DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the marker at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church tells it, here's what happened out in Cherry Spring. German Lutherans in that community started gathering for worship back in the 1850s. Now, they needed a place to meet, and a man named Diedrich Rode stepped up to provide it.
Rode was a licensed lay minister, and he opened his own home for worship services and Sunday School. That's where it all began, in somebody's front room out on the Texas frontier. Diedrich Rode lived from 1828 to 1925, and if you let those two years sit next to each other for a moment, you start to appreciate just how much of this story he personally witnessed.
The congregation he helped nurture was officially organized in 1905. Then, just a month or so later, in December of that same year, John and Mary Rode Wendel gave land for a proper church building. A rock sanctuary, solid as the Hill Country itself, was completed in 1906.
For years after that, every sermon, every hymn, every prayer spoken inside those stone walls was spoken in the German language. That tradition held until 1922, when occasional English services were added to the mix. The old language didn't disappear overnight, it just made a little room.
Then came the 1950s, and English became the principal language of worship. From a home in the 1850s to a rock sanctuary standing in Cherry Spring, Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church carries a long memory in those walls.
What the marker says
German Lutherans in the community of Cherry Spring began meeting together for worship in the 1850s. Diedrich Rode (1828-1925), a licensed lay minister, provided space in his home for worship services and Sunday School. Christ Church congregation was officially organized in 1905. John and Mary Rode Wendel gave land for a church building in December 1905, and a rock sanctuary was completed in 1906. Services were conducted in the German language until 1922, when occasional English services were added. In the 1950s English became the principal language.