By Kim Hilsenbeck
The little stone church on FM 150 East sits across the street from Hemphill Elementary School. On Sunday the pews in the main sanctuary sat empty – a first in the church’s 127-year history. But rows of chairs in a recently built new addition at the back of the church were filled to capacity, with more chairs opened to accommodate the overflow crowd.
Typically the church has simultaneous services in Spanish and English, but on this day, about 200 members of the two multi-ethnic congregations combined to honor and thank Pastor Dennis Koger for his 13 years of service to the church and the community.
The pastor and the church have a common history – they both have been around a long time.
According to Koger, he “got the call” when he was only 16 years old. And since then, he has not wavered from the church.
Koger has spent 50 years in the ministry at Baptist churches in places like Enlo and Crawford, Texas, prior to landing in Kyle. He was also a teacher and chaplain at San Marcos Baptist Academy as well as a teaching assistant in Old and New Testaments at Baylor University where he earned a PhD in Bible Studies.
During his time as a minister, he and his wife, Jan, a librarian who worked at Hemphill, started a family. They have four grown children, Matt, Mandy, Michael and Melody, as well as six grandchildren.
Throughout the service, Koger received honors and accolades from fellow ministers, including an old friend, Jack Byrom, president emeritus of San Marcos Baptist Academy.
“There are many, many lives that Dennis, Jan and their family and their ministry here at Immanuel Baptist Church have touched. We wish to say thank you for that,” Worship Pastor Robert Lanning said.
Byrom provided the sermon, using the time to laud his friend for his ministry over the years, particularly his service at Immanuel Baptist Church.
“I had the privilege of working with him and watching as he combined his education and experience with his compassion for students,” he said. “He’s preached to me much more often than I’ve preached to him.”
“It’s what you paid me for,” Koger said from his seat.
“Not very well,” Bryom joked back.
Back on script, he continued, “Your walk together, you [the congregation] and your pastor has been characterized by numerical growth in the congregation; record numbers have been baptized into the membership.”
“This wonderful facility in which we are gathered here today has been built at a cost of $500,000 and is now debt free,” he said.
A rousing round of applause broke out in the audience.
“And a budget that has grown three-fold during his ministry,” Byrom said. “I congratulate you, the congregation.”
He continued, “The membership of Latin-American friends has greatly increased. An associate pastor who preaches and teaches in Spanish has been added.”
As an aside, he told the audience, “He didn’t write that,” referring to Silverio Hernandez.
“It is significant that this grand old church that began as a German-speaking church should now again be bi-lingual,” Byrom said.
“Dr. Koger is retiring from the pastorate of this church, he is not retiring from the ministry,” he concluded. “As a retired pastor, I think I can be joined by the pastor’s father-in-law [also a pastor]…that it’s almost impossible to retire from the ministry.”
Koger will remain with Immanuel Baptist as an interim pastor until December.
