Wheaton congregation celebrates 50-year milestone
They came back to where it all began a half-century ago.
Parishioners, founding members and families of Evangel Baptist Church spent their Sunday morning services at the DuPage County Fairgrounds. The warehouse-like space was the congregation's spiritual home for the first six years of their existence from 1959 to 1965, before the congregation was able to raise money for their facility at 1900 Manchester Road.
"It was quite an unusual time," said Elle Eklund, one of the congregation's charter members. "The organ we used was a Hammond, so it could sound like a skating rink here at times."
Parishioners spent the morning recalling fond memories, reconnecting with old members who had come back to Wheaton to celebrate the milestone, and reading letters and notes from former Evangel members who have since moved away from the Chicago suburbs.
A projector displayed a timeline of the church's history, and congregants later watched a brief video of members recalling how the church had impacted their lives.
"The stability this church has given to our lives has been very, very great," said Ron Schlamann, another founding member of the church.
Ron's wife, Nona Schlamann, recalled how the couple had spent their Sundays traveling to Chicago to her old Baptist church, then to Ron's childhood home of LaGrange for a second dose of church services.
"Doing all that with a new baby was hard," she said. "I guess you could say this church was right for us."
The Rev. Paul Stenstrom, who had served as the pastor of Evangel during the 1970s, flew in with his wife from Massachusetts for the weekend milestone, as well as a reunion at Wheaton College.
"My wife and I thought we were most like the people of Evangel," he said. "The friends we call here will be eternal friendships. Many lives have been touched with this church."
An evening concert at the church was also planned, and church leaders said their focus for the year involved a series of community service-oriented "compassion projects."