In some cases, the churches of Warroad trace their histories to places outside of the local community. Such is the history of the Woodland Mennonite Church, now known as Woodland Bible Church. The Mennonite tradition originated with the Anabaptist movement during the Reformation (think Martin Luther nailing a list of arguments against the Roman Catholic Church to the doors of his local cathedral in the sixteenth century). Mennonites were a sect of these "Reformed" Christians named after Priest Menno Simons of the Netherlands. These people faced persecution from the Roman Catholic Church and, upon hearing of other denominations like the Quakers finding refuge in North America, a faction of these Mennonites traveled the Atlantic to find solitude in America. In the early years of the Great Depression, they arrived in Warroad.
The year was 1934; the Great Depression was affecting communities across America and across the world; droughts and poor harvests affected many farmers in the region; FDR had only been in office for a year.; and from the town of Lostwood, North Dakota, a caravan was moving east. As the story was told by families associated with the early Mennonite Church, the group from Lostwood included five families of the Mennonite faith. They had left their homes for Minnesota in search of greener pastures—literally! But the road wasn't easy. They spent four days on the road, sleeping in their cars or in the open air. Just south of Warroad, the group found what they were looking for. The charter members of the Lostwood Church consisted of some well known names around this part: Deidrich S. and Agatha Heppner, Peter S. and Elizabeth Heppner, Cornelius and Martha Krahn, George and Anna Krahn, and Frank and Kate Heppner. A year later, they were followed by Jake and Marie Quiring and Peter and Margaret Unruh.
In the first year of their settling in Warroad, the Mennonite members met in each other's homes and attending services in other denominations available in the area. They were initially invited to attend the Union Congregational Church, but it was obvious to this small bunch that a place was needed for their own worship services. When congregating in their homes, they often sang hymns, read scriptures, and conducted Sunday School services for children and adults. All services were held in German. It was George Krahn who recommended some time later that services should be performed in English to reach the local community.
In the early days of the church, families arrived primarily by foot or by horse due to the poor country road conditions. Men and women always sat on opposite sides of the room during worship services, a practice that continued into the late 1950s when, according to the church scrapbook, "some newly married couples broke the rules." The Mennonites took worship very seriously, having a rotating schedule of host houses and a shared meal afterwards. A choir and a men's quartet were formed.
Over the next few years, more families from North Dakota came and joined the Mennonite congregation. The numbers became so great that meeting in individual households became untenable. Plans were drawn up for a new church, with several volunteers taking up the task of gathering donations and helping hands. Five and a half miles southeast of town, the church was donated in 1938 by Mr. and Mrs. John Harder. The church's first Vacation Bible School (VBS) for children offered in June 1938. And in October, Pastor Arthur Ortmann was selected to act as the first official pastor of the Mennonite faith in Warroad.
In the spring of 1940, Rev. Ortmann hosted a series of meetings for one week to encourage adults in the community to continue attending church through the summer months. The church hosted the Freeman Junior College men's quartet, a Mennonite College out of South Dakota. It moderated a presentation from a man by the name of Thiesen, whose missionary work in India were discussed with the congregation. In late February 1941, the young people of the Mennonite community banded together to host a special program of singing, poetry, scriptural readings, and fellowship (Warroad Pioneer 02/20/1941). They would host the service again in May with the topic being centered around the war in Europe.
As mentioned previously, Mennonites are known for their pacifism in times of war. In 1941, the church offered a petition in opposition to the war efforts, declaring that they opposed the war as an unchristian endeavor. Although many in the Mennonite faith rejected the war, Rev. Ortmann initiated a program with the Warroad Creamery for 10% of each monthly cream check to be withheld and used for the purchase of Civilian War Bonds. Ortmann was said to be "one jump ahead" of every opportunity to support the nation during the war years. Many men in the congregation joined the Armed Forces, including Jake Heppner, Elmer Ortmann, and Willard Krahn. However, there were still some in the region who harbored ill will towards the German Mennonites, as Tena Ortmann reported that on at least one occasion, swastikas were painted on their church. Still, life continued as normally as possible.
In 1949, construction began on a larger church building to house the growing families of the Mennonite community. The new building, set just behind the old one, was a beautiful white frame church containing a main chapel, nursery, balcony arrangement, room for pastor's instruction class, and a full basement for children's church. The building was constructed almost entirely by the men of the church for just over $5,000. The church was dedicated in June 1950 with a full congregational worship service followed in the evening by a special evangelistic program with special music and scripture readings.
 |
| A. M. Fast purchased the old building and moved it to the lot opposite the old Swift schoolhouse. |
Throughout the 1950s, the Women's Sewing Society met to work on quilts and other sewing projects while fellowshipping with others in the community. The Sewing Society was actually organized in 1935, before Woodland was formed. This organization was also known as the Women's Mission Society or the Woodland Ladies' Aid. The Ladies' Aid was made up primarily of Woodland women, but they often met with neighborhood women of other denominations for sewing circles. Later, this program would change to the Be-Ye-Doers, whose work continues today.
This group of women was in charge of church meals, and they planned the special programs of the earliest years of the church. They worked to gather funding for missions and missionaries, both at home and abroad, new paint for the building, and other necessities for the building. They rolled bandages to be send to the leper colonies in Africa, sewed baby clothes for the poor, cooked for community auctions, and created numerous beautiful quilts throughout its many years.
 |
| Woodland Ladies' Aid in front of Ray Stewart's house, 1953 |
Rev. Ortmann was not only the pastor at Woodland Mennonite. He also served as the pastor for the Mennonite church in Middleboro throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He would continue to preach here even after he retired from his duties at Woodland. He also purchased the old Kadry building in downtown Warroad, where Page's Cafe once resided, and opened the Christian Youth Center there, where different films and activities were provided for the teens of the local community.
In 1959, Rev. Ortmann resigned as pastor of Woodland Mennonite Church to focus more attention on missions work. Rev. Henry and Helen Giesbrecht were selected to replace the Ortmanns in the church. The couple was from Kakabeka Falls, Ontario and had with them five children. The Ortmanns remained familiar faces in the area as Arthur continued preaching at the Middleboro Church until he took ill in 1989 and passed away in 1990, and Tena followed him in 1997.
 |
| Rev. Henry & Helen Giesbrecht |
 |
Church parsonage purchased for the Giesbrecht in town (located on Washington St. SE next
to the train tracks); Henry, who had been a carpenter, used his skills to
fix up the property while Helen nurtured the garden in the backyard. |
While the Giesbrecht's jumped straight into their duties, the Mennonites faced some difficult decisions. You see, there was no break between the Ortmanns leaving and the new pastor arriving. This meant that the differences in the style and topic of messages was stark. It became apparent, too, that Rev. Giesbrecht had differences in opinion between the traditions practiced by the older German Mennonites and the early entrance of Baptist beliefs that entered into the sermons. Soon, several families began leaving the church over disagreements. In 1962, the Giesbrecht's left Woodland for Winnipeg. He passed away in 1997, and Helen followed him twenty years later in 2017.
Rev. Ed Duerkson filled in as interim pastor in 1962 while Woodland searched for a new fulltime pastor. Duerkson had been the initial person encouraging the Mennonites to form a church in the 1930s, so he was well known by many of the congregants. He stayed on until the church hired Pastor Chryston Harms.
 |
Rev. and Mrs. Duerkson (left) with Pastor and Mrs.
Harms (right) on the Harms' first Sunday at Woodland. |
Pastor Chryston and Lillian Harms came from Shattuck, Oklahoma in January 1963 with their children, Denise and Randell. While in Warroad, they had three more children, twins Calvin and Melvin and daughter Dellene. The couple settled in nicely to the community and the congregation. Pastor Harms seemed to be the perfect person for the job, and he took to it wish all seriousness. The family became staples in the Mennonite community.
1964 marked the 25th anniversary of the church's incorporation. Along with its annual VBS, the church observed the occasion with Rev. Ortmann, his brother, Rev. Helmuth Ortmann of Munich, ND, Rev. Duerksen, and Pastor Harms. An octet of the founding families of the church sang at a special worship service, while Tena Ortmann accompanied them on the piano, much as she had on the organ 25 years previously.
 |
| Daily Vacation Bible School at Woodland, 1964 |
In the 1960s, children began attending Camp Cedar. Kids ages 8–18 attended the camp at Galilee Bible Camp in Lake Bronson. It was sponsored by the American Sunday School Union, an organization that originated in the 1700s and continues today under the name InFaith. Many students who attended the camp later became staff and counselors at this camp.
Tragedy struck the Harms family a few years later. Three-year-old Calvin Harms was reported missing in the early afternoon of Tuesday, April 4, 1967. A group of men working on the railroad reported that they had seen a child near the river but thought he had gone home after they warned him away from the water's edge. Sheriff Paul Knockenmus found small tracks leading to the river and believed that the boy must have fallen into the freezing water. Around 5:00 that evening, a group of men began breaking open the ice around the area where Calvin was reported last seen while others searched the surrounding area. The search continued the next day by local high school boys under the direction of Deputy Sheriff Dennis Dagen, with the dimming hope that Calvin may yet return. A search and rescue diving team from Silver Bay, MN arrived on the scene that Wednesday but found it too difficult to search the murky waters. A tracking dog was requested from Minneapolis that Saturday when it became clear that dragging the river was not producing results.
The dogs lead the searchers directly to the spot on the river where it was believed Calvin had entered the water. It was feared that the strong current of the river would have carried Calvin's small body out to the lake, but authorities and men of the rescue squad felt confident he could be found. Concentrating the dragging operations in that location, they finally retrieved the small boy about 100 feet from where his tracks were left in the snow. Calvin was laid to rest on Wednesday, April 12, with services at Woodland performed by Rev. Arthur Ortmann and Rev. Leonard Lindholm.
An op-ed in the paper on April 12 carried the following response to the tragedy: "Lake of the Woods and the Warroad River have claimed a good many lives over the years and we realize there are not too many precautions we can take to prevent these deaths other than just using common sense—but it does seem that the scene of last week's tragedy is one spot along the river where improvements could be made. This was one of only a very few open spots on the river that day. The water runs down along the railroad and drains in to the channel and had opened only a fairly small place in the river...There have been several drownings in this same place. Surely there is something that can be done to lessen he hazard at this place along the river!" (WP 04/12/1967)
—✝—
The church was committed to growing their community and in supporting missionaries. In the late 1960s, Pastor Harms began writing a monthly newsletter to the congregation that included encouragement in their faith, lists of activities and programs for the next month, and ways to connect with one another both in and outside of the church. The church also provided support for numerous missionaries throughout the years. Missionaries in 1969 served in the U.S., like Gerald Krahn in South Dakota, David Unruh in Alaska, and Carl Wahlstadt in Kentucky. Other missionaries traveled much farther in their work, like Les Dick in Haiti, Clair Longuevan in Mali, and David Palmer in Columbia.
 |
Clair and Sonya Longuevan with children
Iris, Mayann, Jewel, & Nathan, 1969 |
The congregation was so taken with missions activities, they added more and more over the years. According to Pastor Harms, about half of the income gained through offerings and donations at the church went to supporting missionaries (WP 06/13/1973). Between 1972–75, missionaries served as far away as Dave Loewen in Japan and Fernando Fast and Caroline Thiessen in Kenya. Keith and Olivia Heppner have been continuously supported by Woodland since the 1980s, when they moved their family to Ecuador. Woodland continues to support them today with their work at the Rio Grande Bible Institute in Texas.
In 1973, the Pastor Harms resigned from his position at the Mennonite Church. He and his family planned to move out of the area but were unsure at the time where they would be going. In his place came Rev. Paul Zoschke (ZAH-skee), straight out of school at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He came to Woodland at the end of June 1973.
 |
| Harms family, 1973 |
Rev. Zoschke was ordained in December 1974 and seemed to fit in well with the community. In 1975, he married Eunice Milne of Roseau, then a secretary and announcer at KRWB radio. The two soon had a daughter, Merindy. Affectionately known as Pastor Paul, they were the last family to live in the parsonage house by the railroad track. It was said that the Zoschkes "have done much to enrich the lives of folks here, doing the Lord's work." (WP 10/26/1977)
 |
| Rev. Paul, Eunice, and daughter Merindy, 1977 |
Pastor Paul left the church in October 1977. He had served for four years but felt he and his family were called to move closer to his parents in Coffeyville, KS. Ken Marr took over the pastorship in June 1978. He and his wife came from Nebraska. Ken had served as the interim pastor at Grace Brethren Bible Church in Omaha prior to his ordination at Woodland. Ken, his wife Connie, and their children Stephen and Stephanie. They moved into the newly-built parsonage home on Lincoln Street, behind the old Lake Family Dentistry building.
In 1982, tensions within the church caused a fracture that culminated in Rev. Marr leaving Woodland to begin Faith Bible Church out of the old Del Rich building on State Street, where the old school parking lot once sat. Later that year, Rev. Robert Terry Tyler accepted pastoral duties at the church. Originally from Denver, CO, Terry, as he was known, attended Northwestern College in Minneapolis and was ordained as a minister in 1959. Terry traveled all over the country with his wife, Fairie Ann, and five children, Gary, Marc, Stephen, Tamara, and Autumn. By the time he arrived to begin preaching at the Mennonite church, all but two children still lived with Terry and Fairie Ann.
 |
| Rev. Robert "Terry" Tyler & Fairie Ann |
Only a few short months later, in August 1982, Rev. Tyler suffered a fatal heart attack. The church was left in shock at the sudden passing of Rev. Tyler and looked to his son, Stephen Tyler, then a recent graduate of Moody Bible Institute with a bachelor's degree in Bible Theology with an emphasis in Greek textual criticism (a branch of study concerned with determining the original text of ancient writings based on later translations of the work). Stephen assumed his father's duties within the church for the next year, during which he applied for official pastoral licensing. His ordination occurred on September 25, 1983, when Pastor Nuefeld, Pastor of the Northern District of the Mennonite Conference, granted Stephen a ministerial license (WP 09/28/1983).
 |
Woodland board chairman Dick Orvis (far left) watching the licensing
ceremony of Stephen Tyler (kneeling) performed by Pastor Nuefeld. |
Stephen had initially planned to go to seminary school before being called to take over his father's pastoral duties at Woodland. He remained the pastor until 1985, when he left to pursue other ventures. He remained a figure in the local Christian community, preaching and teaching at different churches in the area until his tragic death in 1988.
Paul Zoschke returned to the pulpit in late 1985. 1985 marked the church's change in title from Woodland Mennonite Church to Woodland Bible Church. When Pastor Zoschke returned to the church, it was to its new building, built over the summer by men of the congregation (WP 06/05/1986). The church remains at that location today on Warroad's south side. The first service held in the new building was that annual church Harvest Festival, a tradition still celebrated in the church each autumn. Zoschke noted that he was glad the church had changed its name since "it reflects more accurately the nature and emphasis of the church body," (WP 10/30/1985).
Zoschke resigned from Woodland at the end of 1990 and preached his last sermon there on January 6, 1991. During his five years as pastor, the congregation had nearly doubled in size. The church also began presenting its weekly services on the radio, a tradition that continues today. Gerald Krahn, chairperson of Woodland's Board of Elders at the time, led the congregation in the interim while a new pastor was sought. The position was taken up by Pastor Gary Karwoski in June.
 |
| Pastor Gary Karwoski |
In 1992, Karwoski acted as the chairman of the Borderland Christian Broadcasting Fellowship, Inc. Alongside Ron Heppner, Bill Landby, and Forrest Schulz, the men banded together with members from the Warroad Free Lutheran Church to establish a 24-hour Christian radio station in the northland. The project would not be completed until September 1993 when the FCC finally gave its approval to the BCBFI board. Fundraising efforts continued through the summer of 1992 as equipment and technical skills were acquired piece by piece. That same year, Steve Herman was brought on as the Associate Pastor, the first one to serve at Woodland Bible Church. Then, in August 1993, the church also brought on David Ortmann as pastoral intern for six months (WP 08/03/1993). Another group splintered off from Woodland, including Gerald Krahn, his son Arthur, Russel Walker, and Frank Norling to form the Family Fundamental Church around that same time.
In 1994, Steve Herman joined congregants Katie Ellerbusch, Jesse Jaros, and Jeff and Connie Heppner on a missions trip to Brazil. During their trip, the group helped build bathroom facilities and dormitories for the poorer communities. The group left for Brazil in January 1994, a poor decision given January is the hottest month of the year just south of the Equator. In total, 31 Americans joined the project, meeting in Miami before flying to a missions camp in Port Alzia. The trip lasted three weeks. (WP 02/22/1994).
For unknown reasons, Steve Herman resigned his position as Associate Pastor in spring 1994, leaving Pastor Karwoski alone once again as leader of the church. Several months later, in October 1994, Woodland welcomed Pastor Steve Adams and his wife, Darla, as Associate Pastor. Adams' focus was on youth ministry, and he made a welcome addition to the church. Steve and Darla arrived in Warroad with eleven years youth pastoral experience from Kansas City with their two children, Rebekah and Matthew. The Adams set up the Future Seekers Youth Ministry, an organization that seeks to help and support local youths in the Warroad/Roseau area via a teen hotline. This ministry continues today.
 |
| Pastor Steve, Darla, Bekah, and Matt Adams, 1999 |
In May 1996, Gary Karwoski received his PhD in Ministry from the Dallas Theological Seminary. He worked towards his doctorate whilst raising three teenagers and pastoring at Woodland. According to the
Warroad Pioneer, "In order to accomplish this, he has been working since the fall of 1989 to complete 30 semester hours of classes and independent studies, as well as a 298–page dissertation entitled, "Case Studies of Pastoral Leadership in the Church." When asked why he did it, Karwoski joked: "I am a sick person. I like to study," (
WP 05/07/1996). Throughout the 1990s, Woodland hosted a variety of movie nights, teen hangout sessions, children's programs, musical artists, and much more. Supporting missionaries continued to be of the utmost importance to the church. AWANA also became a staple program for children in the area to learn about God and enjoy activities on Wednesday nights.
Pastor Karwoski resigned his position at Woodland in late 1998. He was replaced in August 1999 by Pastor Dan Pierce. Pierce had previously served as a missionary in Taiwan and spent five years before coming to Warroad as a pastor in Iowa. He was joined by his wife, Deb, and three children, Kristin, Amy, and Joshua (WP 08/11/1999).
 |
Pastor Dan, wife Deb (center), Kristin and her husband
Travis (both left), Amy, and Josh |
In the fall of 2000, Future Seekers Ministry hosted the Christian rock band AFLAME at the Warroad High School. This preceded the annual "See You at the Pole" prayer group that meets by the flag pole in front of the school once a year every fall to pray for the school and its staff and administrators. It is a tradition that began long before 2000 and continues even today. In the early 2000s, Pastor Steve Adams organized the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) that met weekly on Wednesdays during the school year. It gave a space for students to engage in sports activities, a time of devotions, and getting to know other Christians their age. Around 2005, Woodland also began hosting its annual Mother-Daughter Tea in the spring.
In 2005, Woodland took on Josh Hauge from Sunbird, MN as a pastoral intern. He worked under Pastor Adams and Mark Knevel with the youth programs. Josh lived with Dick and Rosie Orvis while he stayed in Warroad. During his stay, he accompanied the Youth Group to Kansas City for a missions trip to the inner city and helped teach at VBS. At the time, Hauge was only 23-years-old and a graduate from Northwestern University in St. Paul (WP 06/29/2005).
 |
Josh Hauge with wife, Amy, and children
Annetta, Ina, and Eloise, 2020. (Photo taken from Christ Community
Church of MN website, https://www.christcommunitymn.org.) |
Dan Pierce resigned as pastor in the fall of 2005. Pastor Paul Zoschke once again returned to Woodland to act as interim pastor until another could be found. That pastor was Wayne Maxwell, former pastor of Grace Point Church in Colorado and originally from Ohio. Pastor Maxwell arrived around September 2006 along with his wife and children (
WP 11/08/2006). By February 2007, Maxwell began writing a pastor's column for the
Warroad Pioneer alongside Pastor Gus Booth.
 |
| Pastor Wayne, Michelle, Ryan, Joel, and Seth |
2008 saw the arrival of Pastor Charles Mills of Accra, Ghana. The church had been in contact with Pastor Charles since the previous summer, when a group of five ladies from Woodland worked as volunteers at the Fellowship of Living Praise Church in Accra. Pastor Charles was treated to dinner at the former Rustic Diner, then-owned by Sue and Ken Kotlarz, an outdoor potluck and bonfire, and a traditional Woodland service where he spoke about his ministry in Ghana and the relationship he hoped to create between his church and Woodland (Warroad Explorer 06/17/2008).
Also in 2008, Woodland, along with many other denominations in the area, support the creation of the All Nations New Life Center, a Christian ministry that serves the Native American peoples of Northern Minnesota. This venture was headed by Kenny and Linda Danielson, natives of Mille Lacs who lived for the previous 16 years in South Carolina. They were supported in this ministry through the MN Baptist Conference (MNBC) to pastor to the reservations in the Northwest Angle. Their building is located on Wabasha Avenue, but they host Vacation Bible School and Bible studies in the Northwest Angle, the Windigo Island Indian Reserves, and at Buffalo Point (WE 08/12/2008). Sunday services often include a worship service, breakfast, music, and Bible study. Bigger events, like baptisms, are often held at Woodland.
 |
| Pastor Kenny Danielson, 2018 |
 |
| All Nations New Life Center, 2022 |
Ten members of Woodland Bible Church traveled to Ghana in 2010—Kelly Citrowske, Willow and Winter Johnson, Jonathan, Stephen, and Paul Helweg, Kristine Heppner, Nancy Peterson, Matt Ulwelling, and Dustine Dettore. The group grew to include Brittany Huggins of St. Mary's Catholic Church and Sara Bailey from the Family Fundamental Church. Fundraising for the trip collected over $22,000. Pastor Charles met the group and they stayed with him in Kaneshie and ministered to several villages in the region. The trip lasted 17 days during which they worked to improve nutrition in the villages, performed basic medical checks, and joined in local worship services (
WP 09/07/2010).
On February 6, 2011, services at Woodland Bible Church ground to a halt when the roof gave way over the sanctuary. The building was evacuated and no one was hurt, but for many months, Woodland was without a proper home while construction worked to fix the problem. Over the next few months, services were held in the smaller community area of the church, the old Warroad High School gym, and the middle school gym on Cedar Avenue. Pastor Maxwell stated that many things changed over the next few months. "We held a baptismal service using the community pool and had two weddings performed using two other local churches this summer," (WP 11/08/2011). Seven months later, Woodland had its first service in its rebuilt sanctuary in October during its annual Harvest Family.
Future Seekers Ministry brought teens each year to the Dare2Share Conference, a youth ministry conference in Chicago generally with several influential speakers and one or two bands performing. D2S began after the 1999 Columbine School shooting, during which the founder, Greg Stier, was a local pastor who sought to reach todays youth with a spiritual alternative to violence. Kids from Woodland and other churches in the area joined a caravan with several volunteer chaperones to attend. This tradition would continue into the late 2010s when the conference moved away from Chicago.
 |
| Woodland celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 2014 |
2018 marked the beginning of the Warroad Ministerial Association's Love Warroad event. Together with the
Warroad Community Church,
Zion Lutheran Church, and several other organizations, Woodland helped organize this community event where residents of Warroad banded together to help the community. From cleaning trash at the parks, weeding gardens, painting city buildings and tons of other tasks, volunteers showed their love for their community by banding together for a day of work. Love Warroad concluded with a free meal at the Point, music played by the worship teams of individual churches, and speeches from local pastors. Approximately 800 people reportedly attended the evening service in fellowship with their neighbors (
WP 08/21/2018).
Like most churches, COVID dramatically changed the operations of Woodland. Pastor Wayne Maxwell's sermons shifted to YouTube, donations were moved from in-person contributions to a donation box in the entryway, and Facebook became the place for announcements and fellowship. Pastor Steve Adams and his wife, Woodland's Administrative Secretary Darla, worked hard to continue encouraging and supporting Warroad's youth. They will be retiring from ministry in July 2022.
 |
| Woodland Bible Church, south, 2022 |
With services back in person, Woodland continues to operate smoothly and with love for the community. From the five Mennonite travelers to a full congregation in downtown Warroad, Woodland Bible Church will likely continuing thriving for years to come.
* Jack Zavada, "Mennonite Beliefs and Practices," Learn Religions, 13 April 2020, https://www.learnreligions.com/mennonite-beliefs-and-practices-700041.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment