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 to 15th and Eisenhower
The impetus to move from the 12th and Cedar location to 15th and Eisenhower came with the gift from Gertrude Blum whose family owned and operated a grocery store in Ottawa. Although she was not living in Ottawa at the time of her death, Gertrude Blum named Faith Lutheran Ottawa as one of her beneficiaries. Her gift to the church was $370,000. The money came with God’s timing. While some felt the money could be used for missions or an addition to our savings account, others saw the money as the hand of God beckoning them to the next step in God’s plan for Faith to play in the community. The congregation was considering what they could do to grow. The same issues of how to spend money were present. There was no shared vision on a long range plan for the growth of the congregation.
At about this time the owner of what is now ORV had determined the land west of Twyman was surplus for his purposes. He put the land on the market. This action came to the attention of Marty Burik. He shared the information with others in the congregation, and they contacted John Peiman, an accountant with expertise in charitable donations. John worked with the ORV land owner and worked out a way to make the property affordable to us and a charitable donation for the land owner. Faith bought half the block and he donated the other half.
Once the land was purchased, the congregation needed to fund a building. Two funding campaigns were done to gather the needed money for building a new facility. At about this time a local dairy farmer, Roy Sandstrom, was looking for a facility to worship in. Pilgrim Bible Church was able to purchase the building at 12th and Cedar as a result of his contribution to them.
Faith Lutheran continued to worship at the old church until the spring of 2002. The auditorium at Garfield Elementary School was rented as a place of worship until the new church was ready for occupation. The first service at 15th and Eisenhower was June of 2002. A procession from the church at 12th and Cedar to the new facility was led by Pastor Duran carrying the cross, followed by the Sunday School classes and those adults who were able to walk some or all of the distance. The church dedication was on October 6, 2002.
Leaving Footprints at 15th and Eisenhower
Faith made great strides after its move to its current location. The spirit of evangelism was rekindled during the Forty Days of Purpose program. This strong focus on Bible study, coupled with outreach, opened the church to the community. The members of the church worked diligently to make this congregation a place for all to worship. Through the strong leadership of Pastor Duran and the leadership of its members, Faith began experimenting with its worship services in an effort to strike a balance between different worship styles. Vivian Massaglia began developing a contemporary music program which was further developed by Scott Dawson in 2005. The contemporary worship service coupled with the traditional service was key to the success of becoming a leading church in the community.
Space in our new church building was very carefully planned in order to accommodate our growth. As a result, we have a larger sanctuary with areas for overflow, more Sunday School classrooms, a sacristy that enables those serving on altar care to more easily carry out their duties, a kitchen with the necessary appliances to provide church dinners, a fellowship hall that will accommodate our church dinners and other functions, and an enlarged preschool classroom and playground.
Although we were moving into a beautiful new building, there were still items that we needed but had not been funded. We sold the organ with the building at 12thand Cedar. With budget constraints regarding our new building, there was much discussion about purchasing a new organ. The members felt that an organ was an integral part of our worship service but how was it going to be funded. From 2000-2002, money received from donations and memorial money enabled our congregation to purchase the $24,000 organ which played at our first service.
From 2002-2004, over $4000 from memorials and donations were collected and used for landscaping since this was not included in our original building cost. A handbell choir was added in 2007. A sister church in Omaha, Nebraska was disbanding and we were able to purchase their handbells for $5600. Our sanctuary has several large windows at the front but there was no stained glass. Many members felt a church needed to have stained glass windows so a fund was established. It took several years to raise the $35,000, but by 2008 the money was there due to memorials and donations and fundraising efforts as LWML dinners, with the proceeds contributed to the fund.
Although our fellowship hall was being used for many activities, it was limited in its use because of the “echo” of all the sound in the area. A $25,000 sound proofing system in 2008, and an approximately $10,000 sound system in 2009 now allows full use of the fellowship hall. Once again, these were not budgeted items, but rather were made possible through memorial money and donations.
Because of our larger facility, we have been blessed with new opportunities and programs. Our mid-week program was expanded in 2003 when we began our LOGOS program. During the 2008-2009 school year approximately 75 children attended LOGOS and over 35 dedicated adults volunteered each week.
Our fellowship hall has a stage and, with the addition of the sound system, can now be used for a variety of activities. The first musical presented was entitled 100% Chance of Rain and was performed by children in grades 1-8 who attended LOGOS. What a great production!
Our preschool has seen growth in enrollment since we moved into our new church building. Last year 80 families enrolled their children in our preschool classes. Only 9 families were members of our church. Of the remaining families, approximately 37 did not have a church home.
Faith has given seminary assistance to Ron Rather, a former member of our congregation and to Peter Lange, a former DCE of Faith. Both are now ordained ministers. Our church has the largest number of trained deacons and lay assistants of any church in the state. We have had 5 men and 4 women complete the intensive 2 year training since 2000. Their commitment to Bible study and being servants is evident in their activities in our church and other area churches when needed.