The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers;
let Him not leave us, nor forsake us.   I Kings 8:57

The actual beginning of St. John's congregation goes back more than 125 years to
a place called Brownsville, Minnesota. In the early 1860's the Rev. G. Fachtman of
First Lutheran Church, LaCrosse, Wisconsin, conducted worship services there for
Lutherans who had immigrated from Europe and settled in and around that area. In
1962, this group organized a congregation and called Rev. Ludwig Ebert. He served
until 1866.

He was replaced by Rev. Reitz. While Pastor Reitz served Brownville, he extended his field
of work to Union, Hokah, and westward among scattered Lutheran families at South Ridge and
Mound Prairie. At the same time, Pastor L.F. Frey came down from Lewiston, Minnesota and
found a number of Lutheran immigrants on South Ridge, North Ridge, and the valleys in between.
The labor of these two men did much to prepare this area for a missionary to carry on the work
more extensively.

Pastor Philip Schmidt, who had just arrived from Europe with his wife, was commissioned
to serve this field in 1871. In 1872, a congregation was organized with the first members
signing the constitution. A number of these same members later became the nucleus that
formed our current congregation. After Pastor Schmidt established Immanuel at South Ridge,
he began services at Nodine. In 1877, Pastor Schmidt accepted a call back to his homeland,
Basil, Switzerland.

The Rev. John Koehler was then called to serve the congregations at South Ridge and Brownsville
together with the group at Nodine. He helped our congregation to organize in 1878 as St. John's
Lutheran Church. The first church council consisted of Herman Zessin, August Wolter, and John
Schroeder. Some of their descendents are still in our congregation today. Worship services were
held in a one-room schoolhouse in Nodine.  It is still located on the property of Roy and Arlene
Schroeder.  In 1886, Pastor Koehler accepted a call to Effington, Minnesota.

The next pastor called to serve St. John's was Rev. Paul Hinderer. He soon realized that he 
could no longer serve all three congregations, and resigned from Brownsville. He moved to the
Goodhue area in 1890. 

Rev. Herman Hupfer was the next pastor. While he was here, our congregation bought our present
land of four acres in Nodine. It was purchased from George Brickert for $300.00.  In 1893 a 
brick-sided church was erected and in 1884 the German school (Gemeinde Schule) was built.
In 1889 a parsonage was built on the same property.

In 1889 Pastor John Seigler was called to Nodine as St. John's first resident pastor. For some
nineteen years, Immanuel of South Ridge and St. John's of Nodine were a joint ministry. With 
the coming of Pastor Siegler, St. John's congregation would have its own pastor. Pastor Siegler
served the congregation for thirteen years.

Rev. A. Eichmann accepted the call to St. John's congregation and was installed as its Pastor
on August 3, 1913.  His ministry covered 28 years. He then resigned because of ill health.

Rev. Henry Anger was installed as the next pastor on July 17, 1941. He resigned on September 18,
1945, because of ill health.

Rev. Otto Klett was then called as his successor and served the congregation from 1946 to 1950.

Rev. Ruben Kettenacker was installed on January 21, 1951, and served for twelve years.
In 1963 he accepted a call to St. Paul's, Onalaska, Wisconsin.

Rev. William Godfrey served St. John's congregation from 1963-1966.

Rev. Fredreck Mueller was the next pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church.  Under his guidance,
a Christian Day School was started in 1971. The congregation purchased the existing two-room
Nodine Public School building.  Two graduates from Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN were
called to teach 47 students.  Mr. David Nell taught the upper grades and Miss Judy Free (our 
current kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Judy Free Winsky) taught the lower grades.  Mrs. Lois Mueller,
the pastor's wife, taught kindergarten in the church basement.	In 1975, Pastor Mueller accepted
a call to serve in Marinette, Wisconsin.

Rev. Erling Carmichael came to serve St. John's in 1976.  The 100th Anniversary of St. John's
Lutheran Church was celebrated on July 9, 1978.  During this time, growth at St. John's School
caused the need for a new facility.  On March 31, 1985, a ground-breaking serviced was held for
the new school behind the church.  In 1995, an All-Purpose Room was added.  Two new classrooms,
meeting room and storage room have just been added in 2004 to the existing school building.
St. John's currently has 75 students in grades K-8, plus Pre-Kindergarten.  The school has a
staff of five teachers and a secretary, with the pastor providing catechism instruction.
Parents and volunteers provide much of the necessary classroom and extra-curricular assistance,
maintenance, and upkeep of the school building and grounds.

Pastor Carmichael retired in July of 2002, after serving the congregation for 26 years.
He is still involved with the shut-in ministry of St. John's and lives in LaCrescent, Minnesota.

Rev. Dennis Harbach is the current pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church.  He was installed on
September 14, 2003.  He and his wife, Allison, have six children and are looking forward to
being the first family in the new parsonage now under construction in Nodine.

St. John's is looking ahead with many exciting ministry and growth opportunities in our 
congregation and community.  We pray God will always lead our congregation and guide our church
leaders to remain true to His Word and his mission to

		 "Preach the Good News to all creation." Mark 16:15.