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

members recall Merkens’ slogan: “They come to
play and they stay to pray.”
“That slogan really worked,” recalls Clay
Hammonds, who coached softball teams at
Concordia for 29 years. He points to neighborhood
youngsters like David Seale, who first came
to Concordia through sports and later joined the
church and became one of its lay leaders.
He also notes that when the gymnasium was
built, the doors were always open for neighborhood
youngsters to play basketball or volleyball.
By the mid-1950’s a new main sanctuary was
sorely needed, and construction was begun. It was
dedicated on a cold December Sunday in 1955.
According to Bill Wagner: “Dedication Day
coincided with a real blue norther. Clergy and
choir robes flew in the wind. Hair-do’s collapsed.
And it was the coldest day of the year. While the
congregation shivered outside, the chairman of
the building committee couldn’t get the front
door unlocked. Someone finally slipped in a
back door and unlocked it from inside.”
“It held about 450, and we thought it was
really big, but almost immediately we had to go
to two services,” Merkens noted. “That sanctuary,
with its high roof, bell tower and stained
glass, was a real attention-grabber in our modest
community. We had a lot of visitors that year.”
Bobbye Wagner recalls how the sanctuary’s
bell tower almost didn’t happen: “As congregation
leaders drew plans for the new sanctuary,
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Above: Groundbreaking for the airconditioned
gymnasium and narthex
took place on August 9, 1959. Left to
right, Dean Dammann, Gerald Smetzer,
Walter Theis, and Pastor Merkens.
Right: The skeleton of Concordia’s
gymnasium begins to take shape
beside Concordia’s main sanctuary.
16 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY