Luther & Lilian Anderson, December 1946

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

– 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Beloved of God,

The Letter of Call from the Lutheran Board of Home Missions was dated January 14, 1944, and it was directed to a seminarian in his senior year at Augustana Theological Seminary in Rock Island, Illinois.  Though it would be six months before the candidate was approved for ordination, he’d already been identified by the Board as a good fit for a new mission start that was to be established in the “southwest section of the city of Seattle.” Starting annual salary:  $2,100; with a housing allowance “not to exceed $60 a month for rent.”  The seminarian’s name? Luther Anderson.

Luther said YES to the Call, and on September 10, 1944, he conducted his first worship service as the mission’s founding pastor.  There was no building—that would come two years later.  Worship was held in an E. C. Hughes School portable classroom.  Years later, on the occasion of the congregation’s 50th anniversary, Pastor Anderson shared this remembrance:

“The first service was memorable. It was my first service as a young ordained pastor. Eighteen attended that first worship; there were only 15 when I pronounced the benediction. One lady left early to fulfill a promise to her husband, another fainted and was taken home! I wondered what my ministry was to become.”

It was while serving Peace that Luther met and then married his wife Lilian in July 1946.  (Lilian, like Luther, was a child of a Lutheran pastor.  She was born in China and lived there for many of her early years.)  A new Call in 1949 took Luther and Lilian from Peace Lutheran to First Lutheran Church in East Orange, New Jersey, where he served until 1960.  In 1960, he accepted a Call from First Lutheran Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he remained until retirement in 1985.  Retirement, however, didn’t last long.  In 1986 he accepted a call to serve as Assistant Pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church in Tamarac, Florida; a position he served for the rest of his life. Pastor Anderson died in April of 2002, and two months ago we received word from their son Eric Anderson that Lilian passed away on June 12th of this year. We also received another communication from Eric.  It came while I was on vacation—and it came as a total surprise: Luther and Lilian Anderson had left a bequest to Peace in their will.   Eric sent paperwork for us to fill out, but we still didn’t know the amount of this legacy gift.  On August 20, I sent Eric the following email correspondence to Eric:

We are both surprised and grateful that your parents Luther and Lilian felt such affection for Peace that they would choose to include the congregation in their final tithe.  What a tremendous gesture!

We are in the midst of our 75^th capital campaign right now, building on the momentum of the congregation’s 75^th anniversary.  This all comes to a culmination on Sunday, November 24th.  A major project we’re engaged in at present is the updating and refurbishment of the narthex.   We want the building, both inside and out, to reflect the vibrant nature of our growing community.  Our narthex redesign effort is aimed toward that goal.  I think that utilizing your parents’ legacy gift to support this effort would be very fitting and would further serve to inspire others.  Can you tell us the scope of your parents’ gift?    Depending on the size of their gift, there may be additional areas where their gift could be applied.  Thank you again.  Yours in Christ,

Erik Kindem

That evening, after a council meeting in which the question of capital project funding figured prominently, I checked my email.  Eric Anderson had responded.  The amount of Luther and Lilian’s final tithe gift to Peace would be $27,083 (!!!)   Immediately, I wrote back:

WOW!  What astounding generosity!  I’m overcome.  After finishing our monthly church council meeting I found your email in my inbox.  What a tremendous gift!

The God-timing of Luther and Lilian’s gift is amazing.  September 10th will be the 75th anniversary of Luther’s first worship service at Peace.  I wish I could tell both him and Lilian that Peace, after ups and downs, is a joyous and vibrant community with a keen since of faith-centered welcome and a strong community outreach beyond its doors.  Your parents’ final act of generosity will be such a powerful witness and testimony to the current people of Peace.  We look forward eagerly to receiving the gift.  Our desire will be to put the gift to work right away in the remodeling effort I described previously, which builds on the very physical structure that your father was instrumental in establishing…  Soli Deo Gloria!  – Erik Kindem

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul reminds that community who gets the credit when good things happen in ministry:   “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

The seeds of what would become Peace Lutheran Church were sown before Luther Anderson arrived on the scene.  (See my Pastor’s Pen article from September 2018 as well as the History of Peace Series available on our website.) And after his time of watering those seeds, the continuing formation of Peace was passed on to other leaders, each of whom in the ensuing decades brought their own gifts to bear.  And God gave the growth.  No one could have predicted that Peace would hold such a strong place in the Andersons’ hearts 75 years after Luther’s ministry here began…no one but God.

Luther and Lilian Anderson knew something about the generosity of God.  No doubt they experienced it growing up in the household of faith.  But I wonder if, as they witnessed Peace families offering time, resources, and sweat equity to establish this congregation, a new layer of understanding about God’s generosity didn’t cement itself within them.

Through their years in ministry after leaving Peace, their knowledge of what God could accomplish with and through them and the congregations they served continued to grow.  During the 25 years they served in Fort Lauderdale many changes were afoot in the larger world, as millions of people from across the US and around the world came to call Florida home.  As Fort Lauderdale grew and changed during this period, so did Pastor Anderson’s vision of the ministry. He expanded the influence of the church outside its walls, starting one of the first Cooperative Feeding Programs in the area, and became an integral player in refugee relocation programs—particularly those dealing with Asian refugees. Over his lifetime Pastor Anderson was instrumental in the resettlement and sponsorship of well over 250 refugees from around the world.  And he participated in numerous organizations as part of his social ministry.

Luther and Lilian knew that the gifts they’d received and the assets they’d saved through lifelong, faithful stewardship were meant to be passed on.  Their tremendous legacy gift supporting the mission of Peace affirms that truth.  75 years later, their affection for this congregation and its mission rings out loud and clear… “And God gave the growth.”  

As we enter the final three months of this 75th anniversary year, culminating in our celebration on November 24, there are many opportunities for giving.  I hope the Andersons’ example will inspire you—as it has me—to reach more deeply and participate more fully in the efforts to equip our facilities for faithful ministry in the next 75 years.