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

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✦ Above: Boxes...and more boxes...are unloaded at the new campus. Below: Mementos from Basse Road are collected by Concordia School students on the last day of school in 1998. The items, including the original school cornerstone, were moved to the new school for display. written by the church growth agency. The LCEF had financed only one project larger than $10 million, and Concordia’s undertaking was at least fifty percent larger. Haake, who so diligently advocated the Concordia project to the LCEF board, died before seeing the project completed. The difference between the amount loaned by LCEF and the ultimate cost was to be covered by pledges from Concordia members. To achieve the maximum commitment from the membership, Concordia did something it had never done in its 45 years. The church hired a fund-raising consultant to run a capital campaign. The consultant, Resource Services, Inc., had conducted numerous church building programs in the past, and helped bring a new level of involvement by members into the building campaign. The campaign, named “Share His Love” was chaired by Gorder and incorporated dozens of Concordians in campaign leadership positions. Ultimately, the campaign reached every Concordia family with complete information on the proposed construction project, the dollar amounts required, and compelling reasons to pledge to the effort. The campaign got under way in mid-1996 and culminated with a Sunday afternoon praise service and barbecue at Fiesta Texas on November 10, 1996. Gorder says the campaign “mobilized the whole congregation. As momentum built through the fall of 1996, people got more and more excited.” “Then we had the celebration at Fiesta Texas where members made their pledges to the building campaign. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. We had about fifteen hundred people there. We had great music and great testimonials. We turned in our pledge cards, and then we had the barbecue. But after the meal, nobody left. They just stayed there, talking and the kids played out in the open areas. That was the day when Concordia re-discovered that it was a family.” The “Share His Love” campaign fell short of its goal, but $5 million was raised in cash and pledges, enough for a down payment and initial mortgage payments. “The interesting thing,” said Thompson, “was that the money, to a great extent, came from those who been most closely allied with Dr. Merkens.” The $5 million pledged over three years was enough to make a down payment on the project and to begin making payments on the LCEF mortgage. Including the land purchase, the entire project cost $17 million, with $14 million provided by LCEF. During the spring of 1997 the men of Concordia held a series of brush clean up days, to help prepare the acreage for the work to come. Formal groundbreaking took place on July 20, 1997, and site work began shortly thereafter. Fourteen months later, in July 1998, the day care center opened with 175 children enrolled and a long waiting list. The school opened two weeks later than expected, in August 1998, and the administration building was occupied at the 60 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY
✦ Left: San Antonio Mayor Howard Peak visits with members during the dedication of the new Concordia campus, November 1, 1998. Below: One of the featured speakers at Concordia’s campus dedication was Rev. Buckner Fanning, long time pastor of Trinity Baptist Church. same time. On October 4, 1998 the first worship service was held in the new sanctuary and on November 1, 1998, the 47th anniversary of Concordia, the campus was dedicated. Participating in the dedication was a host of San Antonio and Bexar County dignitaries, including Mayor Howard Peak, Councilman Tim Bannwolff (a member of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran), Police Chief Al Philipus (who later joined Concordia) and Trinity Baptist’s Buckner Fanning. The entire construction project had been completed on schedule and within one percent of budget. Moving furniture and fixtures accumulated during 47 years at 1826 Basse Road was a massive challenge. According to Thompson, bids were solicited from professional moving companies, but they were so high that another plan was soon considered. “We rented a small fleet of U-Haul trucks in August 1998 and moved the entire campus in two days,” recalls Thompson. “We threw stuff away. We had a garage sale and then we threw more stuff away when we got here. In all, the move cost us just about $3,000.” Concordia had accomplished something only a few churches in America had ever attempted. It had moved the entire campus eleven miles to the north, provided for continued ministry at the original location, and had done all this with overwhelming support from a large and diverse membership base. It had taken vision. It had taken sacrifice. It had taken the power of the Holy Spirit. And it had taken a lot of hard work. But Concordia Lutheran Church was now located at 1604 and Huebner in the center of San Antonio’s residential growth pattern. Chapter IV ✦ 61
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THE CONCORDIA STORY A Fifty-Year Hi
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THE CONCORDIA STORY A Fifty-Year Hi
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first came to Co
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gregations across the U.S. and in m
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✦ Left: The original chapel serve
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Page 15 and 16: Address Record, which gave us the n
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Page 19 and 20: they kept in mind Merkens’ commen
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Page 29 and 30: other congregations, all of which h
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Page 35 and 36: ✦ Above: At Easter Sunday service
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Page 39 and 40: The year 1982 marked the publicatio
Page 41 and 42: ✦ Left: Concordia operated a bus
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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
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Page 65 and 66: two full-time pastors and two part-
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Page 69 and 70: Seminar speakers, like Paul Maier,
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Page 73 and 74: Prior to the arrival of the Prieto
Page 75 and 76: ✦ Far left: Concordians Mike Manu
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Page 83: Sunday School, 1952. Vacation Bible
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The Concordia Story: A Fifty-Year History of Concordia Lutheran Church 1951-2001

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