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

experience as a lay pastor had dramatically
altered his career objectives, however. He realized
he was being called to full-time ministry
and entered the seminary at Springfield, Illinois.
Thompson credits his father-in-law and
Guido Merkens as being two of the strongest
influences on his interest in ministry.
“I didn’t know Dr. Merkens at that time, but
I had heard him preach and I knew what he had
done to impact the Missouri Synod. I remember
the first time I heard him preach was at a
Reformation Rally in Houston. I was really
impressed,” Thompson said.
Thompson, Pat, and their newborn daughter,
Michelle, survived through the seminary years,
supported by Thompson’s work as manager of
the seminary book store.
His previous pastoral experience and his diligence
in study enabled Thompson to complete
the three years of coursework in less than two
years. The first parish to which he was called was
in Galesburg, Illinois, where he served until 1977.
At that time he received and accepted a call to
the oldest church in New England, in Bristol,
Connecticut. Then in 1981, Thompson accepted a
call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Utica, Michigan.
Thirteen years later, in 1994, Thompson said
Trinity had become a church that ran like a fine
machine. Everybody knew what to do and
everybody did it.
“I had absolutely no reason to leave, but God
was rattling my cage,” said Thompson. “Earlier I
had been contacted by Concordia University in
Austin about their presidency. I responded to
their questionnaire and interview, but after
some consideration, I withdrew my name from
the call list. But it helped me realize that I was
becoming a bit too complacent at Utica.”
When Thompson received the call to
Concordia, he said he had the usual reservations.
“Nobody wanted to follow a founding pastor, who
had been there for 42 years,” Thompson said.
“But I knew that I was being asked to play a
special role in a special church. Concordia was
a church that had aged with its pastor. That
was a problem. Concordia congregation obviously
needed renewal. The church was in a
declining neighborhood. But Concordia was
just too important to our denomination to just
let it go. These were all things I thought about
while I was considering the call.”
It took only a few days for the Thompson’s to
decide that the Lord was calling them to San
Antonio. The call was accepted.
Although the idea of moving Concordia to a
new site had been discussed by Thompson and
the call committee, it was far from the major
point in their discussion. But after Thompson’s
installation it quickly became the primary issue
for the church.
Thompson noted that on the first Sunday he
preached, during his Bible class open forum
three questions were asked that set the tone for
Concordia’s future.
“The first question was, ‘Don’t you believe we
should have women voters?’ The second was,
✦
Above: Concordia Lutheran School
received full accreditation in 1997.
Accepting the credentials are Chris
Miller, Pastor Thompson, Bruce Rudi,
and Donna Rupp.
Below: Lutherans from throughout the
San Antonio area gathered in
Concordia’s sanctuary on November 2,
1997 for Lutheran Fest, celebrating
the 150th anniversary of the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.
Chapter IV ✦ 53