| Summary: | also canoe trips and various out-door activities. Through Nordland, many have been adopted by baptism and nurtured in the Word. We are grateful to the pioneers who founded our church, and for the guidance of our faithful pastors. We are also grateful to all the faithful men and women of the congregation who have been trustees and held offices, or taught Sunday School. Nordland will continue to grow year by year. Baptist Church BAPTIST CHURCH HISTORY The work in Rutland which ultimately resulted in the Rutland Baptist Church started back in the 1880's, but the church was not officially organized until several years later. This Church was organized in Highland Township, now known as Shuman Township, on June 23, 1890. There were nine members that organized into a church at this time and they are as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Lars Loo, Peter Forsberg, John Swanson, Mr. and Mrs. John Berquist, Ole Nordstrom, Mrs. Erick Olson and Mrs. Wilhelmina Erickson. On November 9, 1890, the church was incorporated under the State Law of North Dakota and it was decided that the name should be "First Swedish Baptist Church of Rutland, North Dakota." For three years the church was without a pastor, but members of the congregation led the meetings and the Lord was with them and blessed them. On March 4, 1893, Rev. Nord was called and accepted the call and served for about one year. He was followed by Pastor Olaf Sutherlund. The work flourished and the church grew. Then came a critical time when all but five of the members left. This later dropped down to only three but they were faithful to the work and due to their untiring efforts the church again increased in membership until it came to a point where there was a lack of room and accommodations and the need for a new building became apparent. In October, 1935, a church building was purchased near Kidder, S. Dak. The foundation for the building was laid in June, 1937 and in September 1938 the work of enlarging the puchased structure was begun. In 1938 the necessity of securing a parsonage also arose and the house just across the street from the Church was purchased. With the problem of the parsonage settled the church faced the task of completing the church building. A large number of the men, and sometimes the women and children too, worked faithfully in order that the structure might be completed. This could not have been realized without the cooperation of the entire congregation. Many people gave sacrificially of their time, money and other gifts in order to make the undertaking possible. On June 9, 1940 the new church building was dedicated. This was also the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Church. There are several who have gone out from this church to serve as pastors, pastors wives, missionaries or other church workers. Although the membership of the church has never been very large, only God can know what its influence has been throughout the land. Through the years this church has shared a pastor with various other churches in the area. These pastors, together with their families, have served faithfully and all of them have brought blessing to the church as well as the community. We thank God for those who have given their life and service to God. A list of those who have served as pastors and the approximate years of service is as follows: Rev. Nord, 1893-1894; Rev. O. Sutherlund, 1894- 1898; Rev. L. M. Stolberg, 1898-1900; Rev. Blomgrin, 1901-1904; Student Pastor N. S. Miller, Summer of 1908; Student Pastor Alf Krane, Summer of 1915 and 1916; Student Pastor M. C. Hamlin, Summer of 1917 and 1918; Rev. A. G. Anderson, 1919-1920; Rev. J. R. Spiller, 1921-1922; Student Pastor Carl Olson, Summer of 1923 and 1924; Rev. Paul Johnson, 1924-1925; Rev. Carl Hogfelt, 1925-1926; Rev. Reinhard Johnson, 1926; Rev. Harold Martinson, 1927; Rev. Lloyd Lenning, 1928-1930; Rev. L. C. Hersgard, 1930-1937; Rev. Andrew Simko, 1938-1941; Rev. Carl Seaquist, 1941-1943; Rev. Davidson, 1944; Rev. J. J. Janousek, 1945- 1949; Rev. Edwin Holger, 1950-1951; Rev. Em- mett Dosier, 1951-1954; Rev. Jack W. Reif, 1954- 1964; Rev. Douglas Moore, 1964-1968; Rev. Dennis Anundson, 1968-1969; Rev. Kenneth J. Samuelson, 1969 to present time. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
|
|---|