Saint Mark's Lutheran Church

Here follows an excerpt from the church's website:

The history of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church is a remarkable narrative that needs to be told "again and again," as noted in our introduction. Taken as a whole, the story honors the commitment and service of all who have taken part in responding to God's call to discipleship in founding and sustaining the congregation over all these years.

Introduction
The Past That Informs the Present: Writing the History of St. Mark’s

“Let us sing together, let us sing together,
One and all a joyous song.
Let us sing again and again . . .
One and all a joyous song.”
“Rounds,” St. Mark’s Song Sheet (1960s)

The history of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church has long been the “joyous song” that members of the congregation sing time and again. Founded 59 years ago near the crossroads of Northern Virginia, the church has served as an intersection that brings human need into contact with God’s redemptive action.

The writing of the congregation’s history has been undertaken many times. During the fall of 1962, a small group of St. Mark’s members formed a committee to honor the upcoming tenth anniversary of the founding of the church. Working on this project were Russell Brundage, Carlton Moorefield, Claire Mueller, Karl Saalbach, and Betty Sommer, who also served as chair.

Many events were planned but much of the energy of the group was focused on recording the young church’s brief history. The next fall, an eighty-page booklet entitled “St. Mark’s: The First Ten Years” appeared. When read today, that booklet remains an impressive testimony to the strong feelings associated with the early years of the congregation.

Over the next twenty-five years, others followed in the footsteps of the first church historians. In 1973, the twentieth anniversary was also acknowledged with a similar vigor. Gerald Burke headed a committee that included his wife Fae, Pastor and Alice Carlson, “Mo” Haupt, Morgan Percy, and Thea Thompson. A special Christmas-time dinner at the church featured “The First Twenty Years” and included a “Sketch of History” that was presented to the assembled gathering. Five years later Bob and Iva Parrott joined Joan Enerson in creating a twenty-fifth anniversary update of the church’s founding and early years. Then in 1988, the Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Committee, led by Marlys Renner, took that effort yet another step with the addition of recent events and photographs of new members.

In 2003, the Fiftieth Anniversary Committee, chaired by Alice McRorie, reviewed these earlier church histories and, among many other efforts, produced “Founded in Faith, Growing in Grace: A Fiftieth Anniversary History.” This study sought to honor all those who had, over the years, contributed to telling the story of how the congregation had evolved. At the time, four members of the original congregation generously shared their remembrances of the first days of the congregation: Fae Burke, LaVon Clark, Ruth Hellwig, and Eleanor Saalbach spoke of services in the old farm house that functioned as the original place of worship, the young families who became the core of the new church, and the arrival of a young pastor and his wife who would provided the leadership that soon led to a flourishing congregation.

The story of writing the history of St. Mark’s, therefore, has always been a group effort. And that effort represents the past that continually informs the present congregation. Today, more than ever, that “joyous song” needs to be remembered as the church continues its mission at the same crossroads where it has been located for over a half century. Thanks be to God for His presence and inspiration in leading our congregation through those years and the ones yet to come.

Chapter One
Founding and the First Ten Years: 1953-1963

“To be at the intersection of decades is to be thankful ... Thanksgiving must be here; for life and a place, for a church, for friends and family, and for a God who knows us and waits for us.”

In the early 1950s, as the nation entered a period of prosperity and urban areas expanded, the Board of American Missions of the Augustana Lutheran Church targeted Northern Virginia for a new mission church. Taking the lead in this effort was the local Augustana Lutheran Church, located in the District of Columbia. That congregation was led by Revered Clarence T. Nelson, a visionary pastor who saw the need to start new suburban parishes in the greater Washington metropolitan area.

On April 23, 1953, Pastor Nelson and Ruth Youngdahl Nelson, equally visionary as her husband, initiated the first gathering of individuals living in and around the small community of Springfield who might be interested in forming a new congregation. In support of this group, Pastor Nelson also involved members of his own congregation—some already living in Northern Virginia—to help launch the new parish. They joined with others, after the meeting, in knocking on doors within the immediate neighborhood and circulating invitations to attend the next meeting of the group.

Out of that first gathering came the decision to proceed with organizing a new congregation. An old farm house and lot on Backlick Road, already purchased by the Augustana Board of American Missions, was readied for use. The initial meeting on May 3, 1953 held in the structure was to launch a Sunday School. The next month, the group held the first worship services in the laundry room of the house and led by Norman Hjelm, a seminary-bound college student from Pastor Nelson’s congregation. Amidst such humble beginnings, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church was begun.

Many years later, some of the founding members recalled those early days. Ruth Hellwig remembered these years as “a wonderful experience” in which God “had placed us there in that special time.” LaVon Clark had a similar memory and declared that she and her husband, Ernest, “felt like pioneers” on a new suburban frontier. Gerald and Fae Burke were among the earliest active members. Fae recalled helping hang a curtain in the wash room to conceal the wash tubs so there could be a more dignified worship setting.

Other key couples from those years were William and Eleanor Lundin, Opal and Claire Mueller, and Karl and Eleanor Saalbach. “There were many meetings,” Eleanor later recalled, as the mission congregation continued to organize. She added that there “was always a job that needed attention and it seemed everyone was taking turns trying to cover all the needs.”

At Sunday services on December 6, 1953, an organizational meeting was held and an official “Role of Charter Members” issued with the period of enrollment extended into the next year. By March 1954, fifty-two individuals had signed the charter and they, along with forty-five children, became the original members of St. Mark’s. In an account published later, the Springfield Independent, a local newspaper, identified the congregation as “the first organized church in the Springfield community."

In August 1954, St. Mark’s welcomed Reverend Duane Carlson, who had graduate that year from Augustana Theological Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois, as the congregation’s first pastor. One of the founding members of the new church, Gerald Burke, had met the prospective minister and his wife Alice when on a business trip to Rock Island. He reported that the young couple was ideally suited for St. Mark’s and the task of building the new parish.

Rev. Carlson arrived a few weeks before the first unit of the new church was ready for occupancy. As a result, he led his first services of worship in the old farm house. In the years since, he has often talked about the delight of those first Sundays in the old house, except when someone would flush the toilet upstairs, setting off noisy pumps during the service. Such distractions, however, failed to discourage the young minister. Rather, the whole setting energized him, as it did all those involved in the founding of the congregation.

The new pastor launched an agenda of neighborhood evangelism and program development. As the number of parishioners grew, the new unit quickly became too small. Rev. Carlson and the lay leadership of the church took steps to meet the needs of the expanding congregation. In 1959, construction began on a new building with an inviting and spacious sanctuary, a large fellowship/learning hall in the basement, and a tall campanile that quickly became a visible landmark in the neighborhood. Upon completion of the building, the old farm house was dismantled. The congregation soon found the new facilities could not accommodate the growing number of Sunday School children and Lynbrook School was rented for some of the classes.

In 1960, St. Mark’s participated in an experimental two-year program sponsored by the Board of Social Missions. The program involved placement of a social worker within the professional staff of this suburban congregation. Martin Ferm served in this capacity for one year. Meanwhile, the numbers of parishioners continued to escalate, reaching 614 communicants and 1,131 baptized members by fall 1960.

In 1961, Mary Strand arrived from Gustavus Adolphus College, where she had graduated that spring, to become a parish worker at St. Marks. She remembers how young and energetic the congregation seemed and recalls running off Sunday church bulletins on Friday afternoons in Karl and Eleanor Saalbach’s basement on the only mimeograph machine available at that time. In 1963, she married Carl Anderson and the couple remained in the congregation to raise their family. In the space of just seven years, under the leadership of Pastor Carlson and through the dedication of growing numbers of members, St. Mark’s emerged as a vibrant and lively Christian community. In the tenth anniversary history, the excitement and commitment of the young congregation is apparent. In a concluding statement, the authors sought to summarize the moment: “To look back over time is to be sentimental. Memories are there: of those of strong faith, who plowed the ground of the present . . . of men and women who bring themselves before the God of All Mercy before whom generations rise and fall and ages pass. Who but God can rightly assess what has ultimately been done here?"

Chapter Two
Decades of Growth: 1960s and 1970s

“The past is but a prologue to the future. There will certainly be mundane housekeeping tasks and further financial commitments. There will be exciting outreaching and exuberant celebrations. There will be frustrations and grief, and there will be loving fellowship and renewals of faith.”
“St. Mark’s Lutheran Church—1953-1978”

During the 1960s and 1970s, St. Mark’s expanded rapidly and dramatically, along with the broader Washington metropolitan region. Yet even as the congregation grew steadily in numbers and in its physical plant, the membership retained the warmth of close fellowship and communion. Ruth Hellwig said it well when she recalled that “all aspects of our lives revolved around St. Mark’s.” This remarkable statement—about a worshiping community that nurtured a strong feeling of identity while expanding rapidly—came to distinguish St. Mark’s during these decades.

The 1960s appear in the early church histories as “The Growing Years,” a decade of accelerated development of programs and major physical expansion. “During the formative and growing years,” these documents report, “many people were contributing their time and talent” to a variety of activities, including “Sunday School, administrative duties, Women’s Guild, St. Mark’s Garden Club, Boy Scout Troop 881, Vacation Bible School, confirmation classes, choirs, special music, visiting, yard maintenance, and other special task too numerous to mention.” St. Mark’s also had a key role in the founding of ECHO, a coalition of churches organized to distribute food to the area needy. Behind all of these efforts were committed church members, each one important to the larger story of St. Mark’s growth during this period.

Then, as now, the music program of St. Mark’s was vital to the life of the congregation. Olaf Homeland was the first choir director. He was succeeded by Fred Wygal, who remained in that position until 1964, at which time Joe Adgate inaugurated his long and successful tenure as choir director. Two years earlier, Adair McConnell became organist, a position held initially by Grace Donlos, William Harris, Lorna Homeland, and Richard Keller.

In 1962, the Augustana Lutheran Church, United Lutheran Church of America, Suomi Synod, and American Evangelical Lutheran Church joined in the historic merger that resulted in creating the Lutheran Church of America. As part of that merger, St. Mark’s joined a newly organized Virginia Synod. From the beginning of the merger process, the people of St. Mark’s followed Pastor Carlson’s strong support for Lutheran ecumenism. And as the new Virginia Synod formed, the congregation emerged as a leader in the new body.

The growth of St. Mark’s in the 1960s was evident in two developments. The first was the continuation of building the church’s physical infrastructure. In 1963, the building committee addressed the need for additional space for the teaching and learning function of the church. The committee, consisting of Russell Brundage, Bud Hellwig, Charles Major, John Ostby, and Morgan Percy, with Claire Mueller serving as chair, created a plan that would result in construction of the last unit, as well as expansion and improvement of the parking lot.

After four years of planning and fund-raising, St. Mark’s broke ground on a new educational wing during fall 1967. Completed at the end of the next year, the new unit, costing $440,000, opened with great celebration. Dr. J. Luther Mauney, President of the Virginia Synod, presided over the dedication. Fifteen years after the congregation had been founded, a large and expansive physical plant was in place.

Throughout this period of physical expansion, the congregation had emphasized the importance of visual art as part of the religious experience. They accordingly commissioned Una Hanbury, a sculptor, to create three pieces expressive of the shared spiritual and community values of the growing congregation. Her contributions are the statue at the entrance to the church entitled “Family" and two relief sculptures, one in the lounge and the other at the entrance to the education wing.

The second important event was the arrival, in February 1964, of Richard A. Berry as the first associate minister. Pastor Carlson remembers him as “a very able, likeable, and effective pastor,” in part because his young colleague provided much needed assistance in ministering to a growing church and also because Pastor Berry brought his own particular strengths to pastoral care. For the next six years, the two worked side-by-side.

Meanwhile, St. Mark’s extended its efforts into the field of pre-school education. A few weeks before the educational section was officially dedicated, St. Mark’s School opened under the leadership of Esther McCary with strong support from Jim and June Harvey, members of the congregation. Following the Montessori Method of child-centered learning, the new school sought to provide early education to the children of both the congregation and the surrounding neighborhood. A few years later, Judy Carter-Sanford became director and the school is now in its forty-seventh year of operation.

In many ways, the 1970s represented a continuation of the 1960s. As families such as the Harveys and others arrived to take part in congregational initiatives, the circle of activism widened. New members joined steadily throughout the decade, filling positions of responsibility vacated by positions of responsibility vacated by members relocated to service and communities elsewhere. The numbers of children and communicants continued to expand over these years, although not at the same dramatic pace as in the previous decade. In 1973, the church had 1,302 communicants and 1,852 baptized members. These numbers remained firm, increasing slightly each year of the new decade.

The 1970s also found the congregation, like much of the nation, confronting social issues on a scale never before encountered. The twenty-fifth anniversary history framed this development with clarity and honesty: "The Church could not separate itself from the social issues that had surfaced during the sixties. The issues of the Vietnam War, ERA, abortion, drugs, Watergate, and others had dramatically affected the lives of many who worshiped at St. Mark's. New programs were instituted in the form of adult forums, educational programs, and seminars to assist in the search for understanding of the current issues."

As debate of these issues unfolded, both formally and informally, St. Mark's acted to sponsor a series of refugee families. Over the course of the decade and beyond, three families from Vietnam and one from Afghanistan received church sponsorship and direct financial assistance. Other challenges of the 1970s included the inauguration of the first communion service for youth who had not yet been confirmed, revision of the confirmation curriculum, election of Charlotte Lutz as the first woman to serve on Church Council, and inclusion of girls along with boys to serve as acolytes for services of worship. The decade was, in so many ways, about change within the life of the congregation and its consequences.

Pastoral staff turnovers occurred steadily throughout the decade. Pastor Berry resigned in 1970 and Lance R. Braun, newly graduated from Gettysburg Seminary, replaced him. Six years later, Alan Rider became the second seminarian to graduate from Gettysburg and join Pastor Carlson as associate pastor, taking over from Rev. Braun, who entered the campus ministry. The changes in the pastoral ranks brought a series of talented and varied personalities into the life of the congregation.

In the 1970s, as St. Mark's became a large suburban congregation, hosting a substantial membership in a modern physical plant, the church matured and evolved beyond its founding years. Yet the original impetus and commitment that had led to its creation remained intact and at the core of the church's sense of identity. The 1970s tested the varied strengths of St. Mark's and found the congregation secure within itself as a spiritual community, always ready and prepared to serve humanity locally and the larger metropolitan region.

Chapter Three
Renewal and Renovation: 1980s

"How do you capture the life of a congregation? How do you put on paper the emotions, the challenges, the triumphs, and the tragedies of a dynamic, changing and growing congregation? How indeed? Goals and plans, accomplishments and accolades are easy to list. But it is in the often unsung actions of our members . . . that the heartbeat of the congregation lays."
“St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1953-1988”

The thirty-fifth anniversary history, in a section on "St. Mark's in the Eighties," included a statement by Pastor Carlson that sounded the dominant theme of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. "One of the characteristics of a growing, dynamic congregation," he declared, "is that it dares to step out into new ministries without hesitation, or if not new ministries, to strengthen and approach time-tested ministries in a new way." With these comments, he pointed the congregation toward a period of change and adjustment.

Lutheran mergers during the decade set much of the context for change. In 1982, the second merger of American Lutheranism during the late twentieth century occurred. This time the Lutheran Church of America voted, along with the American Lutheran Church and Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). After a series of additional votes, including one that led to the creation of a new hymnal, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States came into being on January 1, 1988.

One major result of the new national body for St. Mark's was its inclusion in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod, which brought together churches in the District of Columbia with those in suburban Maryland and Virginia. St. Mark's regretfully bade farewell to its sister congregations in the Virginia Synod and turned with anticipation to take part in the new entity. The shift from Virginia to the Metropolitan Synod represented a significant shift for St. Mark's, bringing it into new relationships with other churches who shared a similar suburban and urban setting.

These decades found the Lutheran Church Women (LCW) at St. Mark’s hard at work. With four active circles, this critically important service group strove to meet a wide variety of needs. The LCW circles provided help for projects within St. Mark’s and outside the congregation, particularly at the new National Lutheran Home. The thirty-fifth anniversary booklet listed them among those committees who formed “the backbone of our church.”

A long-standing commitment to musical performance and worship enhancement expanded during these decades. In 1981, two new hand-bell choirs joined four existing choral groups—Youth, Carol, Cherub, and Chancel—and instrumental music became a regular feature of many Sunday services of worship. In 1987, the long and fruitful tenure of Joe Adgate as choir director came to an end. The momentum he had generated over the years, however, was picked up and continued by Robert Webb, who as Director of Music worked to further enrich the musical ministry at St. Mark's. Over the coming years, he would join with Gary Jensen and Ina Berkey, two highly talented church organists, to introduce new choral arrangements and concerts to both St. Mark's as a congregation and the wider Northern Virginia music community.

During the 1980s, the pastoral staff at St. Mark's continued to change and expand. The Church Council called Brent Thalacker in 1983 and Ross Trower in 1984 to serve as associate pastors. A graduate of Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis, Pastor Thalacker had four years of ministerial experience when he arrived and brought important pastoral skills to the congregation. One of his most important contributions was the founding of Phoenix and the role it played in assisting individuals experiencing major life changes, particularly divorce. From the beginning, the new young associate pastor worked closely with Pastor Carlson in meeting the spiritual needs of a large congregation.

They were joined in that effort by Ross Trower, who had retired as Chief of Chaplains, United States Navy, after a career of thirty-eight years in the military. With his wife, Margaret, Admiral Trower had often attended St. Mark's over the years and had come to know Pastor Carlson, whom he had impressed as an unusually committed individual. Pastor Carlson remembered that he had once asked: "What can I do for St. Mark's?" Struck by the generosity of this offer, and learning of Pastor Trower's retirement, Pastor Carlson invited him to join the pastoral team to help with home and institutional visitation. Over the years, Ross Trower has fulfilled this and many other important assignments, including helping guide the congregation through transitions between senior pastors. Aside from the specific duties of his nearly three decades at St. Mark's, Pastor Trower has had an enormous impact through his warm personality, impressive intellect, quick wit, and ability to relate to others.

Strengthened and encouraged by the new staff support around him, Pastor Carlson sought to move forward on the major issue facing St. Marks during the 1980s and early 1990s: improvements needed in the existing physical structure of the church. Connected with achieving that goal was his own plan to retire, a decision that would add to the challenges facing the congregation. In seeking to refurbish the church building, Pastor Carlson attempted to motivate the membership to embrace certain hard realities. He reminded them that there comes a time when all buildings need to be renovated and brought up to date, and he added that all pastoral leadership must, over time, change hands. It is to his great and enduring credit that he pressed ahead on both fronts of renovation and renewal.

The story of St. Mark's effort to rebuild and redesign major parts of the three units constructed originally in 1954, 1960, and 1968 started with the appointment of renovation committees in 1983 that began the process; in 1987 when the congregation approved the concept; and in 1989, chaired by David Nestleroth and Walter McKee, which developed a set of drawings related to proposed changes in the narthex, chancel, and nave. The last of these efforts, known as the Building Improvement Committee, oversaw the architectural and design changes made in the following years. After a successful appeal for financial support for the new plan by the congregation, led by Pastor Carlson, the Committee retained liturgical design, stained-glass, and construction consultants to prepare the final plans. For the construction phase, the congregation hired Whitener and Jackson Contractors.

While construction was underway, the congregation met in the Fellowship Hall. Most of the construction was completed enough that Easter 1992 services were held in the newly rebuilt structure. Two more years passed, however, before the final work—including the installing of the new organ and a new elevator—was finished. As all the hard work came to an end, St. Mark's emerged enhanced, improved, and ready for the coming years of ministry.

During these years of planning and construction, Pastor Carlson and the Church Council had established a Long Range Planning Committee. Beginning its work in 1987 and reporting in 1989, the Committee addressed the new demographic and sociological realities facing St. Mark's as a result of major changes and growth in Fairfax County and particularly in the Springfield area. The initial report noted that during the mid-1980s membership had leveled off, stewardship efforts produced only modest increases in annual giving, and church membership had seen a decline in traditional family units and an increase in singles and childless couples. The 1989 Long Range Plan called for new efforts to expand membership and lay participation the worship and ministry of the congregation, among other objectives.

The plan also urged a review of "the procedures for calling a new senior Pastor," a timely suggestion in light of Pastor Carlson's announcement that, as of spring 1991, he would resign after thirty-seven years at St. Mark's. The news was received with great regret, but the congregation understood that Pastor Carlson was ready to take up new challenges. His decision was respected and the congregation hosted a wonderful celebration of his long effort and many accomplishments, particularly the critical period of renewal and renovation that he had initiated. Because of that final work on his part, the congregation could now look to the future and the new opportunities of ministering to the ever-changing setting of Northern Virginia.

Chapter Four
A Vision Expanded: 1990s and First Decade of a New Century

“The development of this report has been guided by a desire to help St. Mark’s chart a clearer course through the coming decade. We have acted in the belief that Christ calls all of us, both as individuals and as a parish, to be responsive at all times to the changing circumstances of our lives.
“Planning for the 1990s: Toward a New Consensus,” The Long Range Planning Committee

During the 1990s, the mission that had initially defined St. Mark’s was enlarged and extended. At the fortieth anniversary of the congregation, a sense of new energy and a desire to renew the earlier spirit of mission was evident. In the years that followed, the congregation sought to clarify, as in times past, the direction that St. Mark’s should take in ministering within its own ranks and reaching out to those in nearby neighborhoods.

The first step in beginning this process was to find a new senior pastor. Amidst continuing physical renovation, the Church Council launched the search for someone who could oversee the final completion of construction and implement program changes. While the search was underway, Ross Trower served as interim pastor and kept the congregation focused on the goals of renovation and program development. Indeed, he played an important role in assuring that the 1990s would be a time of expanded vision for St. Mark’s, a time to honor the mission of being “God’s people in this place at this time.” Pastor Trower understood very well the need for going forth. “The people of St. Mark’s,” he wrote, “are remarkably open to new programs and forms of ministry when there is a reasonable explanation for change. . . .” The church was fortunate to have the wisdom and foresight of this particular interim pastor during the first transition in the senior pastorate.

When the search committee had completed its work, the congregation called Roger Dahlin to be St. Mark’s next senior pastor. He came to the church from important ministries in Illinois and Texas. His arrival in August 1992 coincided with the final stage of construction. Given this timing, Pastor Dahlin began his work at St. Mark’s just when pastoral leadership was most needed. He arrived, as well, just as the search for a new associate minister concluded its work, an effort that led to the appointment of Leah Schafer as the first female pastor to join the St. Mark’s ministerial team. The addition of a woman pastor addressed one of the concerns articulated in the 1989 Long Range Plan to find new ways to relate to the changing social and cultural context of the larger community. Gender issues had begun to emerge in the late 1980s and St. Mark’s, in calling Pastor Schafer, sought to address those needs.

The pastoral team, particularly the new senior pastor, oversaw completion of the renovations to the narthex and nave, as well as the installation of the new organ. In 1994, it arrived as the result of a five-year effort led by Ina Berkey. Assisted by Bill Neil, noted area musician and later St. Mark's organist, a committee worked to advance the effort and eventually purchased a Steiner Reck pipe organ. Christened "Opus 100" by its makers, and equipped with more than 2,000 pipes, the new organ lifted music at St. Mark's to a new level of excellence. With dedication and great zeal, Pastor Dahlin helped focus the congregation’s involvement during the last stage of construction. In particular, he made a critical contribution in working to increase the budget so that additional funding was made available to enhance the office complex and fellowship hall. Amidst much dust and chaos, he brought a special touch of creativity and excitement to the final months of work.

Meanwhile, new programs began to appear at St. Mark’s. One of the most compelling was a special mission in Croatia led by Jason Reed, who had become Director of Youth Ministry in 1990. Over the course of the decade, Jason oversaw the development of work and teaching teams at Hope Center in Croatia and, for two years, in war-torn Bosnia. As Youth Director, Jason also shared responsibility, along with Michael and Tracey Edwards, for launching a unique parking lot ministry during the summer months. In this capacity, he worked closely with the seminary interns, or vicars, who were assigned to St. Mark’s during this period. The seminarians—among them, Eric Ash, Greg Cramer, Art Cubbon, Nancy Eggert, Tom Frizzell, Jackie Heitmann, Majorie Mustafa, Ruth Smith, Gary Rhinesmith, and Erwin Roux—helped make the program a success in reaching out to area children.

Another important new effort was the tutoring program for immigrants established in the early 1990s. Under the leadership of parishioner Joan Smith, a program for English as a Second Language (ESL) was organized that reached increasing numbers of newcomers now living in the surrounding neighborhood. Still on-going today, Joan’s work incorporated a dedicated cadre of volunteers who taught alongside newly arrived immigrants from throughout “the global village,” as the world has come to be seen. A final new program that came about in 1996 was the St. Michael’s Mission Endowment Fund. Established in memory of Michael David Mower and Michael James Ancona by their parents and others, the fund provides valuable support for a variety of scholarships and youth activities. This initiative, along with the newly created Mission Endowment, reflected the kind of giving and sharing that has long characterized the congregation.

In late 1995, Church Council reconstituted the Long Range Planning Committee to evaluate the extent to which the 1989 recommendations had been implemented. In January 1997, the results of that effort were released. Designed to look forward, St. Mark’s 2000 concluded that there had been significant and impressive gains in all areas addressed in the original plan. It was found, for example, that the participation of laity in services of worship and church governance had dramatically increased. Regarding the latter, David Nestleroth first served as the Vice Chair of Council in 1991 but then became Council Chair when Pastor Carlson retired, the first lay leader to fill that position. The following year, Peggie Morrison became the first lay person, as well as the first woman, to be elected to chair the council. In the years that followed, lay leadership increased so that when the next pastoral transition would effectively be handled by the lay leadership of Church Council and, once again, the firm hand and advice of Pastor Trower.

By the late 1990s, St. Mark’s had reached a time when the major physical renovations were complete and changes in programming had successfully helped form a new bridge with the surrounding neighborhoods. In was in this context of institutional stability that Pastor Dahlin announced his decision to move on from the parish ministry into the field of interim ministries. He had provided St. Mark’s with valuable leadership at a critical time in its history. His love for music, art, and spontaneity had helped the congregation address changing social and demographic conditions within the broader community.

Over the next year, while Pastor Trower again serving as interim pastor, St. Mark’s underwent a search for a new senior pastor. By fall 1998, a call committee had formed and, with the help of the Metropolitan Synod’s bishop and staff, began to review the files of prospective candidates for the position. In a letter sent to all interested prospects, the committee stressed that the church had grown “from a mission congregation in a rural area rapidly becoming a suburb, to a large congregation in an urban area. . . . We are both transient and rooted. . . . We worship with the sounds of organ, piano, brass, and chorus in traditional Lutheran liturgical settings blended and balanced with the touches of today’s music. . . . We are warm, caring, loving and committed to our faith.” These words provided an accurate and meaningful comment about the strengths and vision of St. Mark’s in its forty-fifth year.

After a period of active searching, the call committee recommended in early 1999 that the Church Council call Rev. Michael H. Taylor to become St. Mark’s third senior pastor. Pastor Taylor was then serving as the pastor at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Beltsville, Maryland, in the metropolitan Washington area, a post he had held for nineteen years. His acceptance of the call brought St. Mark’s an experienced and talented pastor who could provide the kind of nurture and focus needed as the congregation entered a new millennium. He would be coming to a church already planning for its fiftieth anniversary celebration with a newly coined motto: “Founded in Faith, Growing in Grace.”

Pastor Taylor assumed his duties on September 1, 1999, and, supported by a strong pastoral staff, provided a decade of committed and innovative ministry. His years at St. Mark’s were dedicated to maintaining the momentum of the period of renovation and program expansion that preceded his arrival. An especially important development was the creation of a non-profit St. Mark’s Life Center and the launching of an annual Hyperthermia Week for the homeless. In addition, with his two predecessors available for consultation and his own many years of ministry in the Washington metropolitan area, Pastor Taylor was able to sustain and extend existing ministries at the church, especially the music program, which remained under the firm leadership of Bob Webb and was further enriched by the appointment of Christian Michaelsen as organist. In addition, after the departure of Pastor Leah Schafer, St. Mark’s welcomed the arrival of Rev. Amsalu Geleta in 2007 as the new associate pastor. Pastor Geleta’s unique background of being Ethiopian and trained both there and in Norway provided a new voice and willing hands in the effort to advance the growing cultural diversity of the Northern Virginia area.

Another vital part of that effort came when Rev. Taylor urged St. Mark’s to establish a ministry to Spanish-speaking families in the neighborhoods around the church. With Church Council and congregational membership support, he invited Rev. Rafael Arteaga, a recent graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, to come and formally launch that ministry in the fall of 2001. Initially meeting in a conference room, the Hispanic Ministry — formally named the Congregacion de San Marcos — quickly outgrew that space and began holding services in the nave. That initial effort by Pastor Arteaga laid the basis for the arrival of Rev. Carmelo Santos in 2007 and the further expansion of the Spanish-speaking ministry at St. Mark’s.

In the summer of 2009, Pastor Taylor announced that he would retire from the ministry in January. In December, St. Mark’s honored him with a celebratory farewell evening and the membership thanked him for a decade of faithful service as senior pastor. Rev. Taylor’s hope for a long retirement was not realized as he died suddenly in the spring of 2012 with the funeral held at St. Mark’s. This final farewell paid tribute to Pastor Taylor’s nearly forty years of ministry and the many contributions he made during that time. His death occurred during the time that St. Mark’s continued the search to find a replacement for him. In July, that long effort came to a successful conclusion as Rev. Albert W. Triolo became the new senior pastor of St. Mark’s. His arrival marked yet the opening of another new chapter in the history of the congregation. A story that had begun fifty-nine years earlier now continued with Pastors Triolo, Trower, Geleta, and Santos as the new ministerial team and the Church Council and other lay leaders in full support.

Conclusion
St. Mark’s 2013—Who We Are and Our Hope for the Future

“As a congregation we have had fifty years of life and witness together. A wonderful community of faith has developed and continues to develop.”
Rev. Michael Taylor, “Pastoral Staff Report: 2002”

In the introduction to the 2002 annual report, Pastor Taylor stressed the advantage of standing “on top of a hill” with the ability to see long distances. He applied this metaphor to St. Mark’s as it approached the celebration of a half-century of ministry. The 2003 celebration of the founding of St. Mark’s unfolded as planned over the course of the entire year. Indeed, the text for this on-line 60th Anniversary history was initially prepared then and published as a hard-copy text at that time. The Publicity Committee is grateful for all the hard work done at that time and envisions the adaptation of “Founded in Faith, Growing in Grace: A Fiftieth Anniversary History” to be an extension of that original effort.

In his comments above, Pastor Taylor implied that St. Mark’s could draw strength from the historical perspective so that as “we move forward into the future,” we trust “God to guide and direct us.” He viewed the congregation at an important intersection during his years here, facing choices that must be confronted and acted upon. Since then we continue to seek to know what God has in mind for this former mission congregation now located in an increasingly urban and culturally diverse setting.

Without doubt, St. Mark’s is a different congregation than it was sixty years ago. We have experienced many changes over those years. During those six decades, hundreds of families and individuals have participated in the life of the congregation. Even as many have come and gone, the church has been blessed with amazing staying power, able to retain a solid core of members that reaches across generations. Statistical information in 1997, for example, revealed that sixty-three percent of the congregation had been members of St. Mark’s for at least ten years and more than eighty percent between four and ten years. For a metropolitan region where the average length of stay is about twenty-four months, these numbers reflect the unique stability that St. Mark’s has demonstrated over its sixty years of existence.

Proceeding from its origins in an old farm house, with services held in the laundry room, St. Mark’s now worships each Sunday in a beautifully renovated sanctuary, brightened by colored light reflected through stained-glass windows. We are no longer situated among the open fields and forests of rural Virginia but at the hub of a busy network of roads and highways. We retain a large, increasingly diverse membership, who live across the sprawl of Northern Virginia and come here to find fellowship and community.

We now combine the advantages of an older congregation with the continual influx of new families, many with children. Many of us are retired, or soon will be, but others are beginning careers and starting families. As a total grouping, we are more diverse in age, race, and ethnicity than we were at the beginning as a congregation. Our neighbors have changed, Backlick Road grows more congested each year, the Beltway—which did not even exist when the congregation was founded—comes within a block of the church, and the expansion of the Mixing Bowl looms over the Springfield area and the immediate residential blocks near the church building.

And what are we about as a congregation? Our mission remains unchanged: we seek to serve the Lord as disciples of Christ in this place at this time. We wish to do this in not one language now but at least two, to provide services and welcome to all in need, and to proclaim the gospel of Christ for all to hear. Over the past sixty years, we have labored to stay true to our founding as a congregation and to simultaneously evolve as circumstances called us to new possibilities and challenges.

Despite the many changes that have occurred, both within and external to St. Mark’s, we remain in essence very much as we were at the beginning. And the story of our founding and subsequent history, told here yet again, is only the extension of that original beginning six decades ago. This version, which the Fiftieth Anniversary Committee drafted in 2003, is rooted in that special sense of collective identity that continues to nourish all of us at St. Mark’s. At the core of this attraction is the congregation’s commitment to do God’s will and minister to those among and around us.

If that mandate can be sustained over the coming decades, those who then look back at our efforts will read this story and be better able to understand all that happened here and the dedication that brought us to this point in time. They will understand that we were “founded in grace,” hopefully always “growing in grace.” For that reality we can loudly proclaim, “Thanks be to God!” and continue to sing the “joyous song” that is St. Mark’s Lutheran Church again and again.