Prepared by the Interim Ministry Task Force
August 2009 – Updated July 2011
INTERIM MINISTRY TASK FORCE –
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH, OTTAWA, KANSAS
Footprints in Faith through Bible Study
Lewis Buck appears to have been a major force in leading the church by example and power of personality. His gifts ranged from being an outstanding lay evangelist, a gifted teacher and leader. As the church grew and moved to 12th and Cedar, other leaders and teachers who joined the church, used their gifts to further strengthen and enhance the success of the men who served as pastors and leaders of the church. People like Paul Bowersox and Frank Brown were often mentioned among these teachers and lay leaders.
Faith has always emphasized Adult Bible Study and God has blessed the congregation with many adult class teachers. Lay-led adult classes received a boost in 1968 when Pastor Zimmerman began preaching at the Garnett Mission, while still conducting services at Faith. At that time Frank Brown began teaching the adult Sunday morning class. In 1989 Pastor Zimmerman and wife Marilyn were chosen by the Kansas District to begin a new adult bible study called “life/Light.” Now, Faith has several Bible classes during the week as well as Sunday morning. In 2006 a Men’s Bible study breakfast began and continues to today.
In an interview with Pastor Duran for the writing of this paper, John shared this story. “One year I got an inspiration for what I thought would make a terrific Bible class. I shared the idea with Bill Eales who was in charge of adult classes at the time. Bill remarked, “Sorry Pastor, we’re full up for classes and teachers for this term. We might be able to work you in during the spring or summer term.”
Footprints of Faith through Evangelism
Pastor Earl Zimmerman and Pastor John Duran continued this strong support for evangelism. When Pastor Zimmerman began his ministry in 1965, he had a heart for all Lutherans, as well as a desire to reach the unchurched. What developed was a congregation made up of members from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church (WELS), as well as the old American Lutheran Church (ALC), United Lutheran Church (ULC), and the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), synods now in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), as well as Christians from other backgrounds seeking a church home in which they were comfortable. Amazingly, they all learned to coexist and function in unity.
Pastor Zimmerman embraced the diversity when he arrived on the scene here in Ottawa. He was blessed with a Christ centered layman named Lewis Buck. As mentioned earlier, Lewis provided a list of 26 families he thought would be open to the Gospel. Pastor Zimmerman began working though all 26 names, many of which had large families. Another major contributor to the early evangelism efforts of the church was the Vacation Bible School, held each summer led by Patty Buck, Clara Conner and Pastor. Pastor Zimmerman said attendance reached as high as 90, an amazing number for such a small congregation. During the 1970’s,Faith Lutheran Church was growing at a rate of 10% a year.
In 1972, Pastor Zimmerman began a radio ministry at KOFO Radio now known as “Life with God.” The radio manager at the time suggested something different than the full church service radio programs already being broadcast by two other churches. The manager listened regularly to the Lutheran Hour. He suggested to Pastor Zimmerman to model his program after the Lutheran Hour. Tapes or records provided the music for the program which was played by an employee of the station. Pastor Zimmerman would preach the message and do the prayers. The radio program originally was broadcast live. This program was continued by Pastor Duran and Pastor Wiese and is currently presented by Pastor Adams.
In an attempt to better equip the congregation for evangelism, Pastor Zimmerman wanted to have some members trained in the Kennedy Evangelism approach. Learning that Faith was considering this, two ladies from First Baptist contacted Pastor Zimmerman about going with the Faith group for training. After receiving permission from the Pastor at First Baptist, it was decided that the two ladies from First Baptist plus Frank Brown, Lewis Buck, Elizabeth Cole, and Pastor would be trained. When a member of 1st Baptist Church, George Wingert, heard about the project, he said the training needed to be done by the best, Kennedy himself. Arrangements were made for the group to be trained in California at Kennedy’s church. George Wingert paid for the entire project, including the two ladies from First Baptist.
The Pastors and leaders of Faith Lutheran did not put up road blocks to outreach. The more open policy towards communion is an example. While still Biblically based, the less restrictive policy on communion, in contrast to the sometimes very restrictive “closed” communion policy maintained by some LCMS churches, opened the opportunity for Faith Lutheran to have greater outreach.
The church also grew because of its commitment to COF clients with developmental disabilities who were made a part of the church’s life. The education of these clients became a symbol of how the congregation was reaching out to the community and putting into practice the teaching that Jesus came to save all people.
God blesses congregations in many ways, but these two blessings of evangelical outreach-minded pastors and gifted adult Bible class teachers have certainly been major blessings for Faith Lutheran Church, Ottawa.
Congregation life at 12th and Cedar Ottawa
The addition of the fellowship hall to the church at 12th and Cedar in the 1970s was a concern to some who were more conservative with their money. Some members felt it was important to pay all the bills and have money in the bank in the event of hard times. Some felt there was a great need to put money in missions and look for ways to expand. Others felt the original plans for the church should be followed. These plans would have added offices to the south of the building rather than the fellowship space that could double as additional worship seating space.