Located on East Broadway in Enid, Oklahoma, St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School has stood at the corner of 17th Street and East Broadway since 1927. The congregation was organized on August 17, 1909, and more than a century later it still worships in the sanctuary dedicated on that lot, still operates the school built behind the church, and still walks confirmands through the same three-year path of Old Testament, New Testament, and Luther's Small Catechism that has shaped Lutheran families in Garfield County for generations.
Sunday Morning at St. Paul's
The Sunday rhythm at St. Paul's is built around a 9:00 AM Divine Worship Service in the sanctuary, followed at 10:15 AM by a full Sunday School hour across the campus. Worship is traditional Lutheran, liturgical in shape, with the congregation gathering around Word and Sacrament. The service is livestreamed on YouTube and recorded, so members who are traveling, homebound, or simply unable to attend in person can follow along. Bulletins are posted in advance and remain available through the church's livestream page.
Immediately after worship, the classrooms fill. The pastor teaches an adult Bible study in the School Library, a second adult class led by Ray Mueller meets in the School Cafeteria, and children gather in the All Purpose Room for their Sunday School hour, which runs from 10:15 to about 11:15 AM. Parents are invited to attend with their children to make the hour a family experience rather than a drop-off.
On Wednesdays during Advent and Lent, a midweek worship service is offered at 6:30 PM in the sanctuary, giving the church year a steady devotional rhythm beyond Sunday morning.
Children's Ministry and JAM
Children are at the center of the parish's life, not just an add-on. The Children's Ministry portal lists in-class Sunday School every Sunday at 10:15 AM, complete with crafts, Bible stories, and a service project called Blessing Bags for the Homeless that the children put together and distribute. Materials are sent home so the family can keep the conversation going through the week.
Alongside the classroom ministry, the church has built an online children's program called JAM - Jesus And Me. JAM is a video-based ministry aimed at ages 6 through 13, with short episodes walking through Bible stories. The first productions covered the Reformation and a piece called Toymakers, and new episodes are added as they are filmed. JAM lets the parish reach children who cannot be in the classroom on Sunday and gives the in-class kids a way to revisit the lesson at home.
Vacation Bible School is offered each summer. Registration is handled through a downloadable registration form and a Google Form link posted on the VBS page, and the program follows the same pattern used elsewhere in the LCMS - Bible stories, music, crafts, and games rooted in a yearly theme.
Three Years of Confirmation
Confirmation at St. Paul's is a deliberate three-year walk, and the parish has built an unusually rich set of online resources to support it. The first year walks confirmands through the Old Testament, with weekly lessons on creation, the patriarchs, the exodus, the monarchy, and the prophets. Each week comes with a downloadable handout, a homework sheet, and a video lesson that confirmands can watch on their own schedule.
The second year turns to the New Testament, beginning with the gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - and moving through the life of Christ, the Sermon on the Mount, the miracles, the parables, the triumphal entry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. By the end of the second year, confirmands have worked through more than twenty-two weeks of material.
The third year is built around Luther's Small Catechism. Confirmands work through the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacraments of the Altar and Holy Baptism, Confession, and the Office of the Keys, with weekly handouts, homework, and video lessons. After the third year, the confirmands are received as confirmed members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Adult confirmation is offered on an as-needed basis through a ten-lesson class built around the Lutheranism 101 book.
Recent classes that have been received into membership include the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021, each with the pastor, family, and confirmands named in the parish records.
The School Behind the Church
St. Paul's Lutheran School is woven into the campus. It was built behind the new sanctuary in 1926 in the pattern of the church and dedicated that September, with Mr. Aug. W. Lietz of Alma, Kansas, called as the first full-time teacher on May 9, 1926. Almost a century later, the school remains a state-accredited elementary school serving preschool through fifth grade, with small class sizes of around sixteen students or fewer.
The school day runs Monday through Friday. Before School Care begins at 7:00 AM and continues until 8:15 AM; the regular school session runs from 8:15 AM to 3:30 PM; and After School Care runs from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. All three blocks are held except during holidays, off days, and weather-related closures. The school has tornado and storm protection on site, which matters in north-central Oklahoma.
Students rotate through Library, Music, and Physical Education with specialist teachers, and each child has access to an iPad for classroom learning. A Science Club is offered for grades 3 through 5, an Art Club meets after school, a Drama Club stages musical performances through the year, and a Puppet Club adds another creative outlet. The school partners with MySchoolWorx for online enrollment and parent access to grades and classroom information, and the school office handles registration packets, immunization forms, sponsorship applications, and supply lists through downloadable PDFs each spring.
The school is led by Principal Richard P. Burdick, who took the role in July 2021 after a decade in education, most recently as a Director at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Burdick earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern Oklahoma State and is completing a Certificate in School Management and Leadership with the Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation's Principal 360 program. The teaching staff is stable and experienced: Rhonda Lamle has taught at St. Paul's for twenty-nine years and currently teaches Kindergarten, Heather Harbron teaches the combined second and third grade, Wendi Collums teaches the combined fourth and fifth grade, Morgan Henry teaches first grade, Dian Salisbury teaches Music, and Sarah Siemen serves as Librarian. The school also retains a Counselor, Marsha K. Caldwell, who has spent fifty years in school counseling.
The school and church share faculty who wear both hats. The pastor teaches adult Bible study on Sunday morning in the School Library, and the school building is used during the week for classes and during the weekend for Sunday School, confirmation classes, and LWML gatherings.
A Century on East Broadway
The parish's history goes back further than the sanctuary on East Broadway. The congregation was organized on August 17, 1909, under the leadership of Pastor Theo. Iben of Glenella, Oklahoma, and the young church met in scattered places around Enid - including the old feed mill on 2nd Street - until a permanent home could be built.
The first church was constructed during the winter of 1909-1910 at 14th and East Maine and was dedicated on February 13, 1910. In August of 1910 the congregation called its first resident pastor, Rev. Herm A. Nothnagel, who served until 1912. A postcard sent to Pastor Holtmann in 1916, now preserved in the parish archives, shows the early years of the congregation.
By the mid-1920s the parish had outgrown the original building, and on March 7, 1926, groundbreaking took place at the corner of 17th Street and East Broadway. The school was built behind the new church in the same architectural pattern, dedicated in September 1926. The new sanctuary was completed and dedicated on March 27, 1927, and the congregation has worshipped there ever since.
Through the decades, pastors have come and gone, but the school has been a continuous presence since 1926. The parish's constitution and a deep archive of bulletins, newsletters, calendars, and photographs are preserved through the church and school archive pages, including scans of the first church building and the Holtmann postcard.
Pastoral Leadership
St. Paul's is currently served by Rev. Jonathan Meyer as pastor. Pastor Meyer was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, baptized on February 2, 1974, and confirmed in his baptismal faith on March 26, 1988, at Zion Lutheran Church in Walburg, Texas. He earned a B.A. in English from Concordia University of Texas in 1996 and a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in May 2000, when he was certified into the ministry of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
Pastor Meyer and his wife, Laura, were married in 1996 at Hope Lutheran Church in Austin. Laura has taught at various levels for more than twenty years and has been active in the parish through Sunday school, youth ministry, and choir. They have three children. Before coming to St. Paul's, Pastor Meyer served Grace Lutheran in Crockett, Texas, Our Shepherd Lutheran in Crosby, Texas, and Zion Lutheran in Mission Valley, Texas. He has served as a Circuit Visitor and as an LWML Zone Counselor, and his writing has appeared in Concordia Pulpit Helps, on Motherly.com and Grownandflown.com, and in LifeDate Magazine, the publication of Lutherans For Life. He is the author of Not Everything is Theology: 100 Tips and Stories to Begin Parish Ministry.
Rev. Kenneth E. Wade continues to serve as Pastor Emeritus. A graduate of Concordia Senior College, ordained on September 1, 1968, he drove to Enid and accepted the call on Labor Day weekend, 1971. He retired in 2003 but returned to the pulpit at St. Paul's between full-time calls. Across fifty years of ordained ministry, Pastor Wade has trained twelve vicars and presided over more than five hundred funerals, almost six hundred weddings, about seven hundred fifty baptisms, and more than one thousand confirmations. His pastoral ties to the parish span more than five decades.
The previous full-time pastor was Rev. David H. Reber, Jr., who was installed on July 1, 2018, after serving a dual LCMS parish in southeast New Mexico - Grace Lutheran in Hobbs and Our Savior Lutheran in Lovington. Confirmation classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021 are listed under Pastor Reber's ministry.
LWML and Women's Ministry
St. Paul's hosts an active branch of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League, organized into four circles that meet monthly around the parish:
- Chancel Circle meets on the second Monday of each month.
- Community Service Circle meets on the first Tuesday of each month.
- Service Circle meets on the first Wednesday of each month.
- Visiting Circle meets on the first Wednesday of each month.
The LWML mission statement is simple and direct: as Lutheran Women in Mission, the organization joyfully proclaims Christ, supports missions, and equips women to honor God by serving others. The Oklahoma District LWML and the national LWML both maintain pages that St. Paul's points members to, and the district's Fall Retreat and Zone gatherings draw the Enid circles together with women from other LCMS congregations across Oklahoma. The church also hosts a Ladies' Bible Study, with materials posted as downloadable PDFs each season.
For those who serve through craft and comfort, the Prayer Shawl Ministry meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 2:00 PM. Shawls are knitted or crocheted, prayed over, and given to members and friends who are grieving, ill, or going through a hard season.
Camp Lutherhoma and Summer Programs
Each summer the parish sends a delegation to Camp Lutherhoma, an LCMS-affiliated summer camp. The 2024 summer theme, A Reason To Sing, drew on Psalm 96:1-2, and the camp offered two programs: Force 5 for ages 9-12 and Energy 2 for ages 13-15, both running a full week at $475 per camper with a $30 early-bird discount for registrations before May 1. St. Paul's will pay up to half of the registration fee for any camper who pre-registers early, pays the $50 deposit online, and submits the church's sponsorship form. The camp's annual promotional video is shared on the parish's Lutherhoma page, along with step-by-step registration guides and a direct link to the camp's registration portal.
Around the school year, families are folded into parish life through Vacation Bible School, the school Drama Club, the school Art Club, the Science Club for grades 3-5, and the Andy Deterding Memorial Golf Tournament each fall at Turkey Creek Golf Club in Hennessey, which raises money for the school's scholarship fund. Operation Christmas Child and Stamp Out Starvation are regular service projects the children participate in through the school year.
Petal Pushers, Walk With Paul, and Outreach
St. Paul's has developed a small but distinctive set of outreach programs that draw members beyond the sanctuary walls. Petals for Pasadena - the parish's own name for the Lutheran Hour Ministries Petal Pushers program - sends a delegation each December to Pasadena, California, to help decorate the Lutheran Hour Float for the Rose Parade. The Lutheran Hour Float is the only Christian-themed float in the parade, and Petal Pushers is a four-thousand-volunteer national effort. Volunteers range in age from 13 to 96, and assignments are based on ability. The parish keeps a photo archive of trips back to 2013.
The Walk With Paul Walkers program is a Bible-study-in-motion project. Members follow the route of the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys, working through Acts 13-18 with weekly video lessons, accompanying notes, and a map of the Mediterranean world. Paul's First Missionary Journey (Acts 13-14) and Second Missionary Journey (Acts 15-18) are broken into parts, and the third journey is in production. The point is to walk the same roads Paul walked - from Antioch through Cyprus, Asia Minor, Iconium, Lystra, Phrygia, Galatia, Macedonia, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus - and see the letters to those churches come alive.
For those grieving a spouse, child, family member, or friend, St. Paul's hosts GriefShare, a weekly support group that meets on Monday nights from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Eastside Community Center at 1826 E. Broadway Ave in Enid. The program is built around a thirteen-week video curriculum with discussion, and participants can join at any point in the cycle. The congregation's own mission statement - Preach and Teach to ALL, comfort and support those in need - is the through-line for all of these efforts.
Adult Bible Study and Prayer Shawl Ministry
Beyond Sunday morning, the parish's Bible-study life is rooted in the catechetical tradition. Pastor Meyer's adult class meets in the School Library on Sunday at 10:15 AM. A second adult Bible study, led by long-time member Ray Mueller, meets in the School Cafeteria, described as gathering at 9:15 AM on its own dedicated page - an early slot that lets adults come straight from the sanctuary and head into class. The Ladies' Bible Study meets in seasonal rotations, with materials posted online for participants who cannot attend in person.
The parish's teachings are deeply catechetical. Confirmation Year 3 walks confirmands through the Small Catechism week by week, and the parish's worship is liturgical - the Divine Service is the central Sunday gathering, with midweek services held during Advent and Lent. The church holds CCLI copyright, CCLI streaming, and CVLI licenses, which allow the parish to legally livestream worship and reproduce hymns.
Joining the Parish
For first-time visitors, the simplest path is to arrive at the church's front door on East Broadway before 9:00 AM on a Sunday morning. The sanctuary holds the Divine Service at 9:00 AM; the school behind the church opens its classrooms at 10:15 AM for Sunday School. The congregation's livestream page connects anyone online. The church office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM, and the school office follows the same weekday rhythm. Giving is available online through the Anedot giving portal linked from the parish's main page. Online enrollment for the school is handled through MySchoolWorx, and printable enrollment packets, parent handbooks, and supply lists are posted as PDFs each spring for the coming school year.