Today we welcome the Rev. Ralph Carlson as our guest preacher. He was the first pastor of Ascension and served the congregation from 1957 to 1964. In September 1956 he was called by the Board of American Missions of the Augustana Lutheran Church to serve as mission developer in the Allied Gardens-Del Cerro area. He began visiting homes in the area in 1957 and with a core of 20 people, the group selected Ascension Day as their goal for organizing the congregation. By May 11, 1957 (the Sunday after Ascension) approximately 100 adults and children had signed the charter and the congregation was officially organized on May 26, 1957.
The congregation met for the first time in the warehouse of the Sparkletts Drinking Water Co. This so called temporary location turned into two years of moving pallets, setting up chairs and arranging an altar for worship. Often there were police or fire truck sirens and barking dogs from the kennel across the street which coincided with the sermon. Hail beat down on the metal roof and a cracking sound was heard when the sun moved behind a cloud. Pastor Carlson is not sure that they ever paid Sparkletts for the use of the warehouse, but the congregation was surely grateful.
In February 1960 the congregation leased land on Greenbrier from the Baptist Church for $1.00 and architect Robert DeLaurier designed a prefabricated church building for the site which could be disassembled and moved. Finally, in February 1963 the church building was moved from Greenbrier to its present location intact, a feat that caught the attention of many Allied Gardens residents. The Zion Avenue property purchased in 1961 had been a vacant field housing two Navy radio towers, but because of the danger that the old towers might fall the Church move was delayed two years. A bell, the nose cone of an Atlas missile, was obtained from scrap at the Convair Astronautics and formed a unique bell tower. Sunday School was conducted in the sanctuary or the office space and at time outside. Out of humble and challenging circumstances a vibrant ministry began which calls people to Christ to this day.
Besides serving Ascension Pastor Carlson has had a long and distinguished career in the ministry. He has served parishes in Hawaii and Arizona together with several interesting assignments overseas. He served as pastor of the American Protestant Church in The Hague in the Netherlands and also the congregation in Bonn, Germany. He retired in 1991, but served two parishes in the Phoenix area and then was called as interim minister to the Warsaw International Church in Poland. He finally retired once again in 1999 and now lives in Phoenix, AZ.