Telling the stories of Texas with photographs (and words too...)
Morning in Warda, Texas
Morning in Warda, Texas, y’all! In some ways, I’d rather be there than where I am (waiting for my connecting flight to Spartanburg, South Carolina at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Can We Add More Words to Make the Official Name Longer Read More …
Tradition & Baptismal Sponsors
There’s been no small amount of discussion of baptismal sponsors in our home over the last few days, partly because, God willing, our soon-to-be-born child will be baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Thorndale in early October, but also Read More …
“Rejoice with me; for I have found the [that] which I had lost.”
After Pastor Stiemke accepted the call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Houston in 1879, Holy Cross had no pastor for about two years. During this time, the congregation was served by the Rev. Carl Ludwig Geyer of St. Peter’s in Read More …
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
Pastor Stiemke of Holy Cross was certainly aware of the interpersonal conflicts that had resulted in the separation of Holy Cross as well as St. Peter’s in Serbin from Kilian’s congregation in Serbin. That’s why I find this tidbit from Read More …
“And unto the Wends I became as a Wend, that I might gain the Wends…”
The Rev. Timotheus Stiemke was in a difficult situation. He’d been assigned to a new Lutheran congregation in the little town of New Start (a few miles south of Serbin), where he was installed on the fourth Sunday in Advent Read More …
The Texas Synod (attempts to) expand into Coupland, Texas
In the last few weeks, I’ve started to get to the point where I’m finding connections everywhere between congregations that I’ve photographed and researched… connections I would have missed six or twelve months ago. Or at least supposed connections. Sometimes Read More …
Texas Synod Pastors: 1880
This afternoon I stumbled across an 1880 photograph of Texas Synod pastors on the ELCA Southwestern Synod Archives’ site. https://swtsynod.pastperfectonline.com/…/C961483D-E2A3-4D36… Some of the folks I’ve written about in the past months are pictured here, including the Rev. Frederick Jesse (who Read More …
New Sweden and the Augustana Synod
The last few days have been busy, so here’s another photo of New Sweden Evangelical Lutheran Church! I’ve written a bit about the Texas Synod over the last few weeks. New Sweden was not part of the Texas Synod; they Read More …
The Texas Synod’s Pastor Problem
A few weeks ago I wrote about how the Rev. Frederick Jesse, who briefly served at Holy Cross at Rabb’s Creek (now located in Warda) during its short Texas Synod phase, eventually joined the Missouri Synod in 1890. To understand Read More …
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Cemetery – Lincoln, Texas
This is St. Peter’s Cemetery in Lincoln, Texas. It’s all that’s left of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, which existed during the early twentieth century. I’ve not been able to find much information about the church. I know that at some Read More …