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

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Above: Mrs. Verena Moll was honored
for her 29 years of service as a Sunday
School teacher, September 13, 1998.
Below: Concordia’s men participated
in this living depiction of Leonardo da
Vinci’s The Last Supper as part of
Holy Week, 1997. Posing with the
actors are the scene’s directors.
“Concordia was just full of great people,”
Thompson said. “I was so impressed with the people
I got to know. They were evangelisticallyminded.
They were outreach-minded. And they
were willing to do what was necessary for
Concordia to continue to reach people for Christ.
“There was a group of core people—the ones
who had been close to Dr. Merkens—who really
had that sense of outreach. He had trained
them well. That’s why they eventually voted to
move to 1604.”
The Thompson era also brought new staff
people to Concordia, many who had previously
been associated with Thompson in Michigan.
“I brought in staff people I knew,” said
Thompson, “because I needed people who
would immediately be on the team and know
the game plan.”
With the departure of Pastors Boomhower
and Kipp, a call was extended to Rev. Carl
Schneider, one of Thompson’s Michigan associates.
Schneider served the congregation until
just prior to the move to 1604.
Another former Michigan pastor to serve
Concordia was Paul Burow. Burow came to
Concordia in 1997 and served until 2000.
Thompson’s move from Michigan to Texas
was truly a homecoming for the pastor and his
wife, Pat.
Thompson grew up in Houston, where his
parents joined the Lutheran Church when he
was three, so that Thompson’s brother could
attend Lutheran day school.
He attended Bethany Lutheran Church and
Bethany school as a youngster. Then he enrolled
in Houston’s Lutheran High School, where he
met Pat. The two married shortly after graduation
and Thompson began college, working
toward a degree in advertising and marketing.
During his college days at the University of
Houston, Thompson became involved in a mission
project sponsored by Houston’s St. Mark’s
Lutheran Church to begin a mission parish in
the east Texas community of Livingston. He
took the job as lay minister serving that congregation
and eventually another in Cleveland.
During this time he transferred his studies to
Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.
Thompson received his bachelor of business
administration from Sam Houston in 1969. The
52 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY