STORY BY CHAD DRURY
Brad Miller may don the clergy attire on Sunday at First Lutheran Church , but every other day , he wears the clothes of a historian , while being a historymaker himself .
" I ' m what we call in the trade an intentional interim pastor ," said Miller , who is nearing the end of a two-year contract to lead services at one of the oldest churches in Ottumwa . " So I come into congregations at critical junctures to help provide strategic planning , grief work and everything else in between ."
Miller is the first of his kind in the 154 years of First Lutheran , which was started by 33 Swedish immigrants in 1871 . The church , which sits on the corner of Jefferson and Fourth streets , is on its third iteration ; the first building was destroyed by fire in 1884 , and a second building was replaced by the current one in 1924 .
Twenty-one pastors have called First Lutheran home since its inception , though Miller is just as much a history buff as he is pastor . He ' s dug into all the trends of the church , what he calls " detective work ," which includes looking at documents over a century old , and trying to read Scandinavian languages .
" I try to tell at least the statistical history of this congregation through its decades ," Miller said . " Well , there was basically a century of growth ."
The five oldest churches in Ottumwa still in operation have their own story to tell , but finding information was either a treasure trove or like searching for buried treasure .
Inside the current St . Patrick Catholic Church sanctuary , located on North Ward Street in Ottumwa . Photo by Chad Drury / The Ottumwa Courier
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