The small town of Kilgore, Texas, about an hour west of the Louisiana border, has had its own Lutheran church for nearly as long as it has had oil pumpjacks. The congregation originally met in the American Legion Hall, and then in 1953 – with the help of a loan from the Texas District Church Extension Fund (CEF) – began constructing its own dedicated buildings on its current location.
In the years since, the congregation at Pilgrim Lutheran has continued to expand, drawing in younger families. More space became necessary, and in 2014, a plan was formed to build a new Parish Hall with more Sunday School classroom space. With another loan from the CEF, the massive change began in May 2015: the old Parish Hall first was converted into much-needed office space, and the groundbreaking on the new Parish Hall happened just a few months later...
