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

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Above: Rev. Paul Burow served as
assistant pastor under Dr. Thompson
from 1997 through August 2000.
Right: Rev. Bill Reagan accepted the
call to Concordia in September 2000,
not knowing that the full weight of
leading the parish would soon fall on
his shoulders.
pastor of San Esteban Lutheran Church in San
Antonio. At the time of the call, Reagan was
working for the Texas District as Mission and
Ministry Facilitator. He had joined Concordia,
and his wife was teaching at Concordia School,
while he served the District.
Reagan, through sermon and teaching,
reminded Concordians that mission work was
the clearest expression of the Great
Commission. He encouraged the congregation
to become more mission-minded. The result of
Reagan’s mission emphasis was an opportunity
to minister to a community in Nicaragua.
The town Buenavista - El Congo was planning
a structure in which to hold school. And
other needs, such as healthcare, were evident.
The association was arranged through a
Concordia member, Oscar Velasquez, who has
business interests in Nicaragua.
Three Concordia members, Lenny Linkes,
Todd Reineck and Greg Styles, began organizing
Concordia’s first foreign mission trip.
In July 2001, 22 members of Concordia
departed for nearly two weeks in Buenavista - El
Congo, Chinandega, Nicaragua. The group was
divided into three. One group helped with construction
of the school building. A second provided
healthcare services to people in the community,
and a third provided Vacation Bible School for
children of the community.
“God is full of surprises,” noted Reagan. “I
shared with the congregation in October of
2000 my dream to take a team from Concordia
on a mission trip. I was hoping to take a group
of four or five men to the border to help do
some construction work at a Lutheran Church I
know in Nuevo Laredo. My long term goal was
to take a medical team and hold a clinic in a
poor area one day. The Lord surprised me. He
said ‘Nicaragua.’ I said, ‘Yes, sir!’
“Twenty-one members and I traveled to
Nicaragua. We built a school, led a Vacation
Bible School for three hundred children, and
our medical team of two doctors, a pharmacist,
and several nurses joined with local medical
authorities to deliver medical care to approximately
three hundred people. Buenavista - El
Congo is one of the poorest places on the planet.
People there live on the equivalent of one
dollar per day. It was great to see how our team
and the Nicaraguan people were able to get past
barriers of culture, language and history. Most
importantly, both the mission team and the local
community were touched by the love of God in
Christ Jesus! The local people kept asking us,
‘When are you coming back?’ The mission team
keeps asking me, ‘When are we going back?’
God willing, February 2002!”
When Reagan accepted the call to Concordia,
the furthest thing from his mind was to accept
72 ✦ THE CONCORDIA STORY