1960-67 : Packing – Planning – Pastors

By 1960, LSA was affiliated with the National Lutheran Council.  The students from MSC were invited to meet at the new center located on Fifth and Cherry.  LSA had a counselor on staff and the Student House provided a recreation room, piano, TV and small library for all MSC students.

Pastor Hoeger was the first Lutheran Campus Pastor sponsored by the Lutheran Student Foundation for LSA.  Pastor Hoeger encouraged young adults to attend church regularly and visit elders within the Mankato community.  Formally a faculty member at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, Pastor Hoeger instituted a series of courses on “Then Christian Faith and Discipleship.”  In 1960 LSA existed to:

• Encourage evangelism
• Provide service
• Encourage recreation
• Worship
• Study

Cost suppers, parties, sleigh rides and hay rides rounded out the activities which promoted Christian fellowship in the early 1960’s.

Then in 1963, Pastor Brooks Anderson briefly followed Pastor Hoeger.  LSA moved out of the Fifth and Cherry house and into the new “Luther House” on the corner of Fifth and Warren.  Pastor Anderson’s main interest was to remodel and old farmhouse in Vernon Center (about 16 miles from Mankato), so the students would have a Retreat Center in a nature setting.

In 1964, hot issues like equal membership of Negro and Caucasian students were areas of concern for LSA students.

In 1964-65, Oscar J. Ice was the new campus pastor and he worked on lower and upper campus.  The Lutheran students at Mankato were encouraged to worship at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Grace Lutheran Church, or Christ the King Lutheran Church.  Bible studies, seminars and the Christus Group challenged students to study the gospel as they grew in faith.  Students also had the opportunity to sing in the choir or work with the St. Peter Project.  The St. Peter Project allowed students to interact with the mental patients at St. Peter State Hospital.

Tuesday coffee hour was a highlight every week at the Le Voyageur Coffee House was open to all students in the basement of the Luther House on Friday and Saturday evenings from 9-1.

In 1967, Lutheran Campus Ministry missed the sale of the “Luther House” and moved the LCM parsonage on the corner of Highland and Birchwood.  This center became known as the “Christus House.”  The move to upper campus coincided with the continued growth and development of the Highland Campus.