05/14/2026
Over the past couple of days, I had the rare opportunity to spend some time with an amazing group of people from NW Iowa!
American Bank & American State Bank SPIRIT CLUB is a group that loves to travel. Loreen Marra contacted me months ago, after she had seen Tour of Steeples-Sioux City on KTIV, and asked about possibly doing a mini Tour of Steeples. Here was the catch, it is a MYSTERY TOUR!
What that meant for us, was to keep this on the down low because anyone that signed up for the mystery tour - they couldn't know what was happening and where they were going.
The mystery tour is a day trip on a charter bus with roughly 49 other fantastic people. The bus took off from Sioux Center - but no one knew where they were headed for the day or what would happen for the day. (Except for Loreen and the driver) Which, by the way, huge shout out to Craig the driver. This man is a fantastic driver, human, gentlemen- I regret not getting my picture with him because he is one of the most genuinely nice people I met on this trip. I really hope our paths cross again and that we get to work together again. Thank you Craig!
The spirit club offered two - 1 day mystery tour adventures. The first group that went were told not to tell their friends so they didn't ruin it for the next group on the following day. Over the past two days, we introduced roughly 100 new people to the Tour of Steeples.
As the planning stages took place, Loreen and I kept in contact about details and what was expected from me and our churches. I asked early on if I could do a ride along with the group throughout the day, and boy was this a fantastic experience for me as well. I can't say enough great things about the Spirit Club and Loreen and all the wonderful people I got to meet over the last few days. I truly enjoyed my time with everyone, and surely hope they loved their experiences over their day trip to Sioux City.
We chose 4 churches in total to tour for the 'mini' tour. The churches had to be available for either an afternoon or morning slot and be available both days so that the members could experience the same churches.
Church #1 St. Mark Lutheran Church ELCA Sioux City, Iowa
Church #2 St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church - Sioux City
Church #3 1st Presbyterian Church, Sioux City
Church #4 Trinity Lutheran Church – Sioux City, IA
We spent our lunch at Minervas and they were fantastic to hold all of us! We finished the day for a sweet treat at Palmer Candy.
I have some pictures below from both days. Again, a huge thank you to American Bank and American State Bank for the Spirit Club to allow them to travel. I truly enjoyed my time with you all, and can't wait to hopefully work with you again!
Thank you!!!!
