The Concordia Story: A Fifty-Year History of Concordia Lutheran Church 1951-2001

that would express God’s love through Christian
concord for 50 years.
The first service was held at Concordia
Lutheran Church, 1826 Basse Road, on
November 4, 1951, a day after the first building
was completed.
There were 64 people in attendance at worship
and 22 in Sunday School.
“Each Sunday more people came and they
invited others, so we had steady growth from
the first week,” Merkens said.
The first child to be baptized at Concordia
was Tanya Lynn Tinker at the Sunday service of
December 9, 1951.
A week later, December 16, 1951, the charter
meeting was held, the official birth date of
Concordia congregation. Signing the corporate
charter that day were 37 charter members. At
the charter meeting and service Merkens was
officially called as the pastor, officers were elected,
and the Lord’s Supper was served for the first
time. Major Herman Bretzer was elected as the
first congregational president.
“It was a wonderful, memorable day,”
Merkens relates.
With Concordia Lutheran Church formally in
place, the small congregation, led by Merkens,
set about winning new souls and becoming an
institution unique in Lutheranism.
Although Concordia’s early members had no hint
of how large the church could become, Merkens
remained focused on his personal goal of being one
of the largest in Synod, God willing, “but a truly
Lutheran church, Bible-based and Christ-exalting.”
✦
Above: Pastor Merkens presided over
a ceremony to lay the cornerstone of
the main sanctuary in 1955.
Below: Groundbreaking for the main
sanctuary was on Easter Sunday, 1955.
Chapter I ✦ 11