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Forest Hills United Methodist Church will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Sunday |
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Wednesday, 05 December 2007 |
Forest Hills United Methodist Church in Forest Lake will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Sunday, Dec. 9.
In the summer of 1967 a group of Forest Lake area residents met to determine interest in establishing a Methodist Church in town. That September space was secured at an elementary school for services until a mobile chapel was moved to the current 5.5 acre site at the junction of TH-97 and SE 11th Street.
Bishop Otto Nall appointed Rev. Forest V. Strnad, also pastor at the Wyoming Methodist Church, as the church’s first pastor. Services began on Sunday, Dec.10, 1967.
Fifty-two people were counted as charter members, seven of whom remain today, at the newly named Forest Hills Methodist Church. Services continued there until April 1968 when a grass fire destroyed the mobile chapel.
Easter services moved to St. Peter’s Catholic Church and successive services met at the local Masonic Temple.
Groundbreaking for a permanent church took place amid a snowstorm on Dec. 15, 1969, with Consecration of the completed church the following November.
As the church grew, the need for expansion was evident and the current addition and sanctuary were completed in 1987. Forest Hills has been served by six pastors – Rev. Forest V. Strnad, Rev. Robert Ford, Rev. Alan Smiley, Dr. Peter Law, Rev. John Mueller Nowell, and currently Dr. Jack Shields.
The 40th anniversary celebration will begin with the 8:30 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. services on Sunday, Dec. 9 followed in the late afternoon with a church conference and potluck dinner.
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