Pilgrim’s Pastor Jayson S. Galler makes the sign of the cross as part of the groundbreaking for the congregation’s new Parish Hall. Capital Improvements Committee Chair Steven Sampson assists. Photo: Paul Guinn.
Pilgrim Lutheran Church broke ground for its new Parish Hall on Sunday, September 13, 2015, in a special rite at the end of its regular 10:45 a.m. Divine Service outside the Sanctuary on the site of the new building. The congregation processed out for the groundbreaking singing “The Church’s One Foundation” accompanied by piano, trumpet, and two trombones.
“This Groundbreaking has been a long time in coming,” Pilgrim’s pastor, The Rev. Dr. Jayson S. Galler said, explaining that the congregation has been planning to expand its facilities for more than two years, especially after remodeling its Sanctuary in 2012, subsequently acquiring two adjacent lots (to be used for parking), and recently completing a remodel of its old Parish Hall. “We thank God for bringing the congregation this far,” Galler said, “and we pray that He will continue to bless the congregation going forward.”
The Groundbreaking rite included the reading of Luke 6:47-49, in which Jesus speaks about building a house by laying its foundation on rock with the result that it stands against a flood. “At Pilgrim,” Galler said, “Jesus’s Church withstands the Gates of Hell, and Jesus builds His Church as He promises in Matthew 16:18 to build it, on the confession of Jesus as the promised Savior, Who died on the cross, rose from the grave, and now offers His forgiveness and so eternal life through His read and preached Word, through Holy Baptism, through individual Holy Absolution, and through Holy Communion.” Galler added that the new Parish Hall will play an important role in the life of the Church God is building in Kilgore.
The new Parish Hall the congregation is constructing will have four Sunday School classrooms, bathrooms that meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards, a new serving kitchen, and the congregation’s main non-worship gathering space for Bible Study, larger meetings, meals, receptions, and the like, including the congregation’s quarterly blood drives in partnership with the Kilgore Rotary Club.
“We are planning for the new building almost right away to be used as a community center of a sort for our immediate neighborhood in Kilgore,” Galler said, adding that they are considering offering programs that those who live nearby might need. He added, “While the Holy Spirit draws people here from 30 miles or more in every direction, we also want to be more of a part of the neighborhood that has been home to the congregation nearly since its inception.”
The congregation’s recently completed remodel of its old Parish Hall into a new Church Office, Pastor’s Study, and Conference Room/Library (with refreshed hallway, bathrooms, and small kitchen) cleared the way for it to vacate an old oil-field building being used for the Church Office, Pastor’s Study, and Sunday School classrooms. That building was originally constructed in 1958 as an office building for the Tidal Pipeline Camp near Joinerville, Texas, and eventually sold to Pilgrim by the Getty Oil Company in 1970 and moved to its current location. The oil-field building is to be removed and the new Parish Hall constructed in part where it presently sits.
Another part of the site for the new Parish Hall had previously been occupied by a Sunday School building constructed in 1983 but destroyed when a red-oak tree fell on it in a 2008 storm. While the new Sunday School rooms are being built, the growing Sunday School classes are meeting in the recently remodeled Church Office, Pastor’s Study, and Conference Room/Library, while the Adult Bible Class continues to meet in the Sanctuary until the new Parish Hall is complete. The Sunday School had its Rally Day the same day as the Groundbreaking, with Sunday School beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Pilgrim Lutheran Church is a congregation of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and has been officially a part of Kilgore for nearly 63 years. The congregation’s mission is to glorify God in proclaiming the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ with Word and deed in the congregation’s midst, in its community, and throughout the world. Everyone is welcome both to visit and to make Pilgrim Lutheran Church their Church home.
For media coverage of the groundbreaking, see the PLC in the News page.
