Our First Five Years

On 2 July 2004, the Rev. Eric Stefanski, formerly pastor of First Lutheran Church of Harrison, was installed as Immanuel’s associate pastor for the formation of a mission congregation in northern Arkansas, and on 4 July, the mission held its first Divine Service. Fifty-two souls were present, with thirty-four in adult Bible Class.

Beside the Sunday service of Holy Communion (at 10:30 a.m.) and Sunday School (9:00 a.m.), Wednesday Matins was held each week (10:00 a.m.), and Bible class opportunities are offered on several mornings and evenings. On Sunday, 25 July 2004, the first adult membership instruction class began after the Divine Service and Congregational Meeting. At that meeting, the mission began reviewing proposed names for a new church and a congregational constitution. On Sunday, August 8, 2004, the congregation unanimously approved a constitution and bylaws and decided, amidst a syncretistic culture, to boldly confess the Triune God of the Bible as the only true God by choosing the name “Holy Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.” (The last part of the name is a traditional suffix for truly Lutheran church names, confessing as it does that the congregation is sworn to uphold true, historical Lutheran doctrine, confessing it to be nothing other than the confession of what Holy Scripture plainly says.)

Because our website frankly set forth the truth that LCMS congregations in this area were teaching and acting in ways contrary to the Bible, the Lutheran Confessions, and their agreement as members of the LCMS (see the errors listed in the first paragraph, above), our newborn congregation and our pastor were soon being attacked and slandered both locally and abroad by those in the LCMS who promote such errors. This led to our re-evaluating our relationship with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the conclusion of which evaluation was that unless the teaching and conduct of that church body were restored to proper Scriptural and Confessional practice, we could not seek to become a rostered congregation. Upon receiving word of this decision, the president of the Central Illinois District informed Pastor Stefanski that he was declaring Pastor Stefanski’s Call to Immanuel and Holy Trinity to be “complete” and that to remain a pastor of the LCMS, Pastor Stefanski would have to leave us and take a Call to another congregation and somehow placate all those who had acted in an unchristian manner toward us, toward our pastor, and toward our former congregation. This final stroke of false doctrine from a supposedly ‘conservative’ district president brought Pastor Stefanski to the conclusion that it was time to confess against the errors and abuses in the LCMS and to depart from them. (See his letter of resignation from the LCMS here.) On 20 March 2005, the members of Holy Trinity ‘made official’ what was already clearly the case, officially and unanimously extending to Pastor Stefanski God’s Call to remain here and serve Christ by bringing us His Word and Sacrament, which thing he prayerfully rejoiced to do.

God richly blessed us in our first five years together, allowing us the privilege of catechizing several children and adults, who professed their faith and were admitted to the Lord’s Table. God also blessed us to receive several other adults into our fellowship when they moved here or ‘made their escape’ from false teaching and errant practice in other places. We also had the solemn privilege of seeing several of our brethren transferred from this little haven in the midst of this vale of tears to the greater joy of our Father’s throne in Heaven. (“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yea,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” Revelation 14:13)

The great highlight of our first five years was the beginning of Christ’s work being done through Holy Trinity’s mission in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. Our inaugural service was held on Ad Te Levavi, the First Sunday in Advent, 3 December 2006. We meet each Sunday at 1:30, and during Advent and Lent, we have 2:00 services each Wednesday. Currently, we meet at the home of Mr. Gary Timmerman; please contact him at 870-445-2213 for more details.

Since the Summer of 2007, we have been offering continuing education classes for both pastors and laity, covering (so far) Christ and Culture, The Theology of the Cross (Luther’s theses for the Heidelburg Disputation), and The Parables of Jesus, and the outrageousness of God’s grace—how so many miss what God is doing because they artificially limit His perfect understanding of our needs or exalt our own understanding. Another class is scheduled for the Summer of 2011, this time covering a Lutheran understanding of apologetics; details are available by calling the church.

In the Fall of 2007, the Lord also allowed us the opportunity more fully to participate in His work in Sri Lanka. We had been supporting the Sri Lanka Project of The Confessional Lutheran Education Foundation since our beginning as a congregation, and in 2007 our contributions became more focused when the CLEF asked our pastor to teach the Sri Lankan pastors and theological students. More information is available by clicking on our Sri Lanka menu item, above, which will take you to Pastor Stefanski’s ‘travelogue’ (which may load a little slowly, as there are several pictures). With a reorganization in the Lutheran Church in Lanka (LCL) and practices by LCMS pastors affiliated with the CLEF that blur the proper understanding of the doctrine of fellowship, Pastor Stefanski’s participation in training the pastors of the LCL will no longer be connected with CLEF. While he will not be working ‘in opposition’ to the CLEF, as it is one of the best things going on within the LCMS, Pastor’s work in Sri Lanka will be coordinated with other work of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America, specifically that connected with the Orissa state of India, and his 2011 trip saw him visiting with a group of fifty (both pastors and laity) in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) who were able to hear the Augsburg Confession in their own language for the first time, as well with several in the village parishes in Orissa. God willing, his next trip will see him travel with the Rev. Dr. Kent Heimbigner to teach in both India and Lanka.

On 14 May 2009, Pastor Stefanski was formally received into the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America, whose seal we gladly display here, as it marks us as being in communion with those who also wish to teach God’s Word in its purity and truth, confessing in every way in unity with the pastors and parishes of the Reformation era.

The Rest of Our First Decade

The Lord has opened doors for us to reach out into other nearby communities where there is no orthodox Lutheran presence. The ‘lonely Lutherans’ of the Benton and Washington County area of Northwest Arkansas, as well as those in the I-40 corridor from Russellville through Conway to Little Rock are now able to hear God’s Word and receive the Body and Blood of God the Son without being entangled with a church body that tolerates or endorses false teachers.

We have been blessed to have several youth profess the faith into which they were baptized and join us at the Lord’s Table, as well as to comfort one another with the confession of faith made by several of our founding members who have left us still struggling in this valley of sorrow, as they have gone on to new life in Christ’s Kingdom above.

Our Second Decade Has Begun!

The Lord continues to bless us with new opportunities to hear His Word and to support its teaching. Several children are currently in catechesis and catechetical classes for adults continue, as well, for which we thank God always.

In the Summer of 2015, we were privileged to host the ELDoNA Youth Camp.

As of the Eve of Easter in 2016, the Lord expanded our service of the Gospel of Christ to include the Memphis, Tennessee area, but due to some health issues our pastor encountered, the saints in Memphis are now being well-served by Pastor Henson and Dcn. Harroun of Trinity Lutheran in Herrin, Illinois—to God alone be all the glory!