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

two full-time pastors and two part-time pastors
were on the church payroll, compared with five
full-time pastors in the early 1990’s.
Departments, such as youth ministry, children’s
ministry, adult education, business, and
others, were headed by directors.
A highly visible and, at times, controversial
aspect of Concordia’s ministry was its music program.
Rhoda Canion, Merkens’ sister, had served
as organist and music director at Basse Road as
long as most Concordians could remember. She
stayed on after Thompson became senior pastor.
“Rhoda allowed me to introduce a lot of new
music, but it was still organ and choir primarily,
and a style with which Concordia was comfortable,”
said Thompson. “When she announced
plans to retire (in 1996) I knew we had to find
someone who was intimately familiar with contemporary
Christian music.”
Thompson’s choice for the position was Gary
Lohmeyer, whom he describes as “the best
bridge organist/musician in the Missouri
Synod.” Lohmeyer was equally comfortable
hammering out old Lutheran hymns on the
organ or leading a contemporary group with
keyboard, guitars, and drums.
“Music,” Thompson notes, “is the most
important element in drawing people into worship
today. Just look at how powerful music is
in our culture. Luther understood this. Look at
how he introduced music. In Luther’s time, that
music was contemporary to those people.
Somewhere the church stopped keeping up with
changing music styles.”
Lohmeyer said his goal was to blend a variety
of styles into Concordia’s worship life.
“It’s simply a matter of being committed to ministering
to a diversity of needs of people,” Lohmeyer
✦
Above: Gary Lohmeyer, Concordia’s
music director, led the way in giving
Concordia’s worship services a
decidedly more contemporary flavor.
Left: Jeff Morrison sings during the
Christmas Eve musical drama in 1998.
Chapter V ✦ 63