About Us
Rev. Joseph Wannenmacher visited the city of South Milwaukee with a vision to see a group of Pentecostal believers in every suburb. He found a building suitable for a church at 1235 Michigan Avenue in South Milwaukee. As was his custom, Rev. Wannenmacher sent a young upstart minister from his congregation to become the pastor. The first pastor of the congregation was Rev. Howard Lecher, followed by Nikolas Pirolo.
On March 1, 1937, the small, struggling congregation became an organized church and joined the fellowship of the Assemblies of God. They named their church the South Milwaukee Gospel Tabernacle. The newly organized church had as its pastor Rev. Eugene Meyer, who served until June 26, 1938, and was followed by Pastors Burta, Samuelson, and Demetrius.
In 1944 Rev. A. F. Sandell came to pastor the small congregation of only 11 members. With much prayer, work, and sacrifice the church began to grow in numbers, and increased desire to own and maintain its own house of worship. Prayers were answered in 1955 when they purchased and moved into the former United Methodist Church located at 802 Monroe Avenue in South Milwaukee.
In 1966 under the direction of Rev. Williams, the church's new pastor, the congregation began to think of relocating in the city of Oak Creek. Although several lots were considered, nothing ever materialized until the day after Thanksgiving in 1967. Eileen Dahl was at her job working for Forest Hill Realty when a man came in, wanting to list a 9 acre parcel on South 13th Street in Oak Creek. Eileen recognized that this piece of property could be an answer to much prayer. Immediately she called Vern Waldron, Sr., the only board member in town that weekend. Together they persuaded the seller to accept $50.00 as earnest money until a church meeting could be called to act on the matter. The congregation voted in favor of buying the property located at 7311 South 13th Street in Oak Creek.
Starting on August 17th, 1969 and working with their own hands, approximately 30 men and 20 women built their new church home. At this time the church was named Oak Creek Assembly of God. The congregation finished their labor of love for a December 1st, 1970 dedication under the direction of Rev. William Prather who came to pastor the church and work with the people in September of 1970.
In 1971 the church held its first missions convention. As missions grew, so did the church. In May of 1979 Rev. Jerry Brooks accepted the call to become the pastor of Oak Creek Assembly of God. During the next two years the church grew and went to two morning worship services. Plans were drawn for a new building addition, and in 1982 the congregation again built, this time adding 12,000 square feet to their existing facilities. As before, the congregation was very involved with the building process. The men and women of the congregation did most of the painting, staining, varnishing, wallpapering, and landscaping as well as building all of the pews and sanctuary furniture. The new addition included a sanctuary to seat 540 people, five classrooms, nurseries, a library and four offices.
With a vision for the future the congregation purchased an additional 8 acres of land adjacent to their property in July of 1986. Dennis Batty and Associates of Minneapolis drew plans for a 35,000 square foot addition that included a new sanctuary that would seat 1200 people, new classrooms, kitchen, and gymnasium. Groundbreaking was held in April 1989. Work continued and was completed with the addition dedicated on September 30, 1990.
In the 1990's two separate land purchases acquired six additional acres and the farmhouse located to the south of the church. As the new millennium was approaching, the congregation was planning for growth. R. Messner Construction of Wichita, Kansas, was hired to draw plans for another expansion. The Bentley Company of Milwaukee was hired as a Construction Management firm. The new addition would be 82,000 square feet and include a new sanctuary that seats 2500, new nurseries, an expanded gymnasium and kitchen, bookstore, classrooms, and offices. Ground breaking for the phase four addition was a beautiful Sunday night, August 8, 1999.
June 24, 2001 was the first service in the new facility. The two morning services joined together in worship for one service. Just as Pastor Brooks had finished reading the text for his sermon, the electrical power went out and stayed out until his sermon was finished, a fitting object for the theme of his sermon on the presence of God being all that is really needed.