Key Peninsula Lutheran Church (Lakebay, Wash.)

Rev. Edward Wagner, a semi-retired pastor, started this congregation on June 1, 1977. It was a project of Peninsula Lutheran Church in Gig Harbor and the Division of Mission and Service in America of the ALC. First services were held September 18, 1977 in the Key Center Community Center. Ground was purchased in March, 1978. What followed is a thrilling saga. The DMSA felt they could not invest in this congregation, so the people decided to go it on their own. With help from Peninsula Church and others, a building project was launched. A Lutheran architect drew up plans without charge. Ground was broken October 25, 1981. Members of the parish, most of them retirees, and neighbors joined in to erect the church. Lumber was produced in the back yard portable saw mill of a member. Logs came from the four-acre church site and from donations by others. A contractor was hired to supervise construction. The $350,000 church plant cost them $75,000 when completed in 1984. The only debt was $18,000 for loans advanced by members. Members and friends gave an estimated $175,000 in labor. Another $100,000 in materials was donated. Several ALC congregations contributed an electric organ, a piano, and furnishings The congregation has been self-supporting since its early years.