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Church celebrates its golden anniversary

3 min read

Steve Essla has very fond memories of the early days of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, as well he should. His father was the original pastor.

He and other family members were on hand to celebrate the church’s 50th anniversary, which featured a special service and dinner afterward at the Elk’s Club.

Essla, who was just 10 years old at the time, said he father, the Rev. Paul Essla, was called to start a church north of the river.

The first church was in a building at Tropic Isles, then briefly on Pondella Road before coming to its current location, though in a different building today.

“When we started there was hardly anyone here. I remember some of the families. I’d like to see them, but that was such a long time ago,” Essla said, adding that when the school opened two years later, his mother was the first teacher.

The Rev. Essla had a brother who was a minister in Hollywood, and his family would frequently come to North Fort Myers and attend the new church.

The Rev. Essla left in 1974 to start another church in the St. Louis area, but his worked lived on through the decades and continues today under the helm of Pastor Jerry Lawson, who has led his flock since 2009.

Lawson said during his sermon Sunday that many of the churches in the area, including Good Shepherd, began as mission churches of St. Michael’s in Fort Myers, and that it took just two years for them to build a church.

“That’s pretty good. Most churches wait five to six years to build anything as far as a sanctuary,” Lawson said. “Why did they come here? We are a community, bonded together by a common cause in search of salvation.

Lawson also talked about the church and its struggles over the years, which could have easily signaled the end of the church.

“There have been some good times and some very dark times, but by the grace of God, we persevered,” Lawson said. “May God grace us for another 50 years.”

Many in the congregation are still relatively new to Florida. Bernie Criswell has been a member for three years and said it was great to be there for the milestone.

“Many of us are from the North, but we love coming here and having a wonderful church to come to,” Criswell said. “We’re looking for growth in our school and the church. It’s a friendly church. We’ve been at several and this one was the friendliest.”

“Sometimes we forget who came before us. The effort to start a congregation and hold it together with God’s blessing,” said Mary Anne Paisley, a member since 2004. “I hope we last another 50 years.”