Those Villa Street Lutherans

What happens when a church grows to be 175 years old? She grows a bumper crop of stories! Those Villa Street Lutherans traces the fascinating history of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Racine, Wisconsin, from its founding in 1849 through story after story. Many are inspirational. Some disturbing. And a few others too bizarre to be made up: like a minister tried for heresy for conducting seances with his dead father... a jealous lover who killed his sweetheart when she returned his Valentine... the merry widow tried in Wisconsin's trial of the century for poisoning her husband... or the pastor who nearly touched off a riot for disrespecting the Stars and Stripes.

Those Villa Street Lutherans portrays the struggles, failures, and successes of ordinary people who ran the race of Christian faith in a fallen world. An added bonus is the mini-book, From Minion to Maestro, which appears in three installments in Chapters 11 - 13. It features the amazing life of August C. Frank, one of the great laymen of the Wisconsin Synod, and his lasting impact on the parish.

Nathan R. Pope has served as a pastor at First Evangelical Lutheran Church on Villa Street in Racine, Wisconsin, since 1980. He was educated at Northwestern Prep and College in Watertown, Wisconsin; Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin; and he holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. He is married to Patty (nee Felgenhauer) and has four children: Gregory, Melanie, Nicholas, and Natalie - as well as twelve grandchildren.