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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

✦ Right: An article in the San Antonio Express-News describes the Lutheran service held in the Catholic Cathedral in Worms, Germany, where Dr. Merkens preached to military personnel. Below: Concordia, along with many other Christian congregations, adopted Vietnamese refugee families during the mid-1980’s. These families were given hope and opportunity and eventually became self-sufficient thanks to Concordia’s generosity. One of the church’s innovative ideas made national news in 1987 with a front page story in USA Today. “For a long time it had bugged me that they changed from standard time to daylight savings time on Sunday morning,” said Merkens. “The idea was that this change, in which you lose an hour, would have the least impact on business if it was done on Sunday morning. But it had a big impact on the church. Most churches reported attendance was down by thirty to fifty percent on that Sunday. “So we simply told our people, ‘Don’t lose sleep that night. Come to church at the regular time and reset your watch at the end of the service.’ We did this for several years and word really got around. Attendance actually went up on that Sunday. Some members of other churches would come to Concordia that day, just so they could sleep an extra hour.” A few days prior to the change to daylight savings time in 1987, Merkens received a phone call from a reporter for USA Today. She interviewed Merkens and told him the story would be in that weekend’s edition. “I was just blown away when it appeared on page one,” said Merkens. “It was just amazing publicity for such a small, logical change.” The article began, “The Rev. Guido Merkens won’t lose any sleep Sunday when the USA 42 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY
springs forward to daylight-savings time. Merkens is asking 4,000 members at Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas, to ignore the change and attend morning services on standard time.” Merkens said Concordia continued this practice until the changeover day was moved to earlier in the year and often came on Easter Sunday. From 1978 to 1987 the name Merkens was heard nationwide during NFL game broadcasts, when Merkens’ son, Guido Jr., played for the Houston Oilers and the New Orleans Saints. Guido Jr. played a variety of positions, including quarterback, wide receiver, and punt returner under Coach Bum Phillips. Phillips called Guido Jr. “the best athlete I ever coached.” The professional football connection gave Dr. Merkens the opportunity to hold chapel for the Oilers and Saints and earned him a lifelong friendship with Phillips. In the late 1980’s Merkens’ travels continued to bring notice to the congregation. The book Creative Church Management was translated into several languages, including Korean. This led to Merkens’ invitation to speak at Lutheran churches in the Asian nations of South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and the Phillipines. In 1990 Merkens was invited to preach to U.S. military personnel in the cathedral at Worms, Germany. This was the location where, in 1521, Martin Luther was summoned before papal representatives, the Diet at Worms, for a hearing on his teachings. Luther, of course, refused to recant, and his stirring testimony at Worms included the famous line, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” The significance of Merkens’ appearance before the military group was that it was the first time a Lutheran service had ever been held in the old cathedral. “They really had to get permission from the pope for that event,” Merkens noted. The 1980’s and early 90’s were banner years for Concordia Lutheran School. The school was riding the crest of a national trend toward private schools and home schooling, a reaction to lowering expectations from the public school sector. Bruce Rudi became principal in 1989, with the retirement of Neva Odell. One of his first accomplishments was the expansion of the school to include middle school. This was begun in 1992 with the addition of the seventh grade. Each year two classes for each middle school grade were added. The first eighth grade graduation at Concordia took place in May, 1995. Several assistant pastors served Concordia from the 1980’s through the end of the Merkens era. Rev. Robert Jaeger joined the Concordia pastoral staff in 1984. He remained with the church until his retirement in 1996. Rev. Robert Boyce came to Concordia in 1986, but stayed less than a year. Rev. Victor Kollman, a former vicar at Concordia, was called in 1987. He served until 1992. Rev. David Kipp, a former lay minister who had gone on to formal seminary training, served Concordia from 1992 until early 1995. Rev. Patrick Boomhower, a former lawyer and FBI agent, came to Concordia as an associate in 1993 and served until 1995. Early in the decade of the 90’s it was becoming apparent that even Merkens’ dynamic ✦ Above: Neva Odell leads a school activity. Mrs. Odell served as Concordia’s principal from 1977 to 1989. She joined the school as a teacher in 1952. Left: This Concordia School classroom in 1990 featured a group of enthusiastic, bright young men and women. Chapter III ✦ 43
Page 1 and 2: THE CONCORDIA STORY A Fifty-Year Hi
Page 3 and 4: THE CONCORDIA STORY A Fifty-Year Hi
Page 5 and 6: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first came to Co
Page 7 and 8: gregations across the U.S. and in m
Page 9 and 10: ✦ Left: The original chapel serve
Page 11 and 12: Rast that this aggressive, young pa
Page 13 and 14: that would express God’s love thr
Page 15 and 16: Address Record, which gave us the n
Page 17 and 18: School led to action. A companion b
Page 19 and 20: they kept in mind Merkens’ commen
Page 21 and 22: was sent gratis by CPH to every pas
Page 23 and 24: We tried to get everything done in
Page 25 and 26: Perhaps the innovation in which Mer
Page 27 and 28: format was to be a series of semina
Page 29 and 30: other congregations, all of which h
Page 31 and 32: ✦ Left: “They come to play and
Page 33 and 34: prospective members, and over one h
Page 35 and 36: ✦ Above: At Easter Sunday service
Page 37 and 38: ice.’ So they came that week and
Page 39 and 40: The year 1982 marked the publicatio
Page 41 and 42: ✦ Left: Concordia operated a bus
Page 43: The day was planned so the dedicati
Page 47 and 48: eally selling short the good people
Page 49 and 50: Still the period beginning in Janua
Page 51 and 52: ✦ Left: The sanctuary as it looke
Page 53 and 54: has up here on 281,” Thompson sai
Page 55 and 56: experience as a lay pastor had dram
Page 57 and 58: tract for the purchase, but also au
Page 59 and 60: ✦ Left: Carl Steiger, right, serv
Page 61 and 62: gage. And it was not the kind of pr
Page 63 and 64: ✦ Left: San Antonio Mayor Howard
Page 65 and 66: two full-time pastors and two part-
Page 67 and 68: ✦ Left: Concordia’s Men’s Min
Page 69 and 70: Seminar speakers, like Paul Maier,
Page 71 and 72: Concordia who live in the area and
Page 73 and 74: Prior to the arrival of the Prieto
Page 75 and 76: ✦ Far left: Concordians Mike Manu
Page 77 and 78: ✦ Above: Concordia’s administra
Page 79 and 80: P ASTORS W HO H AVE S ERVED C ONCOR
Page 81 and 82: ✦ Above: Adult Bible Class is hel
Page 83: Sunday School, 1952. Vacation Bible

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?