User:Emmanuel 09 2012

== EMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH Hampton, VA Established in September 1944 ==

www.emmanuel-hampton.org

HISTORY
Although Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Hampton, Virginia, was not formally established until September 1944, Lutheran services were

held on the Peninsula as early as 1921. Reverend Louis J. Roehm, pastor of Trinity Lutheran in Norfolk, held monthly services, a practice which

was continued at the Wythe Community Chapel until 1930. It was only after the Great Depression years, in 1940 at the beginning of World War II,

that the Reverend Paul Plawin, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, reestablished the practice of holding monthly services on the Peninsula.

By November 1941, the Reverend Byron P. Wallschlager of the Lutheran Service Center was conducting weekly services at Rouse Chapel on 25th Street in

Newport News, Virginia. The small mission congregation soon realized it needed a permanent pastor and a name for itself. So, in August 1942, a call was

extended to the Reverend Phillip Priester to serve as mission pastor. Just one month later, the name "Emmanuel Lutheran Church" was selected

(8 votes cast for "Emmanuel", 5 for "St. Paul", and 2 for "St. John").