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

format was to be a series of seminars, to be held,
initially, in cities throughout Texas.
To go along with the seminars, Merkens
wrote his third book, Living Lutheran Leadership,
a takeoff on the LLL initials. This title also
became the name of the seminar series, which
began in 1965.
“Art was so wise,” noted Merkens. “His organization
was in place to assist the church and he
realized what better help can you give than hints
on how to win and keep people for Christ.”
During the seminars, usually held on a
Saturday or Sunday afternoon, both Merkens and
Samuel would speak. From January to June
1965, the pair scheduled seminars across Texas,
eventually reaching over ten thousand Lutherans.
Merkens recalled: “We spoke in everything
from churches to gymnasiums to hotel meeting
rooms, distributing the books as we went. That
was a real breakthrough for us, as we were then
featured in our synodical publications. Pretty
soon other districts asked, ‘When can you
come here?’”
Living Lutheran Leadership quickly grew
beyond Texas. Where Merkens and Samuel had
previously been able to drive to a seminar, they
now had to travel by air.
“At each stop, the people would come in,”
said Merkens, “we’d have lectures of about
twenty minutes a pop along with prayer and
✦
Above: Living Lutheran Leadership
plays to a packed house in St. Paul,
Minnesota, March 11, 1967.
Below: An article in the San Antonio
Express-News on February 12, 1972
announced that Concordia had been
included as one of only 15 churches in
America featured in the book, Great
Churches of Today.
Chapter II ✦ 25