A fond remembrance. . .

The Rev. Charles Evanson was installed as Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church on Rudisill in Ft. Wayne in 1975 --  where he would serve for 25 years.  He was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry in 1964 but not until after serving for two years as an ordained deacon under the Rev. Berthold Von Schenk.  He also became a field work supervisor in 1976 when the Seminary formerly of Springfield, IL, returned to its roots in Ft. Wayne.  While Ft. Wayne was not sure it wanted the Seminary since it had come at the cost of Concordia Senior College, Pastor Evanson was more than welcoming.  He became a mentor to me and to countless others across the years.  I was among those who were his first field workers and he was instrumental in my life as a pastor in so many ways that it is impossible to overstate his influence upon me.

I had actually been at Redeemer before he was installed there.  It was a tough time.  Their larger than life Pastor Herb Lindemann had taken a call.  He had been a very big presence in the liturgical movement among Lutherans.  The associate had left under less than happy circumstances.  The congregation was not even sure about calling Pastor Evanson.  But they did.  I well recall his installation.  The Rev. Adalbert Raphael Alexander Kretzmann, then pastor of St. Luke's, Chicago, read the Gospel.  He cast an imposing shadow over the day but it belonged to a quieter and yet no less profound Charles Evanson.  Soon began regular conversations, visits, and tabletalk -- mostly on Saturday mornings.  Behind a puff of pipe smoke and in a small study too crammed with books, Evanson held forth on the pastoral task -- complete with the history and pastoral theology to match.  But if I was going to serve at Redeemer, I also had to be under orders.

I was ordained a deacon with Gary Frank and Marvin Hinkle and served at Redeemer as liturgical deacon, visitor to the sick and shut-in, sometime catechist, occasional organist, and temporary custodian for most of the six years I was at the Senior College and Seminary.  Gary long ago swam the Bosporus and then the Tiber.  Marv served at historic Zion, Friedheim and elsewhere in Indiana before moving back to the area.  I was on Long Island, between Albany and NYC, and then here in Clarksville.  It is now 50 years since that Sunday near Thanksgiving when hands were laid, prayers were prayed, promises were made, and a stole was laid.  I cannot say what a privilege it was to serve under the good Father.  Oddly enough, I ended up for nearly 13 years just down the road from Fr. Von Schenk's farm and summer home and the mission he began in Oak Hill.  What a circle!  Anyway, I found the photo, my wife cleaned it up, and I offer it to you as a record of a wonderful day that began a privileged life.