Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church sits along South Green Bay Road in Racine, Wisconsin, where a building shaped like the crown of thorns has been drawing curious glances and steady congregations since 1975. The congregation draws almost 800 members and regular visitors from Mount Pleasant, greater Racine, Kenosha, and the communities west of I-94, calling itself an intergenerational church where old and young serve, learn, and worship together. A common refrain around the building is "Are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28), and that verse runs through everything from the children's Sunday School to the quarterly rummage sale to a recent commitment to welcome people of every sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and economic circumstance.
The Crown of Thorns on Green Bay Road
The most recognizable thing about MPLC is its unusual architecture. Designed by Helmut Ajango and Gene La Muro and dedicated in 1975, the sanctuary represents the crown of thorns placed on Jesus at his crucifixion, with sharp triangular peaks reaching skyward from every side. Visitors and passersby have called the building St. Saucer, Spaceship Church, and Pancake Parish over the years, and the church has leaned into the nickname by adopting spaceshipchurch.org as its main web address. The lower level houses an education wing added between 1996 and 1997, constructed underground next to the existing two-story church and connected by adjoining ramps that double as part of the building's accessibility plan.
A walking labyrinth sits among the MPLC gardens, surrounded by blooms and plantings that change with the seasons. Anyone is welcome to walk the path as a kind of spiritual retreat. The outdoor prayer space sits a short walk from the main entrance, the Little Free Food Pantry in the parking lot, and the ramps that carry visitors between floors of the sanctuary.
From Mygatt's Corners to the 50th Anniversary
The congregation's roots reach further back than the spaceship. The Lutheran presence in the area dates to 1858, and the property at the corner of what would become Highways 31 and 20 had been known as Mygatt's Corners since Wallace Mygatt bought it in 1836. A Lutheran sermon was first preached there in 1947 by Pastor Jerome Miller of the Evangelical Church of the Atonement of Racine. Atonement bought the Mygatt's property from the People's Church of Mount Pleasant in 1951, and on Easter Sunday, April 29, 1956, Mount Pleasant Evangelical Lutheran Church was consecrated as an independent congregation with 415 charter members, the largest newly chartered church in the United Lutheran Church in America at that time. The congregation joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America when that body formed in 1988.
The current site was purchased from Lincoln Lutheran in 1973, and the spaceship building was dedicated two years later. In 1990, the church purchased the corner property at 16th Street and Highway 31 to support a major remodeling. The narthex and education wing were added between 1996 and 1997. The sanctuary's musical performance area was remodeled in 2005, and in 2006 to 2007, a new pipe organ was built and installed by John-Paul Buzard Organ Builders of Champaign, Illinois, a 40-rank instrument carefully designed for the unique acoustics of the pointed sanctuary. On September 14, 2025, the congregation marked the 50th anniversary of the building itself, with a series of blog posts under the category MPLC Building 50th Anniversary tracing the story of the architecture, the remodeled altar (originally a heavy round marble piece, replaced by a lighter square one), and the long search for an organ that could speak through the space.
Two Weekend Services and a Sunday Live Stream
Worship is at the center of life at MPLC, with two in-person services each weekend and a live stream of the Sunday gathering. A Saturday service is held at 4:00 PM, and the Sunday service begins at 9:00 AM. The 9:00 AM Sunday service is broadcast live each week on the church's YouTube channel, and the most recent service, along with a podcast of the gospel and sermon, stays available online for those who worship from a distance. Sunday worship bulletins are posted for download so anyone can follow along at home.
What to expect on a first visit is straightforward. Worshippers of every age and dress code are common, from blue jeans to Sunday best, with young families, single adults, and longtime members sharing the pews. Holy Communion is celebrated at every weekend service, presented as the church's clearest expression of grace and the communion of saints. Guests are welcome to receive communion, because, as the church puts it, "Jesus invites all to this open table." At the altar, worshippers receive a piece of bread ("the body of Christ, given for you") and a small cup of wine or grape juice ("the blood of Christ, shed for you"). Gluten-free wafers and yeast-free wheat wafers are available on request, and children of any age may receive communion at their parents' discretion. Anyone who prefers not to walk forward may pick up a pre-filled cup from a basket as they enter the sanctuary.
The building is fully wheelchair accessible by way of ramps between floors. The 16th Street side entrance has the most gradually sloped ramps, and greeters at the main door can unlock that entrance for anyone who asks. The sanctuary seating is sloped, but several rows of pews are level as you enter the back of the room, and the sound system amplifies the leaders and choir for those who are hearing impaired. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, or by appointment.
Sunday School for Little Lutherans Through Middle School
Christian education runs in step with the Sunday service. Children age 3 through Grade 8 gather for Sunday School from 10:15 to 11:00 AM in the lower level of the education wing during the school year. Three-year-olds through kindergartners learn through Godly Play, a Montessori-based approach that lets children move around the room and choose from a range of activities reinforcing the weekly Bible story. First through eighth graders split into grade-level classes led by a stable group of teachers. Becky Litwin, the Coordinator for Children and Family Ministry, manages registration, and online sign-ups open each summer for the following school year.
Vacation Bible School is offered in partnership with Lord of Life Lutheran in Kenosha. The summer program, themed around a Bible-rich evening of crafts, music, and games, runs Monday through Thursday evenings at Petrifying Springs Park with dinner included, for children age 3 through Grade 5. The high school youth take part in their own retreats, service projects, and a week-long summer mission trip; past destinations have included Toledo, Detroit, St. Paul, the Boundary Waters, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and the Twin Cities.
Confirmation: Three Years of Intentional Practice
Confirmation at MPLC is a three-year ministry for youth entering sixth grade. Confirmands practice their faith through five rhythms, including worship, walk with Christ, witness to neighbors, Wednesday instruction, and a week at Lutherdale Bible Camp, and at the end of the three years, traditionally on Reformation Day in their first year of high school, they affirm their baptism in front of the congregation.
Students attend Wednesday evening lessons during the school year, including large-group learning at 6:30 PM in Mygatts (the room adjacent to Fellowship Hall) and small-group time starting at 7:15 PM. Lessons pause during Advent and Lent, when the Wednesday evenings shift to prayer services. Two service projects are built into the confirmation calendar each year, and Confirmation Camp at Lutherdale Bible Camp happens in mid-June, typically the summer after seventh or eighth grade.
Confirmation at MPLC is shared with the youth of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, a few miles north in Racine. The two congregations also run a combined Senior High Youth Night for grades 9 through 12, rotating between LCR and MPLC on Sunday evenings from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. MPLC and LCR register together for the ELCA Youth Gathering as well.
Adult Learning Through the Week
Adults learn in several settings. A Sunday morning Adult Education class meets at 10:20 AM in Fellowship Hall or Mygatts, between worship and the next thing on most people's calendars. On Wednesday mornings at 11:00 AM, a Bible study gathers in Mygatts to dig into the upcoming Sunday's preaching texts, with coffee and a changing roster of participants. A Men's Bible Study meets on the first Saturday of every month at 8:00 AM in Fellowship Hall, sharing breakfast and conversation. The church also runs periodic workshops for caregivers, with Powerful Tools for Caregivers among recent offerings.
Music at the Organ, in the Choir Loft, and With Handbells
Music has been central to worship at MPLC since the earliest days, and the sanctuary has been remodeled several times to give musicians room to lead. The adult Senior Choir, directed by Dimitri Shapovalov, rehearses on Wednesday evenings and sings an anthem each week at the 9:00 AM service. New singers are welcome at any point in the program year. The Bell Choir, under director Greg Schroeder, rehearses on Tuesday evenings and rings a monthly anthem, often with special effects like thumb damps, martellatos, tower swings, malleting, and ring touches. The five-octave bell collection, the set of chimes, and a bell tree for the largest bells are the result of decades of careful additions by the choir members. A brass ensemble adds to the Easter and Christmas Eve services, and student musicians from nearby Carthage College sometimes accompany the adult choir anthem.
The Buzard pipe organ, dedicated in October 2006 and featured on the cover of The Diapason in April 2007, anchors the sanctuary sound. The 40-rank instrument was tuned specifically to the building's acoustics, from quiet flutes to a grand trumpet. Organist Michael Becker plays for services, special music, and improvisation, with a Lawrence University education and decades of experience behind the console.
The Labyrinth in the Gardens
A separate walk-through experience waits in the gardens. The labyrinth is described as a metaphor for the journey to the center of one's deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding. It is open to anyone who wants to walk the path.
Beyond Welcome and the Reconciling in Christ Commitment
In 2024, MPLC became a Reconciling in Christ partner congregation, an ELCA designation for congregations "working with the recognition that racism, sexism, ageism, able-ism, heterosexism, homophobia, and all the other artificial distinctions that seek to raise one group into privilege and preference over another, conspire together to diminish our world and church." The Beyond Welcome team helped lead the process and continues to support the church's work of inclusion. The team's mission statement names sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, relationship status, race, culture, and economic circumstances as identities that the congregation seeks to welcome fully into its life together.
Four Food Ministries
Food ministry is one of the busiest parts of MPLC's outreach. Four programs run out of the building, and they involve dozens of volunteers each month.
- Holy Communion Food Pantry accepts donations of non-perishable food during office hours and at worship services, with labeled bins on the left side of the narthex.
- Little Free Food Pantry stands on a grassy area within the parking lot, available to anyone passing by who needs a meal's worth of groceries.
- Community Meal is a quarterly partnership with other Racine congregations; MPLC's turn is to provide and serve a meal at Living Faith Lutheran Church.
- Open Table, a free restaurant-style meal served in MPLC's Fellowship Hall on the third Sunday of every month, treats guests to a sit-down dinner with hospitality, dessert, and the chance to linger over a good meal.
Care Ministries, Quilters, and the Annual Rummage Sale
The Care Ministries team keeps watch over members going through hard times. Care Callers check in with anyone experiencing a challenge, offering prayer and a listening ear. Pleasant Visitors build long-term relationships with homebound members, visiting them monthly and bringing communion to extend the Lord's Table into the housebound person's home.
The MPLC Quilters meet in Fellowship Hall on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month from September through May, cutting, sewing, and assembling quilts for Lutheran World Relief. Each year the church also hosts a large rummage sale that benefits local charities chosen by the volunteers. Roles range from sorters to servers to cleanup crew, and donations of low-cost items are welcome as well.
Endowment and Giving
The MPLC Mission Endowment Fund supports outreach beyond the church's regular operating budget and offers a way to honor loved ones or set up a legacy gift. Working with the ELCA Foundation, the endowment provides options to give now (cash, securities, real estate, closely held stock), give later (beneficiary proceeds, wills and trusts, life insurance), or give and receive (charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities, and similar tools). Grant applications are reviewed twice a year, at the end of April and October. Regular giving can be set up online through Realm, and giving is also accepted during worship services.
Pastors, Staff, and Council
Pastor Beth Ann Lechtenberger Stone has served as senior pastor since September 2018. She holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and a BA in Literature from St. Olaf College, with previous calls in Pennsylvania and Nebraska and a stint as an Assistant to the Bishop in the Upper Susquehanna Synod. Her husband Karl-John is also an ELCA pastor. Pastor Nathan Pratt joined as associate pastor in January 2025, fresh from his first call as an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament; he is a graduate of United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia and holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Indiana University, Bloomington. Becky Litwin coordinates Children and Family Ministry and serves as Parish Coordinator, and Michael Becker is the organist and accompanist. Greg Schroeder directs the Bell Choir and serves as interim director of the adult choir, with Dimitri Shapovalov directing the Senior Choir. The MPLC Congregation Council is led by President Andy Steenrod, Vice President Kim Haigh, Treasurer Susan Bakken, and Secretary Ron Londre', with council members Julie Gosselin, Ron Hurner, Tim Kluessendorf, Athena Minto, Kären Nielson, and Mark Trinklein.
Joining the Congregation
MPLC welcomes new members on a rolling basis. Anyone interested in learning more can stop by during a weekend service, drop in during office hours (Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, or by appointment), or fill out a connection card online. The Beyond Welcome team is happy to talk with anyone who has questions about the congregation's commitment to full inclusion.
For ongoing connection, the church posts a Google calendar of events, sends a podcast of the weekly gospel and sermon, and maintains an active presence on social media. Members and visitors alike can sign up for the mailing list to stay informed about what's coming up at the spaceship on Green Bay Road. Sunday worship services are live streamed on YouTube, and online giving is available through Realm.