Good News from St Paul's

 Shared by Rev. Kristine Hileman, pastor at St Paul's, Gilead

God’s Faithfulness for 25 years

On May 9th at the 11:00 am Worship Service, St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Gilead celebrated God's faithfulness to them for the 25 years since a tornado destroyed their church building. On May 8, 1996 at 8:55 pm on a Wednesday night, a tornado pushed the entire building off of its foundation and scattered it on the surrounding ground and into the kitchen of the parsonage. No one was injured or killed. The choir had been practicing that night and had left just a half hour before. The night before there had been a Congregational Meeting in the basement.  If the tornado had hit on the upcoming Friday night, the basement would have been full of women at a Salad Supper. The pictures of the scene are breathtaking. The pews, organ, and piano were lifted and broken and scattered. Debris was everywhere. Two members found the historic carved altar and covered it with a tarp. They stayed up all night watching over the site, which was two and a half miles south of Route 136. (see more images on the Nebraska Synod Facebook page)

The altar, pulpit, and baptismal font were found and were moved to the old school house in Gilead. That's when the cleanup began. There was an abandoned Catholic church in Gilead that was purchased and refurbished with much painting and woodworking. New stained glass windows were installed. The altar was repaired and cleaned and repainted as were the pulpit and baptismal font. From the broken pews, a Pastor's bench and a number board for the hymns were made. The altar candelabra and cross were repaired. A member created an amazing stained glass cross containing shards from the shattered windows of the destroyed church. New pews were needed and a church in Iowa was called because they were getting rid of their old pews. The pews were scheduled to be burned the day after the call from Gilead was received. The recycled pews fit perfectly in the new church building. An organ was donated. Money was raised by a pancake feed in the Gilead Town Hall and a prebuilt fellowship hall was purchased and attached to the Sanctuary by an enclosed walkway. 

It was a tremendous effort by many, many people to rebuild a meeting place for St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Now the new location is easily found on Route 136 and is easily accessible.  The church building was destroyed in 1996, but the Church was not. St. Paul's Lutheran Church is alive and well in May of 2021! 

On May 9th, the congregation remembered all of the 25 years of God’s faithfulness through a beautiful service of worship, Holy Communion, praise, and thanksgiving, along with the ringing of the bell 25 times for 25 years. The church was full, a commemorative poem was written and read, a time of memories and stories was shared – many of them moving people to tears as they reflected on the destruction, but even more on God’s hand in protecting lives and helping them rebuild. Many followed the telling of their stories speaking the hymn refrain, “Jesus, Still Lead On,” which has been a theme of the congregation since one of their significant congregational anniversaries.

The offerings for the day were designated to Lutheran Disaster Response to pass on the help that they received in the midst of facing a disaster themselves. Jesus, still lead on!

Pure Nebraska recently shared the St Paul's story on their Facebook page. To learn more about how St Paul's turned a a difficult time into good news, click here.