A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEAUTIFUL SAVIOUR CONGREGATION
A series of "Inquiry Classes" were conducted by Pastor Seager and on Palm Sunday, March 30, 1969, twenty-seven Christians joined the previous five by becoming members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod through membership in Ascension Lutheran Church in Escondido.
The intention, however, was to begin services in the Tri-City area rather than commute to Escondido. Therefore, the Chalet Chapel of Memories in Oceanside was rented for services. On April 4, 1969, Good Friday, the first WELS service was held in Oceanside with 102 in attendance, including fellow Christians from the Ascension congregation. The first regular worship service was held on April 20, 1969, with 53 in attendance.
On April 9th, the name BEAUTIFUL SAVIOUR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH was selected and on May 6th, Beautiful Saviour congregation was granted official "mission status" by the WELS General Board for Home Missions.
In July of 1969, the Rev. Lyle L. Lange was installed as the Pastor of Ascension and, subsequently, Pastor Seager, who was the WELS Missionary-at-Large for the State of California, moved to Oceanside to serve Beautiful Saviour. In September of 1969, Pastor Seager became ill and Pastor Lange was called to serve Beautiful Saviour as the vacancy pastor.
At the close of 1969, Beautiful Saviour congregation numbered 69 souls and 54 communicants. The Sunday attendance averaged 65 and offerings totaled $11,074.62. The Sunday School enrollment was 22.
The present church property was purchased for $40,000 and cleared escrow in July of 1970. On August 9, 1970, the temporary place of worship was changed to the Carlsbad Woman's Club. On November 8, 1970, the Rev. Jon M. Mahnke was installed as the first permanent, resident Pastor of Beautiful Saviour.
At the close of 1970, Beautiful Saviour congregation numbered 97 souls and 74 communicants. The Sunday attendance averaged 80 and offerings totaled $16,820.63. The Sunday School enrollment was 16.
In March of 1971, Mr. Randall Hutson's bid of $22,900 for the erection of the parsonage was accepted by the congregation and ground-breaking ceremonies took place on April 18, 1971.
At the close of 1971, Beautiful Saviour congregation numbered 131 souls and 85 communicants. The Sunday attendance averaged 91 and offerings totaled $22,642.21. The Sunday School enrollment was 35.
A bid of $111,796 by the Holly Construction Company of Escondido to build our chapel and fellowship hall was accepted on March 31, 1972. Ground was broken on April 16th. On the 12th of May, the parsonage was dedicated. The joyous day of dedication for the church and fellowship hall took place on December 3, 1972. The attendance for the first service in our new building was 216 and afternoon service of Thanksgiving had 350 in attendance.
At the close of 1972, Beautiful Saviour Congregation numbered 145 souls and 97 communicants. The Sunday attendance averaged 102 and offerings totaled $34,157.42. The Sunday School enrollment was 47.
In 1973 fourteen of Beautiful Saviour's communicants served as a nucleus in the formation of a new WELS mission in southern Orange County. The first service of Living Word Lutheran Church was held in the Mission Viejo High School on February 4, 1973.
At the close of 1973, Beautiful Saviour congregation numbered 186 souls and 119 communicants. The Sunday attendance averaged 131 and the offerings totaled $35,283. The Sunday School enrollment was 59.
On March 28, 1976, Beautiful Saviour Congregation resolved to open a Christian Day School in September of 1976, offer-ing Christian Education for grades 1 through 5. On July 25, 1976, Mr. Jason M. Nelson a 1976 graduate of Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minnesota, was installed as the principal and teacher of the Christian Elementary School which opened on September 7, 1976, with an enrollment of thirteen.
Grades 6, 7, and 8 were added in September of 1977. In September of 1978, a second teacher, Mrs. Cathlyn Johnson, was added to the school faculty and kindergarten was added to the grades. In September of 1979, Mrs. Nancy Nelson became the teacher of the kindergarten class.
In the summer of 1980, Principal Jason Nelson accepted a Call to begin a school in Colorado. Mr. Thomas Hering, a 1980 graduate of Dr. Martin Luther College, became the new principal and upper grade teacher. Mrs. Linda Hering was the kindergarten teacher for one year.
In September of 1981, the kindergarten became a part of the primary classroom again and Miss Susan Gorz, a 1979 graduate of Dr. Martin Luther College, became the third full-time teacher of the Christian Day School.
On April 26, 1981, a 5,400 square foot, multi-purpose building was dedicated. The building, containing classrooms, offices, rest rooms and a fellowship hall was erected at a cost of about $185,000. The project was financed solely by gifts and loans from the members of Beautiful Saviour.
At the close of 1981, Beautiful Saviour had 220 communicants and 316 souls under its care. The Sunday church attendance averaged 225 for 1981 with 75 children enrolled in Sunday School. The offerings for 1981 totaled $142,440 of which $22,464 was designated for the work of the Synod.
Registration for the Fall session of our Christian Day School in 1981 was 65 children. In June of 1982, the graduation class of five students included the first young ones to complete grades 1-8 at Beautiful Saviour Evangelical Lutheran School. Two of these graduates enrolled in the California Lutheran High School at Tustin, CA.
In September of 1982, registration for our school was 63 students with a graduating class of three in June of 1983. During the summer of 1983, our congregation made a major purchase of a Minolta 450Z copy machine. This machine has added to the quality of our church bulletins as well as the school worksheets, papers, tests, etc. Vacation Bible School hand-outs have been printed and copied for distribution during the summertime. It gets use all year!
Early in 1984 Pastor Mahnke received a call to serve Apostles Lutheran Church in San Jose, CA. It was at the April Voters' Assembly that Pastor Mahnke requested his release from Beautiful Saviour Lutheran Church in order to serve the San Jose congregation and prayerful consideration was given to the search for a new shepherd for Beautiful Saviour Church here in Carlsbad.
On June 3, 1984, our call went to Pastor Terry Nuckolls who was, at that time, serving two congregations: Risen Savior in Chula Vista and Alpine of Alpine, CA.
At the close of 1984, Beautiful Saviour congregation num-bered 324 souls and 250 communicants. The Sunday attendance averaged 225 and offerings totaled $213,562. The Sunday School enrollment was 52.
With the end of the school year in June 1985, two of our Day School teachers left Beautiful Saviour School. Miss Susan Gorz accepted a call to teach 3rd grade in Madison, WI, and Mrs. Cathlyn Johnson moved to Brookfield, WI.
These two vacancies were filled on August 1, 1985, by two 1985 graduates of Dr. Martin Luther College: Miss Rachel Borgwardt for grades K-2 and Miss Beverly Brassow for grades 3-5.
In 1986, the church office was pleased to receive a Tandy 1000 computer and a new Comdial telephone system through gifts and memorials. The congregation then completed the updating of our office equipment by purchasing a new Canon electronic memory typewriter.
In June of 1986, Miss Brassow left our staff to move to Mesa, Arizona. The Voters' Assembly decided that a staff of two Christian Day School teachers would be appropriate to handle the projected enrollment for the fall of 1986. School opened in September with an enrollment of 40 students. Miss Borgwardt had 16 students in grades 1-4 and Mr. Hering had 24 students in grades 5-8.
In March of 1988, Pastor Silas Krueger began his work in Carlsbad as our shepherd. Pastor, Marsha, Joel and Travis came to us from Austin, Texas.
In the summer of 1989, Miss Borgwardt accepted a call to Arizona. Starting the school year in 1989, we were blessed to have Mrs. Becky Dyrssen accept a full-time call to teach grades K-3, and Mrs. Lynne Gobrogge accepted a call to teach the kindergarten class three mornings a week. Mr. Hering taught grades 4-8.
In 1990 and 1991, Mrs. Dyrssen taught K-3, assisted by her sister, Mrs. Beth Rupprecht, who worked with the kindergarteners four mornings a week. Mr. Hering continued with the 4th-8th grade.
In 1992 and 1993, Mrs. Dyrssen taught K-4, assisted by Mrs. Rupprecht in kindergarten, art and P.E., and Mrs. Gobrogge in the afternoon assisted with science and California history. Mr. Hering taught grades 5-8.
The 1994 school year started with Mrs. Rupprecht teaching kindergarten and Mrs. Dyrssen teaching grades 1 and 2. Mrs. Gobrogge accepted our call to teach full time grades 3 through 5. Mr. Hering continued to serve as Principal and teacher of grades 6 through 8.
Our current staff consists of Mrs. Brenda Griffith teaching kindergarten, Mrs. Theresa Foley with grades 1 and 2, Miss Mary Geiger teaching grades 3-5, and Mr. Andrew Aguilar serving as Principal and teaching grades 6-8. We are blessed with the opportunity to teach 72 children.
God has richly blessed us with approximately 200 communicant members and approximately 250+ souls to shepherd.
