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

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Left: Concordia operated a bus
ministry in the early 1980’s that
brought dozens of kids to Concordia
for Sunday School.
Below: Groundbreaking for the
Ministry Building took place on
October 21, 1984. Turning the
spades, from left to right, are Dr.
Merkens, Dan Banks, Wayne Hake,
and Victor Leitko.
Although some zones were more active than
others, Ebs believes the program helped bring
the congregation closer together.
“There were lifelong relationships established
through the zone program,” Ebs said. “Some
people needed this formal structure to allow
themselves to become caregivers to others.
There are just dozens of stories of how the zone
care program led to help and healing for
Concordia members.”
Along with the zone program, Concordia set
up a whole series of generation-specific groups
to promote activities and fellowship among
members. These groups were given catchy
names like “Motivators” and “Celebrators.” They
held dinners and events for members who fit
into that group’s age category. These groups continued
to function throughout the 1980’s and
early 1990’s, with the “Motivators” group, aged
50 and above, still active today.
In the mid-1980’s Merkens and the congregational
leadership began planning for a major
building to meet a number of needs at the
church. The lack of office space was an obvious
need, but there was also a shortage of meeting
space and adequate nursery facilities. Added to
this was Merkens’ desire to expand the health
ministry to offer members counseling and wellness
services.
All these needs were incorporated into a fourstory
high rise structure named the Ministry
Building. Included in the new building was a
chapel where the smaller funerals and weddings
could be conducted. The chapel also served as
an overflow for the packed services in the sanc-
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