Faith Lutheran Church History


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A Brief History of Faith Lutheran Church

As early as 1933, an attempt was made to organize an LCMS congregation in Georgetown. Back then, Zion Lutheran Church in Walburg was the closest Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod parish. Though that initial effort was abandoned, the seed had been planted.

Nearly half-century later, a group of local residents approached the Texas District’s Board of Mission Administration with the prospect of planting a mission in this Central Texas community. This time, by God’s good grace, the effort succeeded.

Pastor Gerald Kieschnick was called as mission planter and developer. On Valentine’s Day, 1982 the congregation was officially chartered as a member-parish of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.

In as little as three years, the church was off subsidy and standing on its own two feet without District assistance. With a loan from the Church Extension Fund, the present sanctuary was erected and worship services began in November, 1985.

After Pastor Kieschnick accepted a call to serve at the Texas District Office in Austin, Dr. Luther Koepke provided pastoral care during the short six-month vacancy. In June, 1986, Pastor John Selle, serving a congregation in Magnolia, TX accepted the call to Faith’s pastorate. He served as the sole shepherd until Rev. Bill Lowrey accepted the call as Associate Pastor in 1999. Previously, Becky Krentz began work on-site in March, 1996 as Faith’s first Director of Christian Education.

Over the years, God has blessed Faith with continual growth, opportunities for Christian service, and outreach into the community. After the shell of the Activity Center was erected in the early 90’s, members, over the course of two years, completed the interior of this multi-use facility. It provided much-needed Sunday School/Parish Fellowship space.

In the year 2000, the Education/Administrative wing adjacent to the original structure was completed, housing a beautiful Nursery, Choir practice room, Classrooms, Restroom, Kitchenette, and new Office space. Here again, member-labor helped out and brought a significant savings toward the overall cost of the project. Before long, the classroom space was filled to capacity.

After six years, Pastor Lowrey accepted a call to Arlington, TX in 2005. Pastor Walt Pohland, having served Mt. Calvary in Raymondville, TX for eighteen years, accepted Faith’s divine call and was installed on July 23, 2006 as Faith’s second Associate Pastor. In 2012, however, Pastor Selle took on the Associate Pastor role and Pastor Pohland became the new Sr. Pastor. Rev. Ken Hennings, the Texas District President, presided at the installation service at Faith for this rare, in-house trading of ministry hats.

Becky Krentz was given the title of Director of Youth and Discipleship, when Jonathan Loesch of Rancho Cucamonga, CA accepted the call to serve as Faith’s first Director of Child and Family Ministry in December, 2006!

After sixteen years of faithful ministry at Faith, Becky Krentz retired. Her vacancy was soon filled by Cassie Schermbeck, who joined Faith’s staff in March, 2012. She now serves as the Director of Youth and Discipleship.

As the congregation continued to grow and flourish, there was also the reality of the need to expand her initial five-acre site. An additional five acres were purchased several years ago at the cost of $200,000. After several years of work, the Long Range Planning Committee brought a Master Site Plan before the congregation in July, 2006. It was unanimously adopted. Faith, having grown to over 1,000 members, and having gone from one, to two, to three worship services weekly, saw the need to expand once more.

A new sanctuary and a remodeled old sanctuary provided much-needed space. It was with great excitement that this $5 million project, which included massive infrastructure work, was completed over a two-year period. The new sanctuary was dedicated to the glory of God on November 22, 2009! Over 700 people were in attendance for this dedicatory celebration.

Simultaneously, Faith began its second three-year capital fund drive called “4 Those 2 Come.” The first effort, Forward in Faith, raised $1.75 million in pledges and memorials, while the second campaign raised over $1.5 million. God is good – all the time! Since then, a third campaign (2013-2015) was initiated called “Continuing in Joy.” With God’s blessings, the prayer is to reach the million dollar mark by the end of 2015. A fourth effort now being planned, entitled “Always Sharing God’s Gifts,” will follow the present campaign and run from 2016-2018.

One highlight to note is that Faith contributes 20% of its general fund offerings to state, national, and global missions. This is the first check written by the Treasurer each month. In recent years, nearly $250,000 has been sent out to bless state, national and global mission projects.

Faith also contributes 1½% of its annual budget to Concordia University, Austin; ½% to The Caring Place, which feeds and clothes needy families in our community; and ¼ % to Concordia Lutheran High School, a training ground for Christian leaders, in Pflugerville, Texas. So, fully 25% of our income goes out to serve others.

Also, for the past ten years, our church has sent teams of youth and adults on mission trips to Mexico, Alaska, Colorado, Wisconsin, South Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Alabama, and even Guyana, South America.

A further extension of Faith’s mission heart was the calling of Rev. Ted Doering, a 2014 St. Louis Seminary graduate to serve among us for a year as a Church Planter Pastor. In 2015 he will be dispatched into Williamson County to launch a new mission congregation. At the same time, Pastor Selle will move into a new role as a part-time Visitation Pastor. A Call Committee is currently being formed to begin the process of calling a new Associate Pastor.

We continue to focus on our overall Mission Statement: “KNOW CHRIST!” “LIVE CHRIST!” “MAKE CHRIST KNOWN!”

Faith also has a Preschool which meets five days a week, and serves 50+ children from 18-months on up to a class for Pre-Kindergarten children. This ministry originally began at a Mother’s Day Out program in 1997, led by Mindy Swafford. When she stepped down, Angela Cummings took over serving as the Director. Hundreds of little children have received fine Christian training in their formative years through this outreach effort. Each day begins with a chapel service in the sanctuary.

The congregation is also excited to be a Stephen Ministry Congregation, with over 100 members trained in this one-on-one care-giving ministry to those who are hurting due to illness, job loss, depression, unemployment, etc.! After receiving 50 hours of training, these men and women commit to at least two years of ministry. However, the fact remains that once you’re a Stephen Ministry, you’re always a Stephen Minister. Thus, this compassionate and care-giving ministry is like yeast in a lump of dough, infusing the entire mission and ministry of Faith.

In recent years, Faith has added several new boards, too: Board of Assimilation, Board of Information Technology, Board of Parish Fellowship, the Board of Human Care and, most recently, a Preschool Board. God is so kind in affording Faith the opportunity to touch of lives of God’s people in so many different ways. The harvest here in Georgetown is ripe for the harvest, as statistics have revealed that 60% of our community is un-churched or de-churched.

Faith’s people earnestly seek to be a warm, inviting, care-giving fellowship of Christians! God has truly smiled upon this fellowship of believers. As new chapters continue to be written in the history of this congregation, now over thirty years of age, we must always remember that Faith’s history is HIStory!

Faith wishes to ‘dare to be different’ from most Christian churches, which historically plateau or decline after twenty years of history. We want to be a brightly shining light, beaming the Gospel of Christ to everyone, everywhere, every day. We continue to invite new families to join us on this exciting mission.

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY

To see construction photos, and a recollection of the first few years, click here.
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