The History of Our Church
The history of Bloomington Lutheran Church is presented below.
The history of Living Hope and the makings of our "dual-site congregation" has been documented by Pastor Dan Walters in his masters thesis which is available for your review by clicking here: history.
By 1955 it was apparent that a school building was needed. With Synod approval, construction began the same year. More land was purchased adjacent to the School for a playground and in 1956 the Christian Day School was dedicated.
In 1959 funds were available from the Synod to construct an addition to the parsonage, providing more office space and a larger kitchen area.
Church membership and school enrollment continued to grow and a full-time teacher/principal was called. A home was then built for the principal. In November 1962 the growing membership necessitated three Sunday services. In 1964 a study was undertaken to consider plans for building a larger church. Additional land was purchased just south of the chapel.
Nine pastors have served the congregation:
Rev. John Hoenecke
Rev. Del Begalka Rev. Mark Liesener Rev. Scott Spaulding Rev. Dan Schmidt Rev. Mike Borgwardt Rev. Rod Pudell Rev. Eric Schroeder Rev. Brian Krueger |
1951 - 1969
1970 - 1974 1974 - 2004 1984 - present 1997 - 1999 2001 - 2005 2002 - present 2007 - 2013 2014 - present |
Youth Minister, Michael Pfeifer, was installed in 1989. He was followed by Family minister Eugene Martens, Youth Minister Kory Henkel in 2005 and Directors of Youth Ministries, Greg & Mela Kamin in 2013. Currently our youth are served by Joel Hansen, Director of Youth Ministries.
There have been three Principals of Bloomington Lutheran School:
Gerhard Bauer
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1961 - 1973
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Nine vicars have each spent a year at Bloomington Lutheran:
Marcus Bode
Jonathan Schultz Tim Meyer Don Scheuerlein Charles Huebner Mark Voss Ken Frey Tim Gauger Jonathan Zietlow |
1976 - 1977
1977 - 1978 1978 - 1979 1980 - 1981 1981 - 1982 1982 - 1983 1983 - 1984 1987 - 1988 1996 - 1997 |
Bloomington Lutheran School has had sixty-one teachers in pre-school through eighth grade. Nineteen of these teachers are currently teaching at Bloomington or Living Hope Lutheran School.