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

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68 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY pete in scholastic competitions sponsored by the Association of Christian Schools International, Private Schools Interscholastic Competition, and Lutheran School Association. Principal Bruce Rudi leads a staff of 53 trained educators and support personnel to serve the school’s 450 students. Many of Concordia Lutheran School’s students represent the second and third generation to attend. Graduates of Concordia School are traditionally high achievers. In the spring of 2001, two graduates were high school valedictorians, two former students were at West Point, and three were in medical school. Many former Cardinals have gone on to become pastors, teachers, and other Lutheran church professionals. In May 2001 Concordia School received its highest honor when it was named by the U.S. Department of Education as a “National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.” The distinction was conferred in the 2000-2001 school year upon just 264 schools nationwide and only 10 in the San Antonio area. The honor is the highest and most prestigious award that can be conferred upon a school. Concordia’s Day Care Center has been an important ministry of the congregation since 1969. The maximum number of children, which could be cared for at the Basse Road location, was 75. In the current Day Care Center, 175 pre-schoolers are cared for on a daily basis. The popularity of the facility is evident in the waiting list, which has been as long as 400. Despite Concordia’s move, worship never ceased at 1826 Basse Road. Lutheran High School took over full management of the 13- acre campus upon the church’s departure. From its modest beginning in 1994, Lutheran High School has steadily grown to 170 students in the 2000-2001 school year. Concordia is one of six congregations which support the school through the Lutheran High School Association. The church located on the campus, which worships in the old Concordia sanctuary, remains a District-supported mission and is now called Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church. Rev. Eloy Gonzales, formerly a lay pastor in the Rio Grande Valley, leads the growing congregation. Although the church conducts bilingual worship, only slightly over half of the members are Hispanic. Many are former members of
Concordia who live in the area and have kept the old church as their spiritual home. Although at one time Concordia, at the Basse Road campus, had offered family and personal counseling by trained Christian psychologists, this had not been a part of Concordia’s ministry for several years. Then in 2000 Rev. Steve Farmer, a former Concordia vicar, joined the staff on a part-time basis offering counseling services to members. Farmer’s counseling work ✦ Opposite, top to bottom: Crafts and coloring are just a few of the activities the 500 Vacation Bible School participants enjoyed in 2001. Director of Children’s Ministries Nicole Young leads youngsters in praise during the 2001 Vacation Bible School. Fun, games and drama spark excitement at Vacation Bible School in 2000. Leading praise are Lynn Gray, left, and Angela Leonhardt, right. Above: Students and faculty of Concordia Lutheran School earned the highest educational honor from the U.S. Department of Education in 2001 by being named a “Blue Ribbon School.” Left: The 2000-2001 Concordia School staff provided the excellence in teaching required for the school’s designation as a Blue Ribbon School. Chapter V ✦ 69
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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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Rast that this aggressive, young pa
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that would express God’s love thr
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Address Record, which gave us the n
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School led to action. A companion b
Page 19 and 20: they kept in mind Merkens’ commen
Page 21 and 22: was sent gratis by CPH to every pas
Page 23 and 24: We tried to get everything done in
Page 25 and 26: Perhaps the innovation in which Mer
Page 27 and 28: format was to be a series of semina
Page 29 and 30: other congregations, all of which h
Page 31 and 32: ✦ Left: “They come to play and
Page 33 and 34: prospective members, and over one h
Page 35 and 36: ✦ Above: At Easter Sunday service
Page 37 and 38: ice.’ So they came that week and
Page 39 and 40: The year 1982 marked the publicatio
Page 41 and 42: ✦ Left: Concordia operated a bus
Page 43 and 44: The day was planned so the dedicati
Page 45 and 46: springs forward to daylight-savings
Page 47 and 48: eally selling short the good people
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
Page 61 and 62: gage. And it was not the kind of pr
Page 63 and 64: ✦ Left: San Antonio Mayor Howard
Page 65 and 66: two full-time pastors and two part-
Page 67 and 68: ✦ Left: Concordia’s Men’s Min
Page 69: Seminar speakers, like Paul Maier,
Page 73 and 74: Prior to the arrival of the Prieto
Page 75 and 76: ✦ Far left: Concordians Mike Manu
Page 77 and 78: ✦ Above: Concordia’s administra
Page 79 and 80: P ASTORS W HO H AVE S ERVED C ONCOR
Page 81 and 82: ✦ Above: Adult Bible Class is hel
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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