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

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Above: Pastor Thompson takes
the controls of a bulldozer to down
the first brush during the
groundbreaking ceremony.
Right: The men of Concordia spent
weekends clearing brush from the new
church property, saving needed funds
and sharing fellowship.
Another negotiation to help solidify the use
of the campus was with the Texas District.
Thompson was able to convince the director
of missions for the District, Rev. Ken
Hennings, to plant a new Hispanic mission
congregation at 1826 Basse Rd., thus assuring
the continuation of services in the old sanctuary
after Concordia departed.
A building committee was formed to oversee
the massive project, chaired by Seale. Seale said
he accepted the task with three conditions: first,
that construction responsibility be separate from
the financing responsibility, second, that the
committee be small and comprised of veteran
Concordians with experience in construction,
and, third, that the objective of the group be to
establish a plan that would be overwhelmingly
approved by the congregation.
Joining Seale on the committee were Jim
Smith, Mike Manupelli, Alan Love and
Thompson. Bob Olson, congregational president,
and Jesse Martinez, Concordia’s business
manager, also sat in on the committee in an
advisory capacity.
Seale recalls that from the time of its formation
in 1996 until the construction was completed
in 1998, the committee met or talked by
phone at least three times each week. Seale said
he personally never went more than two days,
during that time, without dealing with some
aspect of the project.
According to Thompson, “David basically
put a lot of his business on hold for that period.
We were mightily blessed to have someone so
determined to do things the right way.”
In looking back over the nearly two year
process, Seale says it was “an incredible spiritual
experience for me. I am extremely grateful to
our members that they trusted me.”
The first item of business for the building
committee, according to Seale, was to create a
mission statement for the project.
“We set this statement before us and read it
over and over again as we worked through the
project,” said Seale.
The mission statement was: “We will endeavor
to build a landmark for Jesus Christ in our
community, within the resources that God provides
for us.”
The architectural firm of Overland Partners,
Inc. was selected to design the new church
campus. This was a firm which boasted years
of experience in designing church buildings
and campuses.
After extensive interviews with Concordia
staff and leaders, Overland Partners created a
master plan for the 50 acres. Building everything
in the plan, approximately 200,000 square
feet, would have cost over $25 million.
Priorities had to be set in place.
Included in the plan was a dramatic worship
center that was to tower over the property.
Because of its cost, it was one of the first things
to be placed on the back burner.
“I knew we had to build a school and we had
to build something in which to worship,” said
Thompson. “So our decision was to not build
56 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY