St. John's celebrates 100 years

A local church is soon to celebrate their established 100th anniversary, according to its pastor, Kenneth Mars whose wife was very instrumental in gathering information on the church history to share with our readers.

St. John's Lutheran church, currently located on Locust Street in Kimball, first began in June of 1916 and was located on Main Street in a church building north of the railroad tracks. This first church building was erected in 1888, and used by the Methodists.

"The records are a little fuzzy," Mars said, "but we are picking, June 25 and 26, because there is a statement in the paper (Observer, June 29, 1916) - it said 'the previous Sunday that the German Lutherans dedicated their church.' That's why we chose that date that we did for this year."

Quoted in the January 17, 1914, edition of the Observer, "It is quite probable that the Methodist people of Kimball will sell their church building to German Lutheran people of this community, a congregation that is growing rapidly and promises to grow to be much larger within a year."

The price that was agreed on at the time was $1,100 with an agreement between the German Lutherans and Methodists to allow the Methodists to conduct services in the same building until they would be able to build their own church building.

The Observer's May 28, 1914 edition read, "Rev. W.T. Kahse, Missionary Superintendent of the Lutheran church of this state, was in the city and has arranged for services to be held on Sunday afternoon, June 7th, at the Methodist church." There was also a printed invitation for the public to attend the service.

Two years later, in April, the Observer ran an articles that stated that the German Lutherans purchased the church north of Kimball.

"There are a number of these people (German Lutheran) in this vicinity and the church will not only be much appreciated by those here now, but will be an inducement to those who wish to locate in this vicinity," stated an article in the April 13, 1916 edition of the Observer.

The church was dedicated on June 25, 1916 and a June 29, 1916, article in the Observer read in part, "The German Lutheran people dedicated their church last Sunday with appropriate services. These people recently purchased the Methodist church on the north side of the railroad and have a very good membership." The very first pastor of the St. John Lutheran church was a German named Karl Fenske.

It is acknowledged that most services in the earliest of days were probably conducted in the German language, but beginning in 1928, the church was conducting services in English and German. The service spoken in English and that in German alternated with times at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m.

The church has witnessed a total fifteen pastors since its beginning 100 years ago. The longest serving pastor was Rev. C.P. Pebler, who served from 1930 to 1948. Mars has served as pastor since 2005.

The discovery of oil in the early 1950s raised Kimball's population from a mere 1,700 to nearly 5,000 within one decade. The congregation decided to build a larger church to accommodate the growth and in 1953 the new church site was purchased.

According to church history Herman Heidemann provided the seed money for the new church building and requested that other members help build the church to keep the cost affordable. Mr. Heidemann was soon-thereafter diagnosed with cancer and passed in 1953 before he witnessed his goal of the new church.

Groundbreaking on the new church was held on April 15, 1956, with a Cornerstone Service being held November 11, 1956. The church was built by hard work on the part of it's members and their God-given talents. At the church's completion dedication on July 14, 1957, 452 attended morning service, and 369 were present at the afternoon service.

A more complete history of the St. John's Lutheran church, a very interesting read, can be obtained from Vickie and Pastor Mars.

In celebration, there will be a congregational open house beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 25 with a concert.

"The performers will be primarily our congregation. We have a lot of musical talent," offered Pastor Mars, "We are inviting the public to come. When the concert is done, we will have something to eat – hamburgers and hot dogs. This is our invitation to the public to celebrate with us."

Kimball's Katie (Hansen) Warner will perform both Saturday and Sunday.

"On Sunday, the church will hold their service at 10 a.m., with original music written by Cynthia Staehr for the occasion," Mars added. "We will also have a guest pastor, David BeBoer, who grew up here. He was a Kimball kid."

Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ~ Matthew 16:17.