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Redeemer Lutheran Church 1320 Dean Street, Woodstock, IL 60098 Phone: (815)338-9370 Fax: (815)338-9266 Email: info@rlcw.org Pastor Thomas E. Rogers Jr: pastor.tom@rlcw.org |
A Historical Summary of Redeemer's History
- April 15, 1977--A steering committee was appointed to
present a petition to the ALC to start an ALC congregation in Woodstock, IL
- May 23, 1977--The steering committee met with Dr. Don Johnson, DSMA Director, and Rev. Roger Schneider for interview
- December 15, 1977--A meeting was held at Grace Lutheran Church, Woodstock with Dr. Don Johnson, local
Lutheran Pastors, and the Conference Committee (DSMA) to accept another Lutheran Church in Woodstock
- August 12, 1978 --Redeemer purchased land for the church (conveniently located in Woodstock on 3 acres
at the corner of Dean Street and Hickory Lane)
- March 22, 1979 --Redeemer's first pastor Rev. Paul Tolo and his wife, Lillian, arrived in Woodstock
- April 12, 1979 --Redeemer held its first worship service at the parsonage on Maundy Thursday
- May 13, 1979 --Redeemer's first public worship service was held in the Olson Jr. High School cafeteria
- May 20, 1979 --First Sunday School classes were held
- July 29, 1979 --First church picnic held at Woodstock City park
- November 11, 1979 --Redeemer's official Organization Sunday with Bishop Osterbur present
- November 18, 1979 --First church council installed (9 members)
- December 20, 1979 --Notice received of CEF loan acceptance with the ALC
- January 27, 1980 --First annual meeting of the congregation
- February 21, 1980 --Mr. Thomas Bleck and Pastor Tolo presented building plans to the Woodstock Site Plan
Review Commission at the City Hall
- April 13,1980 --Redeemer was accepted into the Illinois District of the ALC
- May 11, 1980 --Ground breaking service at 1320 Dean St. site at 12:00 noon
- May 20, 1980 --Excavation work began
- December 14, 1980 --First worship service was held in the new building
- February 1, 1981 --Service of Dedication was held
- February 20, 1983 --Pastor Tolo's last Sunday; left to be Pastor at St. John's, Peoria, Illinois
- June 2, 1983 --Pastor Craig Wanamaker and family arrived in Woodstock from Seattle, Washington
- October 16, 1983 --Puppet Ministry "Promises, Promises" began
- June 2, 1985 --Pastor Wanamaker's last Sunday; left to be Pastor at Bethesda, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota
- January 15, 1986 --Pastor Stephen C. Rust and family arrived in Woodstock from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
- May 1, 1986 --All subsidy from the National Church has been allocated ($239,000.00)
- May 17, 1986 --$17,000.00 is raised in order to refinance the parsonage from the National Church
- June 20, 1986 --St. Paul's, Streator, IL commits over $25,000.00 to Redeemer, over three years in the Mission Partner Program
- September 5, 1986 --The parsonage was refinanced, Redeemer now owns it!
- September 20, 1986 --"Promised Land" fund started ($52,000.00 was the goal)
- January 10, 1987 --Trinity, Ingleside, Illinois commits over $12,000.00 to
us, over three years in the Mission Partner Program
- November 15, 1987 --Resident Stewardship Service program is implemented with great results
- March 20, 1988 --Refinanced the church building and property ($238,000.00). Redeemer raised over $23,000.00 to secure a
loan with the State Bank of Woodstock
- August 5, 1988 --Our youth were sent to a National Youth Gathering for the first time. The gathering was held in Texas.
- April 10, 1989 --Sold the parsonage to Pastor Rust and reduced our indebtedness by $58,000.00
- December, 1989 --Church Council authorized the establishment of a New Building Fund
- January 7, 1990 --Started a building fund to erect an educational/fellowship hall complex ($200,000.00) and a Building Committee was formed
- Early, 1990 --Building Committee interviewed the congregation to receive their input on the new building
- Fall, 1990 --Interviews took place to determine an architect for the new building
- December, 1990 --Mark Elmore of Crystal Lake was approved as our chief architect for the new building
- 1991 to 1992 --The Building Committee met several times with Mark Elmore to produce a Master Plan
- 1993 --Master Plan was approved by the congregation (the Plan has four phases and the New Spiritual Life Center was Phase I)
- Early, 1994 --Mark Elmore advertised for bids on Phase I; seven sealed bids were received; the accepted bid was from
Schutz Construction of Woodstock for $424,454; the congregation voted unanimously to the accept the
Spiritual Life Center recommendation; a loan from Harris Bank of Woodstock was secured
- September 25, 1994 --Redeemer broke ground on the New Spiritual Life Center
- November 26, 1995 --Dedicated our New Spiritual Life Center
- December 26, 1999 --Pastor Rust's last Sunday; left Redeemer to be Pastor at Macedonia Lutheran Church in Burlington, NC
- January 30, 2000 --Call Committee is approved at the Annual Congregational Meeting
- March 6, 2000 --Pastor Arthur Bergren, Assistant to the Bishop, met with the Call Committee and the congregation to
procure Redeemer's Congregational Profile
- April 1, 2000 --First fellowship gathering for the Redeemer Men's Group
- June 4, 2000 --Special congregational meeting to call Thomas E. Rogers, Jr. as the fourth Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church; call was approved.
- June 16, 2000 --Thomas E. Rogers, Jr. ordained at the Northern Illinois Synod Assembly at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL
- June 25, 2000 --Pastor Roger's first Sunday service at Redeemer
- November 11, 2004 --Redeemer's 25th Anniversary