A Brief History of Tierrasanta Lutheran Church

Tierrasanta Lutheran Church had its beginning in the months when the first homes were being built in Tierrasanta. The Reverend Jerry Groth was called by the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod as the Missionary Pastor to organize a congregation in this rapidly growing community. After surveying the neighborhood, Pastor Groth conducted the first Service of Worship in a home on October 1st, 1972. Six families were in attendance.

As attendance increased, the Worship Services were moved to a school bungalow and then later to the Tierrasanta Elementary School Auditorium, where the congregation gathered for worship for the next eleven years. Charter Sunday was held on October 7th, 1973, with 31 families joining the congregation.

Pastor Groth left the parish in 1976, and Pastor Kenneth Licht was called as the new Pastor of TLC. He and his family moved from central Illinois, and he was installed in June, 1977. In 1979 the members of TLC voted unanimously to transfer parish membership to the American Lutheran Church, a predecessor body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After 30 years of ministry at TLC, Pastor Licht retired on July 31st, 2007.

The greatest challenge the congregation faced was the securing of property for a Church Home. Because all the land in the community was owned by developers, it was impossible to secure a site until the spring of 1981. At that time a complicated land exchange took place between the congregation, the San Diego School District, and Mr. and Mrs. Addison Pfautz.

The site was dedicated to the Glory of God in June, 1981, and ground was broken for the new Church Home on October 10th, 1982, the congregation's tenth anniversary. The TLC Pre-School opened in the fall of 1986. Since that time, the Pre-School has had capacity enrollment.

Pastor David Droegemueller was installed as Associate Pastor in September 1984 and left in December 1986 to accept another call. Pastor Margrethe Kleiber was installed as Associate Pastor in September 1993 and left in September 1998 to serve in the ELCA Division for Global Mission as Director of Asia. In July 1999 Chaplain Walt Hiskett was called to serve as Visitation Pastor and retired in November 2004. In September 1999 Pastor Kathleen Richter was called to serve as Associate Pastor; she resigned in July 2004 to accept another Call.

God has continued to shower His blessings upon the congregation, both in numbers of members and people served, as well as a beautiful spirit of cooperation and unity. Present membership stands at approximately 527 baptized members in 218 households, and the congregational family now comes from throughout the San Diego metropolitan area.