Adventure Life Church is an independent congregation at 1700 8th St SW in Altoona, Iowa. Its identity is summed up in three phrases: “Find your people. Discover your purpose. Engage the adventure.” Sunday worship is held every week at 10:00 a.m., and the church’s wider life reaches through community groups, children and youth gatherings, worship teams, mission, and a preschool that has nurtured children since 1985.
Find Your People in Altoona
Adventure Life begins with a conviction that people are not meant to journey alone. In different stages and seasons of life, the church says, God brings people alongside one another for support, growth, and authentic relationships. That idea shapes a deliberate emphasis on community outside the Sunday morning gathering: in the small details of everyday life and in moments that radically shape a person’s story.
Relationships take priority over programs and traditions, and the church describes its goal simply as true community. Community groups meet in homes, while other gatherings give children, students, women, men, and serving teams shared places to grow. The Sunday service remains the shared center, but the church’s connection pathways extend through groups, classes, volunteer opportunities, and service teams.
First Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Every Sunday, Adventure Life gathers for in-person worship at 10:00 a.m. at 1700 8th St SW in Altoona. The weekly service is also livestreamed at 10:00, and previous messages are available for those who cannot attend in person. Greeters stand at each door on Sunday mornings to welcome newcomers and direct them to the right place. A Connections Center provides a place to complete a Connections Card, with routes into classes, community groups, and teams.
Adventure Life does not place worship in a single box. The church says God cannot be put in a box and neither can how people worship him. A line from Craig S. Keener captures its aim: “We should know and celebrate God with our whole person.” The church describes worship as a whole-person response that extends beyond music and Sunday gatherings into every area of life.
Most people at Adventure Life wear casual clothes. Care is available for infants and toddlers through age three. Children in preschool through fifth grade begin Sunday in worship with their adults. After singing, children in fourth and fifth grade are invited to Adventure KIDS for age-appropriate learning.
Adventure KIDS, Adventure Club, and Ignite
Children’s ministry at Adventure Life is organized around helping children know the Bible, grow in faith, and follow Jesus, with parents alongside them. Adventure KIDS is the church’s Sunday learning experience for children ages four through fifth grade. Children first participate in worship with adults, then move into “gospel-centered conversation and fun.” The program operates from September through April.
A second weekly children’s gathering, Adventure Club, runs Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. during the same September-to-April season. It is open to children in preschool through fifth grade and is designed as a time to have fun while growing in faith. The combination of a Sunday class and a midweek gathering gives families two regular points of connection for children’s learning and community.
Ignite Youth Group serves sixth through twelfth graders. It is described as a place where students have permission to have fun and create powerful moments with committed leaders and other students. The group seeks to provide a safe, sacred space to grow in relationship with Jesus and with others, while giving students opportunities to gather, worship, and serve together. Every student is welcomed as a friend, with the aim that students leave as family. Ignite meets Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Life Between Sundays: Community Groups
Adventure Life’s small groups make the church’s emphasis on community concrete. Three groups have regular meeting rhythms. Autumn and Ron meet every other Monday at 6:00 p.m.; John and Rochelle meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.; Scott and Jaci meet every other Monday at 6:30 p.m. The groups meet in their hosts’ homes, and a community-group interest form offers another way to engage with the church’s smaller gatherings.
The schedule reflects the church’s conviction that discipleship and mission are an adventure marked by challenges, growth, and camaraderie. The unknown turns of that journey can feel risky, but Adventure Life describes God as a faithful Guide. Community groups are one of the clearest expressions of the church’s “Find Your People” emphasis because they extend relationships into the week.
Men and Women in the Adventure
Women’s ministry welcomes women of all generations to study God’s word, build relationship, and connect over activities and longer book studies. The church says women are built for relationship, and these gatherings combine serious study with fellowship throughout the year.
Men’s Bible study meets Wednesday mornings from 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. Adventure Life describes this ministry as a place for men to discover their calling, strengthen their faith, and pursue life on mission with Jesus. It also seeks to form a brotherhood that presses men toward character development, faith, family, and involvement as “community investors.” The church presents faithful discipleship as a matter of purpose rather than outward markers of masculinity.
Adventure Life Preschool, Nurturing Since 1985
Adventure Life Preschool has been a ministry of Adventure Life Church since 1985. It follows the standards of the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs and holds a Level 5 rating through the Iowa Quality Rating System. Classes are available for three-, four-, and five-year-old children. Enrollment begins each February, and an optional Lunch and Learn gives children an opportunity to prepare for a longer school day.
The preschool combines the church’s long-running care for children with a dedicated early-childhood program and staff. Tiffany Bergman serves as director and teacher, alongside teachers and leaders who care for and guide the young students. The preschool’s place within Adventure Life makes it a practical expression of the church’s wider ministry.
Worship by Many Gifts, Mission for a Broken World
Jamie Bogaard serves as lead pastor. Briana Hofman leads youth ministries, and Joe Emmons serves as worship director. Adventure Life’s worship ministry is a community of people who offer their talents as gifts to the Lord. The team prays that those gifts will bring glory to God, minister to the body of Christ, and draw unbelievers to the cross. People can serve in the worship team or in sound, lighting, live streaming, visual media, creative work, and drama. These roles make technical, musical, and dramatic gifts part of the church’s worship and outreach.
The church’s mission also has a “glocal” shape, holding global and local mission together. Adventure Life teaches that each person is uniquely gifted by God, that every part of identity is intentional, mighty, and beloved, and that the world needs exactly who each person is. Gifts and dreams are meant to bring healing to a broken world. In practice, the church frames service as championing that purpose in the immediate community and beyond.
Generosity is both a spiritual practice and a response. Adventure Life offers one-time and recurring giving, while volunteering provides a way to give time by working with the church. This reflects the church’s value of sharing time, treasures, and talents whenever and wherever possible for the glory of God and the benefit of humanity.
Love God, Love Others, Serve the World
Adventure Life states its mission in three commands: “Love God, Love others, and Serve the World.” Its vision is to pursue that mission with excellence and without compromise, hold the bar high for everything it does, and invite all it encounters into the transforming life Jesus offers humanity. The church’s five values add practical shape to that vision.
- Living a Life of Worship Is Our Passion. Adventure Life seeks to worship God with all its being, creatively and with intentional, purposeful, authentic connection. The church emphasizes that worship encompasses music, Sunday gatherings, and every area of life.
- People and Relationships Are Our Priority. Every person matters to God and therefore to the church. Relationships are placed ahead of programs and traditions in the pursuit of true community.
- The Future Is Our Focus. The church seeks multigenerational involvement and works to invite and equip the next generation to live the life God created for them.
- Dreams Are Our Avenues. The church understands the Holy Spirit as speaking God’s dreams, uses discernment, and seeks to encourage, empower, and surround people pursuing those dreams.
- Generosity Is Our Response. Adventure Life shares time, treasures, and talents whenever and wherever possible for God’s glory and humanity’s benefit.
The Gospel of New Life and Hope
Adventure Life believes the Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God, the Creator of all things. Jesus, the Son of God, entered a broken world, lived a life revealing God and human identity, lived in perfect obedience, and suffered and died on the cross to reconnect people with God. God raised Jesus to life, defeating death, and Jesus returned to his Father in heaven.
Because Jesus died and rose again, the church believes people can live in hope for greater things in life, in the world, and in eternity with God. Adventure Life also recognizes that people are “messy” and have big issues they cannot fix themselves. Its call is to accept Christ’s claim that he is the Son of God and the only way to new life, and to allow God to lead a new relationship through the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Jesus, described as good news, stands at the center of the church’s life and practice. Adventure Life sees itself being changed into new people through the Gospel and understands followers of Jesus as people sent on mission to share that good news and invite others into a transformed life. The church describes itself as independent and belongs to The Sending Network Organization.
Engaging the Adventure Throughout the Week
Adventure Life’s regular rhythm includes the 10:00 a.m. Sunday gathering, Adventure KIDS and nursery care during worship, Adventure Club and Ignite on Wednesday evenings, men’s Bible study on Wednesday mornings, community groups in homes, and serving teams across worship and mission. The church app supports ongoing engagement, and Vacation Bible School adds another setting for discovery, connection, and faith growth.
At the center of these opportunities is a simple rhythm: people are welcomed as they are, relationships are cultivated beyond a single gathering, and each person’s gifts are encouraged to serve a purpose beyond the church. Adventure Life Church puts “Find your people. Discover your purpose. Engage the adventure.” into practice through worship at 1700 8th St SW, relationships formed throughout the week, and service directed toward God, other people, and the world.