Gary P. Lissy
Pastor Lissy is the current pastor at Abiding Savior Lutheran church.
To contact the pastor, see the church staff about page.
