Wooddale Church( Eden Prairie, Minn.)
Excelsior United Methodist Church( Excelsior, Minn.)
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church( St. Paul, Minn.)
office. There’ s consistency in seeing the same faces. So, why do we win jobs? Because clients believe us when we talk about the passion that we have for churches, for faith, and for them. They believe in the role that we’ ll play throughout.”
Attitude is everything This imbedded approach to project leadership extends to jobs of all sizes, whether it’ s switching out door hardware, remodeling a single classroom or staff bathroom, all the way up to multi-million-dollar jobs.“ For one thing, this builds our funnel,” Schultz acknowledges.“ We build trust on a smaller scale, which leads to relationships, and opportunities grow from there.” In fact, he encourages any church leader— client or not— to treat Langer Construction as a resource.“ If we can offer guidance early, with no strings attached, we know it’ s the first step in building a relationship and earning trust,” he says.“ It might just be an email or a phone call. What consultants do you recommend? Where do we go from here? But I’ m not expecting anything in return. I just know that if that owner needs something down the road, they’ ll come back to us.”
“ We’ re seeing a faith‘ boom’ right now” Eighty years is a long time to be in business, but for Zellmer and Schultz, it’ s just the beginning. To drive sustained growth at Langer
St. Croix Lutheran Academy( West St. Paul, Minn.)
Construction, they say they intend to double down on faith-based projects and— equally important— on the hands-on, early involvement model that has proven effective among this unique clientele.“ We’ re definitely seeing a faith‘ boom’ right now— the company is doing very well, having record years,” Schultz says.“ But we’ re also growing at a metered pace. As we grow, we’ ll do it carefully. We refuse to introduce a level of middle management that separates [ Zellmer ] and me from what’ s happening with our projects on a day-to-day basis.” Additionally, a challenging but essential part of“ growing strategically” is finding and hiring team members who are familiar with the faithbased building ethos.“ It’ s a very unique market to be in, and it takes a certain person to fit the mold,” Zellmer explains.“ We can’ t hire a PM who just finished building a data center, where cost was no issue, and then ask that person to handle a $ 100,000 narthex remodel and be sure they’ ll treat both clients the same.”“ They need to understand that the value of a job isn’ t reflected in its budget,” he adds.“ This hypothetical narthex remodel might be the result of the biggest fundraising push the church has ever done.” Zellmer and Schultz anticipate that demand in the faith-based construction market will only increase.“ There seems to be this heightened desire for a sense of community and bringing it to the forefront again,” Schultz says.“ Pairing our company’ s rich history with our vast religious experience and desire to guide during the preconstruction process positions Langer well for the next 80 years.”
20 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JAN / FEB 2026