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

eally selling short the good people of
Concordia. And it was disregarding the Spiritled
work that had been done through the years.
After all, the real connection here was between
the Concordia family and Jesus Christ, first,
then the connection with each other, and then
the connection with Dr. Merkens.”
During Merkens’ last few months at
Concordia, much was done to pave the way for
the transition period. Ebs was asked by Merkens
to defer his own retirement and to serve as the
“interim senior pastor.” It was a request that
would have been nearly impossible for the dedicated
associate pastor to decline.
Merkens also helped pick the men to serve on
the call committee. David Seale, who would play
the pivotal role in Concordia’s eventual move, was
✦
Left: Rev. Norman Abbott was called
to Concordia in 1976 and has served
faithfully since. In 2001, at 84 years
of age, Abbott continued to teach
women’s Bible class and to make calls
on shut-ins.
Below: An article in The Lutheran
Witness describes Concordia’s use of
Friendship Sunday as an opportunity
for members to invite hundreds to
experience a Sunday morning of
worship and Bible study.
Concordia. The opportunity was an offer for
him to serve as “executive counselor” of a major
campaign to be conducted by the Lutheran
Laymen’s League. The campaign was designed
to help bring The Lutheran Hour and other
Lutheran programming to television. It seemed
a perfect transition for Merkens, who was
approaching his 67th year.
“At the time I was wondering what I was
going to do after being senior pastor of
Concordia for all those years,” Merkens remembered.
“I knew I would never leave Concordia
for another church, nor would the people have
understood that. After all, forty times in forty
years I received calls and forty times declined.
Merkens said what finally convinced him to
accept the LLL position was a letter from Dr.
Oswald Hoffman, the venerable and persuasive
Lutheran Hour speaker. “That closed the deal,”
Merkens said.
Merkens had paved the way for his transition
through discussions with the board of elders
and church council. But his announcement from
the pulpit that he would be leaving Concordia
in December 1993 was still a great shock.
Pastor Ebs says the belief that Concordia
could not continue without Merkens was real to
some members.
“There were some who mistakenly said, ‘If
Dr. Merkens ever leaves, you can just close the
doors ’cause it will all collapse.’ But that was
Chapter III ✦ 45