The earliest services at St. Thomas were held beginning in 1839 in the private homes of German immigrants to the area. In 1847, John Streckfusz formally organized the congregation. Nine years later, in 1858, members constructed a small country church and Christian day school. In January of 1876, the members purchased a public school building and moved to to the church property to serve as the Christian day school.

The cornerstone of the present church was laid and the completed brick edifice dedicated in 1898. As time went by, the building changed, including the addition of our present day Sunday School and parish hall in 1979; and an interior renovation in 1996.

Throughout all this time, St. Thomas has remained a congregation of people standing firm in faith and service to the Lord.

• That there is one God in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• That every person is conceived and born in sin (original sin), and deserves temporal death and everlasting damnation for both original and actual sin.
• That Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God, born of the virgin Mary, was truly crucified, died and was buried, and rose again in His body on the third day. He ascended into heaven, and will come again on the last day to be our judge.
• That a person is saved (justified) entirely by God’s grace, through faith, which is created by the Holy Spirit where and when He pleases.
• To obtain this faith, God instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry (preaching office). Through the means of the Word and the Sacraments the Holy Spirit creates saving faith.
• Believers must do good works, but they are not to trust in them for their salvation.
• There is one, holy, catholic (Christian) Church, with Jesus Christ as her head.
• The Sacraments of Holy Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper are to be retained in the church.
• That the Unaltered Augsburg Confession (of which the above items are a summary of the first thirteen articles) is a true and faithful exposition of Holy Scripture.
• The books of the Old and New Testaments are the true, inspired, inerrant Word of God.
• The rest of the Book of Concord is, like the Augsburg Confession, a true and faithful exposition of Holy Scripture, and we subscribe unreservedly to it.

For a simple understanding of our doctrine, we invite you to read the Small Catechism or to read about what congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod believe and practice.

Rev. Roger Peters

Pastor Roger Peters is a 2013 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He first began his service to St. Thomas as a vicar from 2011 to 2012 before returning to seminary. After graduating with his Master of Divinity (MDiv) in 2013, he remained at seminary to begin work on a Master of Sacred Theology degree (STM). He was ordained in July 2014 and returned to service at St. Thomas in January 2015 as assistant pastor to Pastor Timothy Sims. In August 2018, Pastor Peters and Pastor Sims traded positions with Pastor Peters taking over responsibility for overseeing the pastoral ministry at St. Thomas. In 2020, Pastor Sims stepped away and Pastor Peters became the sole pastor at St. Thomas.

In addition to serving as pastor of St. Thomas, Pastor Peters also serves full-time as the Assistant Director of Library and Information Services at Concordia Theological Seminary.