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

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Above. left: A Living Lutheran
Leadership seminar was held in the
chapel of Valparaiso University.
Above, right: Living Lutheran Leadership
came to Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago
on May 13, 1969. Merkens had the
special privilege of presenting a copy of
his book to his father.
Below: Dr. J.A.O. Preuss preached at
a church enlargement dedication in
March 1973.
forward, row by row, to deposit their written
pledges in a box on the altar.
The Loyalty Sunday campaign involved
weeks of preparation, a sermon on Christian
giving, and weeks of follow-up for those not in
attendance. But the public expression involved
in dropping the pledge card into a box in front
of the entire congregation had a dramatic
impact on contributions at Concordia.
“I remember some of those Loyalty Sundays
were great spiritual moments for the congregation,
and for me. Most of those Sundays I’d just
stand there with tears of joy and gratitude to
God to see these people coming forward with
their promises of intent of Christian giving in
their hands and laying it on the altar.”
Merkens said that Loyalty Sunday always
drew some of the biggest attendance numbers of
the year. “We would often reach 75 to 80 percent
of the families on that one Sunday,” he
noted, “The relatively few absentees were visited
later that day.”
It was becoming obvious that the methods of
growth and ministry being used at Concordia
could, and should, be taught to other Lutheran
and non-Lutheran churches. One of those who
came to this conclusion was a dedicated lay
leader, Art Samuel, who was also the Texas
District president of the Lutheran Layman’s
League. Samuel took to heart the mission of the
LLL, which was to help the church grow.
Samuel and Merkens began developing a plan
to teach church leaders and pastors about church
growth techniques developed at Concordia. The
24 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY