History Of Advent Lutheran Church
In a 1972 edition of the Morgan Hill Times, a brief article invited anyone interested in the formation of a Lutheran Church to call a specific telephone number. New residents placed the article in the newspaper and five families responded to that invitation. From there, a committee was designated to contact the American Lutheran Church Office of Missions for further information and assistance. Advent Lutheran Church became an official organization in the American Lutheran Church on October 13, 1973.
Soon a door to door community interest survey was conducted and a Pastor was called. Reverend Gary L. Berkland was called as the Mission Developer and installed as the Pastor of Advent Lutheran Church in 1973. Regular Sunday morning worship services began and were held in the Masonic Hall in Morgan Hill.
In 1974, the new congregation purchased a site at 16870 Murphy Avenue in Morgan Hill. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 8, 1974 and the first phase of the building program was completed in 1975.
From the beginning, community outreach has been stressed by the congregation with continuing expansion of programs necessitating the construction of further buildings. As a relatively young church undergoing rapid growth, both stability and consistency was provided by the founding Pastor, Gary Berkland, who retired in 2001 and by the current Pastor, Reverend Anita R. Warner, who was ordained and installed as the Associate Pastor in 1994.
With growth and stability, the congregation has placed an importance on expanding ministries and hiring additional staff. Marc Northcott was called as the Director of Drama Ministries and Phillip Robb as the Director of Music Ministries. In 2007, Casey Carlson joined the staff team, bringing seminary training and energy for holistic youth and family ministry into her work as Youth, Children and Family Minister.
'Changed Lives, Changing Lives Through Christ's Love' became the mission statement of Advent Lutheran Church in 1997. It continues to be the focus of the church, as Advent Lutheran Church builds, trains and equips their membership to share the love of God and the grace given through Jesus Christ to the community and the world.