Church of the Holy Spirit sits on Thomas Drive in Bellevue, Nebraska, just minutes from Offutt Air Force Base. The congregation's life has been woven into this corner of Sarpy County for more than sixty years, serving both long-time residents and the steady stream of military families who pass through the base. Its ministry centers on three commitments the parish names openly: worship, service, and fellowship, all aimed at helping people meet Christ and grow in their relationship with God.
Worship Shaped by the Book of Common Prayer
Worship at Church of the Holy Spirit (often shortened to CHS) is Episcopal through and through. As a member church of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and the wider Anglican Communion, the parish is guided by the Book of Common Prayer, whose roots go back to 1549. The principal Sunday services celebrate the Eucharist, a sharing of bread and wine that the congregation describes as a reminder of God's freely offered grace. Visitors are welcome to receive Communion, come forward for a blessing, or simply observe. The parish emphasizes that there are no prerequisites for knowing God's grace beyond the willingness and desire to do so.
Saturday Evening, Sunday Mornings, and Midweek Prayer
Church of the Holy Spirit offers worship three times a weekend, with a deliberately different feel for each gathering.
The Saturday evening service is held at 5:00 pm in the parish chapel. There is no music, and because of the chapel's smaller size, the gathering tends toward a more intimate and quiet experience.
Sunday morning begins with an 8:00 am service, also in the chapel, using the traditional language of Rite I. This service offers a contemplative start to the day.
The 9:30 am Sunday service moves into the main sanctuary and is described as the parish's most family friendly offering. It features the parish organist and choir and varies hymnody and worship language throughout the year to enrich and energize those who attend.
Two weekday offerings round out the weekly rhythm. A Healing Service is prayed Wednesday mornings at 9:30 am, and Compline, a brief evening meditation, is prayed together at 8:00 pm on Wednesday evenings. The 9:30 am Sunday service, the Wednesday Healing Service, and Wednesday Compline are livestreamed on the parish's Facebook page, and past sermons are archived on the parish YouTube channel.
Christian Education for Every Age
Children and youth are central to the life of CHS. Sunday School for pre-K through fifth grade meets after the 9:30 am service, running from 10:45 to 11:30 am. Newcomers and visiting children are always welcome, and parents are invited to drop in and see what is happening.
Older youth are served through Journey to Adulthood, a program designed for young people in sixth through twelfth grade (ages 12 to 18). Journey meets Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:15 pm. Evenings open with a shared meal, then break into small discussion groups covering a wide range of topics, and close with the group praying Compline together online. Leaders note that there are periodic breaks to just have fun throughout the year.
Adults have their own formation paths. A weekly Bible Study meets Wednesday mornings at 10:15 am, with additional adult education offerings posted in the bulletin and on bulletin boards throughout the year. Vacation Bible School is a week-long program of skits, crafts, stories, music, and snacks held in June, open to children entering pre-K through fifth grade, with older youth welcomed as helpers. For those seeking deeper theological study, Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year at-a-distance program of the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, meets weekly under trained parish mentors from September through May.
Cindy Pekarek directs Christian Education and brings more than twenty years of experience teaching Sunday school and leading youth groups.
Pastoral Care and the Prayer Chain
The Pastoral Care ministry at CHS touches the life of the parish in quiet, concrete ways. The Daughters of the King, a lay order for women rooted in prayer and service, meets regularly; a twelve-week training period precedes vows, but anyone curious about the order may drop in. Chapter President Sharon Jones can advise newcomers.
A confidential Prayer Chain passes prayer requests from one volunteer to the next by phone. Volunteers willing to join the chain are asked to call the church office. Lay Eucharistic Visitors are trained to bring Communion from the altar to parishioners who are homebound or shut in, a ministry coordinated by Deacon Terri Storm. When a member or non-member dies, the pastoral care committee works with the priest to plan a reception, calling volunteers on short notice and using donated food to feed the family and guests. The ministry also prepares and freezes meals that can be delivered during times of illness, surgery, or financial need.
Feeding Bellevue and the Wider Community
CHS is rooted in outreach to its neighbors. The most visible effort is the Mobile Food Pantry, which the parish hosts several times a year in partnership with the Food Bank for the Heartland. Distribution runs from 10:00 to 11:30 am on select Saturdays, and volunteers of all ages help with set up beginning at 9:30 am. In 2026, the mobile pantry comes to CHS in February, March, April, June, August, September, November, and December.
Parishioners also support the Bellevue Food Pantry by dropping non-perishable items into a grocery cart in the church entryway, and a rotating team of volunteers delivers Meals on Wheels to homebound neighbors in the area each Thursday.
Other community partnerships include Moving Veterans Forward, which helps homeless veterans settle into new homes and for which CHS collects needed items; Magdalene Omaha, which offers sober housing and workforce development for survivors of sex trafficking, prostitution, and addiction; and the Bellevue Together collaboration that Deacon Terri Storm works with directly. The parish also sponsors Cub Pack 483 and Boy and Girl Scout Troop 483 and hosts an annual Red Cross Blood Drive each February or March.
Recovery groups meet at the church throughout the week. Alcoholics Anonymous gathers in the parish hall on Mondays at noon and Tuesday evenings at 6:00 pm, with entry through the red doors in the parking lot. AlAnon meets in the conference room on Wednesdays at noon, also through the red doors.
From Holy Trinity Mission to Parish on Thomas Drive
The history of Church of the Holy Spirit parallels the development of early Nebraska statehood. In the 1850s, the Rt. Bishop of the Nebraska Territory, Jackson Kemper, scouted the area for promising church sites. His first Episcopal church in the territory was Holy Trinity Mission, near what is now Bellevue, which flourished until the late 1800s. A legacy of that mission is a stained glass window now located in Trinity Cathedral in downtown Omaha.
The Episcopal Church returned to the Bellevue area in 1961 with the establishment of the Church of the Holy Spirit Mission, a church plant of St. Martin's of Tours in South Omaha. The first service was held on July 2, 1961, in the historic Presbyterian Church in downtown Bellevue. The parish's present site on Thomas Drive was acquired in 1966, and services moved there on Christmas Eve of that year. The congregation transitioned from Mission to Parish status in 1978, and the school and office wing was added in 1979. For more than six decades, the parish has served the people of Bellevue and Offutt Air Force Base, and it looks forward to doing so for the next sixty.
The Air Force connection runs deeper than geography. Mother Margaret Brack, the parish rector, comes from a long line of airmen, including her husband, father, grandfather, brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, cousins, and son. Deacon Terri Storm, a cradle Episcopalian and Air Force dependent, was baptized at CHS as an infant when her family moved to Offutt from Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota, and was later confirmed there.
Music, Fellowship, and Yearly Traditions
Music is woven through the parish's main Sunday service. Grace Moritz serves as Parish Organist for the 9:30 am liturgy, and the parish maintains both a vocal choir and a bell choir. Acolytes, lay Eucharist ministers, altar guild members, and bread makers all keep the services running. Ushers, greeters, and coffee hour teams take care of arrivals and the fellowship that follows.
Fellowship extends beyond Sunday morning. First Friday Lunch is a monthly gathering at noon where people bring a bagged lunch and eat together. Trunk or Treat is held each fall on the church grounds, and an annual Pet Blessing takes place on the lawn each October. Choir practice meets on Thursday evenings, and the parish newsletter, The Flame, is published quarterly by volunteers. The Spark carries weekly announcements.
Clergy and Vestry
The Rev. Margaret Brack, known at the parish as Mother Margaret, serves as Rector. A convert to the Episcopal Church in 2009, she previously worked for the Roman Catholic Church as a liturgist and director of music ministries. She holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Notre Dame of Maryland University, a Master of Divinity from Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin, and a Master of Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is currently completing a Doctorate in Labyrinth Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion. She is a Climate Ambassador for the United States and served on the Presiding Bishop's United Nations delegation to COP29.
The Rev. Deacon Terri Storm holds a BSBA in Marketing from Creighton University and an MBA. A graduate of the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry in Topeka, Kansas, she heads the Lay Eucharistic Visitors Ministry, serves as Chaplain for the Daughters of the King at CHS, and works with Magdalene Nebraska and Bellevue Together.
The Vestry is the governing body of the parish. Members are elected to three-year terms. The 2026 officers are Senior Warden Judy Darrell, Junior Warden Ken Gomeringer, and Treasurer Marcia Adams. Other members are Josh Cain, Brian Caskie, Margie Crawford, Vince Cummings Jr., Rick Horejs, and Kristi Smith.
Visiting Church of the Holy Spirit
Visitors can attend any of the three weekend services without prior arrangement. A nursery is available, and children are welcome in worship. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm and can be reached at 402-291-7732 or at holyspirit@chsepiscopal.org. Online giving is available through Servant Keeper, and pledges for the coming year can also be made online.