Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church
Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church came into
being when a group of members from
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
,
under the guidance of their pastor, the Rev. T.R. Adascheck, launched a mission
outreach program to be conducted in the western part of Yakima. Seventeen
families, numbering 43 communicants and 70 souls, volunteered to form the
nucleus of the new mission.
The new mission
congregation was officially organized on July 25, 1948. Under the first
officers of the congregation -- Mr. John Miller, Mr. Ernest Luepke, and Mr.
Louis Krug -- a constitution, which was recommended by the District Mission
Board, was adopted. About a month later, on August 16, a call was issued
to pastor George Frey of Clarkston,Washington. He was led by the Spirit to
accept the call and was installed as Redeemer’s first resident pastor on
November 14, 1948. The following Sunday regular Sunday worship services
were begun at the facilities of the Keith and Keith Funeral Chapel.
On September 19, 1948 the congregation decided
to purchase three lots for about $4,000 at 415 South 31st Avenue. This was
to be the site for the missions church building. About the same time as
the land was purchased, application was made to borrow $15,000 from the
Wisconsin Synods Church Extension Fund to finance the erection of a suitable
chapel on the newly purchased site. The congregation asked the
Rev. M.J. Witt to draw plans for the chapel, modeled after Trinity Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Spokane. On Sunday, December 18, 1949, following the
service, the members of the congregation drove to the building site for
groundbreaking ceremonies. Under the guidance of the building committee --
Mr. A.C. Waldbauer, Mr. Henry Miller, Mr. Ted Poulson, and Mr. Ernest Luepke --
forms for the footings were constructed during the week following Christmas, but
cold weather prevented pouring the concrete.
Work on the construction of
the church was resumed on March 9, 1950 with the footings poured on March
13 and the foundation walls poured on April 13. Construction moved forward
steadily until the first part of June when most of the work was halted due to
the failure of the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company to deliver the roof trusses on
account of a strike at their Longview plant. The trusses were finally
received in late August and were put into place early in September. The
brick work on the outside was completed about the middle of October.
About this time a shortage
of funds developed in the Church Extension Fund. As a result, the Synod
was able to loan the congregation only $13,000 of the $15,000 that was
requested. Application was made to borrow an additional $8,000 from this
fund to complete the building. This request was granted but no assurance
was given as to when the money would be available. The congregation raised
over $800 to meet its current bills and borrowed an additional $3,000 from other
sources. This allowed for the completion of the basement.
The First Service
The first worship service
was held in the basement on December 3, 1950. The cornerstone was laid in
place on December 10, 1950. The stone itself was a gift to the
congregation from Central Washington Monument Works.
With the basement almost
complete, it was decided that the remaining work on the church would be
done entirely with donated labor from the members and friends of the
congregation under the guiding hand of Mr. A.C. Waldbauer. And so it was
that a year and a half later, with several thousand hours of volunteer labor,
the church was dedicated on July 27, 1952.
Dedication
Dedication Sunday, the
church bell, which had hung in a Lutheran Church in Idaho during World War I,
rang three times, calling people to worship and give glory to God. It rang
first at 10:00 AM when Mr. A.C. Waldbauer, chairman of the congregation,
presented the keys of the church to Pastor Frey. A brief ceremony was held
outside, before members and friends moved inside for the dedication
service. The Rev. M.J. Witt of Spokane, President of the Pacific Northwest
District of the Wisconsin Synod and designer of the church building, was the
guest speaker. The old bell was heard again at 2:30 PM for a second
worship service. This time the guest speaker was the Rev. O. G. Frey of
Saginaw, Michigan, the father of Redeemers Pastor Frey. Finally, the bell
was heard the 3rd time at 8:00 PM when Pastor T.R. Adascheck of Grace Lutheran
in Yakima led the congregation in worship and praise.
The congregation at this
time numbered 84 souls and 57 communicants. Pastor Frey wrote in the
dedication folder, Much remains to be done before the building is entirely
completed. But we were confident that the Lord would guide our members
with a will and a zeal to complete our task. It is our dedicated task to
use our church solely for the work of bringing the Gospel of salvation to souls
lost in sin. May the truth of God's Word sound forth at all times from our
pulpit.
Other Projects
Between the times of
cornerstone laying and the dedication, other projects were undertaken. On
October 7, 1951, the lot just to the north of the church site was purchased for
a future parsonage from John Miller and Ernest Luepke, the owners of the lot,
for $1,750. Then on April 20, 1952 a Pew Fund was started. The cost
of the material at that time was about $35 per pew. Pastor Frey built the
first pew.
Pastors
Pastor
Frey remained with the congregation until October 11, 1958 when he
accepted a call to St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tacoma.
Following his departure the congregation asked Pastor Melvin Teske of Grace in
Zillah to serve as a vacancy pastor.
In July of 1960,
Charles Tessmer, a seminary graduate, arrived to become the
congregations second resident pastor. During his pastorate the parsonage
was built and he was married. The open house for the new parsonage was
held in October, 1962. Pastor Tessmer remained with the congregation until July
of 1967 when he accepted a call to a congregation in Wisconsin.
Pastor Arthur
Valerio of Grace in Zillah was asked to serve as vacancy pastor.
This vacancy ended one year later when Marc Diersen was
ordained and installed as pastor of the congregation in July of 1968. He
remained with the congregation until the spring of 1973.
In August of 1973 the
congregation extended a call to Pastor Arthur Valerio of Wilmot, Wisconsin to be
its pastor. He accepted the call and was installed in September of 1973 as
the fourth resident pastor. The end of 1984 brought another change in
pastors. Pastor Valerio accepted a call to serve as mission explorer in
Juneau, Alaska and left in January of 1985.
Pastor James
Oldfield of Divine Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Renton,
Washington accepted the call and was installed as Redeemers fifth pastor on
February 24, 1985.
In 1992, Pastor
Mark Franck of Nampa, Idaho was installed as Redeemers sixth
pastor. Pastor Franck served Redeemer until July 5, 1998 when he accepted
a call to Howell, Michigan.
Pastor Mark Franck Rev. Kevin P.
Westra, was installed on November 8, 1998 in an evening service. The
president of the district, Pastor Warren Widmann was the installer, with pastor
Vaughn Vogel as the Liturgist. There were a total of 8 WELS pastors who
participated in the laying on of hands. Long time friend and fellow pastor
Thomas Unke, preached the installation sermon with the theme of "Tell Them What
You Know"! The pastors present were: 
Rev. Vaughn
Vogel - Pastor, King of Kings, Kennewick, Wa.
Rev. Thomas Unke - Pastor, Faith, Tacoma, WA.
Rev. Melvin Teske - Pastor, Grace, Yakima,
Wa.
Rev. Carl Schomberg - Pastor, Grace,
Zillah, WA.
Rev. Daniel Voight - Evergreen
Lutheran High School, Des Moines, Wa.
Rev. Thomas
Vallesky - Pastor, Our Savior, East Wenatchee, WA.
Rev. Jonathan Bilitz - Associate Pastor, Grace,
Portland, OR.
Pastor Kevin P. Westra
Our present pastor, Rev. Timothy Schwartz, was installed on May 9, 2004. The Installation rite was performed by our District President, Rev. Ted Lambert.
Pastors in attendance for "Laying on of Hands"
Front row:
Pastor T. Lambert, Pastor M. Teske,
Pastor
T. Schwartz , Pastor L. Nolte, Pastor W.
Stuebs, Pastor K. Mann
Second Row: Pastor T. Oldenberg
Back row: Pastor J. Ruppel, Pastor J. Buchholtz,
Pastor Jason Schmidt.
Pastor Schwartz was born in Waconia, MN. At age 3 he and his parents moved to St. Paul, MN where his father Martin and mother Helen still reside. He attended St. Andrew's Lutheran School, St. Croix Lutheran High School, Northwestern College, and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. In 1994 He met and married Nichole (Niki) Patterson and they now have two boys, Jadon and Josiah. Pastor Schwartz has a younger brother Brian who now lives in Lustern, MN., and a younger sister, Gena Boehm.
Pastor Schwartz vicared at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI. and also at St. John's Lutheran Church of Wauwatosa, WI where he received his call to Roswell, NM to an exploratory mission. Pastor Schwartz served at Redeemer, Roswell for five years before accepting the call to Redeemer, Yakima, WA in 2004.
25th Anniversary
On July 29, 1973, the congregation was privileged to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Pastor George Frey of Tacoma was the guest speaker at the special anniversary service.
30th Anniversary
In 1974 the congregation was asked by the Synod to renegotiate its loan with the Church Extension Fund. The congregation willingly did this in an effort to have the loan repaid within 16 years. However, the congregation then decided to try to hasten the day the debt would be paid. A Principal Prepayment Savings Plan was begun, and each year in December, whatever was offered during the year for this fund was sent in and applied directly to the principal of the loan. Thus it was that the congregation burned its mortgage on September 27, 1981 -- a full 9 years ahead of schedule.
While also burning the mortgage, the congregation celebrated its 30th anniversary of the dedication and cornerstone laying with a special worship service at 4:00 on September 27, 1981. Pastor George Frey was the guest speaker at this special occasion.
In 1981, the congregation numbered 114 communicants and 132 souls. May the congregation continue to use the church building as the center for sound Gospel preaching and mission outreach into the community.
40th Anniversary
On Sunday, July 24, 1988 the members and friends of Redeemer celebrated the 40th anniversary of the founding of the congregation. The 40th anniversary project was a pictorial directory to show our rejoicing together, as a family, in those 40 years of Gods gracious blessings.
50th Anniversary
The 50th Anniversary was celebrated on October 11, 1998 with special services, a meal, and anniversary memorabilia. Pastor Jerrold Dahlke, a former member of Redeemer, was the guest speaker at the evening service. We were especially blessed in that Pastor T. R. Adascheck, who had launched the mission outreach program that gave birth to Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church was present with his wife Althea and also our original pastor that first served in Redeemer, pastor George Frey, was present.
A congregation is not just a building and pastors, however. A Christian congregation is people -- precious souls brought into the household of faith in Jesus Christ, nurtured and kept in that faith. It is people -- children of God serving one another in love and striving to win others for eternal life through Jesus.
Our New Church
After several years of negotiating with Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, we sold our former location to the hospital and bought land in the West Valley area of Yakima. We began construction on a new facility in 2005 by the Max Gabbard Construction company. We were priviledged to move into our new facility in July of 2006 and had our dedication on July 30, 2006 with a sermon by a former pastor here at Redeemer, Pastor James Oldfield. We are now enjoying and becoming more aquainted with our new location.
We have a lengthy history involving many
individuals, many of whom have moved away. We encourage any of you
who were once part of our congregation to contact us. We would
love to hear from you!