Grace Lutheran Receives a New Pastor

The Ordination and Installation Service for Candidate of Theology John E. Merseth Sr., was held at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Weston, Ohio on July 11, 2004 at 4:00 pm.  Clergy from both the ELS and WELS were present.  President Gaylin Schmeling preached the sermon on the theme: "Through Christian preaching God is speaking." The Lector was the Reverend Paul Lehenbauer. of Abiding Word Lutheran Church of Bowling Green, Ohio. The Reverend Kenneth Mellon was the liturgist who also preformed the Rite of Ordination and Installation. The stole presented to Pastor Merseth had belonged to his uncle, the late Reverend Alf Merseth. The choir sang "Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus." John Merseth, Jr. sang the Lord's Prayer and the Merseth family sang the Benediction. The ladies of Grace served a wonderful meal following the service. 

Pictured L to R: L. Vinton, A Frandle, G. Schmeling, T. Smuda, J. Mittelstadt, J. Merseth, P Lehenbauer, G. Smith, N. Merseth, R. Krueger, K. Mellon

Candidate Erich Hoeft Ordained

The members of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Clara City, Minnesota celebrated the ordination and installation of their new pastor, the Rev. Erich Hoeft at a service on June 27, 2004 at 4:00 pm. The Rev. Donald Moldstad preached the sermon, the Rev. John Smith served as liturgist, and the Rev. Erwin Ekhoff performed the rite of ordination and installation. About sixty people attended the service.

PHOTO:  (L to R:) Back row: Reverends  Daniel Faugstad, John Smith, Donald Moldstad, and John Merseth, Sr. Front row: Reverends Erwin Ekhoff, Juul Madson, Erich Hoeft, Kurt Kluge, and Michael Smith.

Circuit Meeting in Oregon

On May 4-5, 2004, the inaugural meeting of the as-yet-to-be-named West Coast  Winkel was held in Medford Oregon. In attendance were most of the E.L.S. Pastors from Circuits 11 & 12 along with several pastors from independent Lutheran  congregation not currently of our fellowship.

Among the items discussed at this two-day meeting were: The Synodical Year 1983, two chapters of "Walther's Pastorale," an exegesis of Exodus 20, a sermon and critique, a paper on the divine call and one's deliberation  on it, along with many items of casuistry (a discussion of issues of particular concerns raised as a pastor goes about his work among his flock).

In addition to these more scholarly pursuits, several meals were also shared by the assembled pastors, with those of our fellowship also enjoying the festival meal of Jesus' body and blood which they ate and drank and were strengthened with the members of Faith Lutheran Church of Medford, the host congregation.

This newly-formed winkel agreed that this time together was well spent and so moved and adopted a resolution to make this a yearly event, alternating locations between Northern California and Southern Oregon.

15th Anniversary in Brownsburg, Indiana

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brownsburg, Indiana celebrated its 15th anniversary with a special 4:00 pm service on March 7, 2004. The Rev. J. Kincaid Smith, a son of the congregation, preached the sermon and the present pastor, the Rev. Gene R. Lilienthal, served as liturgist. Rev. Smith preached on the text Ephesians 2:1-10 under the theme "Created in Christ Jesus for Good Works." The church choir sang twice during the service. A luncheon was served after the service.