Some People of Faith Lutheran
President Robert L. Vogel
Photo courtesy Waldorf College
Since Faith Lutheran was built a great deal of history as been made there. After being noticed for his youth work in Golden, Pastor Vogel was called in 1965 to become the Midwestern Youth Director of the American Lutheran Church, now the ELCA. He ultimately went on to serve as President of his own alma mater, Wartburg College (1980-1996), where the Vogel Library is named for him and Sally. Vogel also served as interim president of Grand View College (now university, 1999), Waldorf College (2004-2005), Bethany College (2007-2008), and Texas Lutheran University (2010-2011). Today, Pastor Vogel is retired and he and Sally live in Denver.
Faith's pastors Bruce Hermann and Patrice Helland
Von Stroh visiting with parishioners on March 13, 1979
Photo courtesy Faith Lutheran Church Collection, Gardner Family
Collection
Pastor Von Stroh today
Photo courtesy Bethany Lutheran Church
In 1978 the city that had known Colorado's first Lutheran missionary (Olof Olsson in 1871) and pastor (Carl Peter Rydholm in 1873) became home to the first woman pastor, when Faith Lutheran called the newly-ordained Patrice Helland Von Stroh to serve as Pastor alongside Bruce Hermann. Von Stroh was also the first woman pastor of the Central District of the American Lutheran Church, a 5-state area of the midwestern United States. She served many of the needs of the congregation, from taking part in services to reaching out to those not coming to worship.
Bishop April Ulring Larson
Photo courtesy La Crosse Area Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America
However, Von Stroh was not the only woman at Faith who would make such history, as in 1975 April Ulring Larson, along with her husband Judd, served as student pastors as part of a new program designed to give seminary students valuable hands-on experience. From this beginning April Larson went on to become the first female Lutheran Bishop in America, and the second in the world, elected to head the La Crosse Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1994. According to Judd Larson their time in service at Faith Lutheran was "a very significant year" that has helped shape their ministry to this day, and they credit the congregation and Pastor Bruce Hermann for contributing much to the ministers they became.
The handbells arrive in 1972 (from left: Marilyn
Comer, Pastor Hermann and Kerry Miller)
Today's Praise Ringers have served since 1980
Photo courtesy Golden Transcript
These are only a few highlights of the valuable history of Faith Lutheran Church, where many others have come and made a difference. Faith Lutheran continues to make history today, most noticeably in its combining efforts with other churches to help the sick and the homeless, where heretofore such ecumenical efforts have always been hard to sustain in Golden's history. With the congregation, Faith Lutheran's historic building has changed too, with small renovations to correct its design liabilities (most noticeably bracing the cantilevered end from the winds) and companion buildings added in 1976 and 1986. Today, Faith Lutheran's historic structure serves as the Fellowship Hall. Despite these changes, however, Faith Lutheran's original building remains well-preserved and autonomous, and still in its historic image. Most of the original furniture is now gone, but a pew and the flower holders yet remain for people to see, the flower holders coming out each Christmas and Easter. Faith Lutheran Church's historic building is one of the most important historic churches of this area, and continues to convey the testament of faith and service that has taken place here, and continues serving into the future.