When Dr. Allan Sager of Columbus, Ohio, returns to Bartlett this coming Sunday, January 18, 2009 to be guest preacher at St. John Lutheran Church, he will be coming home to the hill where he played and grew up as a youth. For twelve years, Sager lived in the parsonage on “Lutheran“ hill together with his brother, Wilfred, and sister, Eileen Sager Eliason of Dallas. Their father, Rev. Gus Sager, served as pastor of St. John from 1939 until 1951 and was known for his attentive ministry to parishioners.

One of St. John’s historical highlights occurred during Rev. Gus Sager’s pastorate---installation of the current pipe organ which has served the congregation‘s worship since August of 1951. Dr. Sager’s mother, Estella, active at St. John as organist, choir director, teacher and leader in the Women’s Missionary Society on both local and state levels, was a teacher at the German-English School and later in the Bartlett Independent School District. Mrs. Sager also served on the Texas Lutheran College Board of Regents. Like his mother, Dr. Sager would later be appointed a Texas Lutheran University Regent, a position which he held for many years. Allan Sager and his brother, Wilfred Sager of Denton, Texas, together with Charles and Walter Probst, Jr. (whose father, Rev. Walter Probst, Sr., followed Rev. Gus Sager as St. John pastor), hold the distinction of being the only sons of St. John Lutheran ever to be ordained as Lutheran ministers.

While a student at Bartlett High School, Dr. Sager, served as editor of The Bulldog, official BHS newspaper. Both Sager and Donna Stockton Pierce recall spending Saturdays with other newspaper staff members composing the school paper using the precomputer technology of lead type. Sager’s student days at Bartlett High School include lettering in sports as a member of the Bartlett Bulldog football and basketball teams. A summer football practice injury (broken leg) ended Sager’s high school football career just prior to his senior year; however, his leg mended in time for Sager to play post-position during his final season on the BHS basketball team.

After graduating as Valedictorian from Bartlett High School in 1951, Sager attended Texas Lutheran College, Seguin, Texas, where he met his wife, Erline Hohmann of Llano, Texas. Following graduation from Texas Lutheran in 1955, he entered Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, where he graduated in 1959. Dr. Sager completed graduate studies in 1963 at Northwestern University, Evanston, Indiana, earning a Ph.D. in Group Communications.

From 1963 until 1965, Sager served as Associate Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort Worth, Texas. In 1965, he became Senior Pastor of Trinity Lutheran. Between 1965 and 1972, Sager and Garland Kneten of Bartlett served together on the Trinity staff with Kneten as Assistant Pastor and Minister of Music. In 1972, Dr. Sager joined the theological faculty of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, as Professor of Contextual Theology, a position which he held until his retirement in 2002.

Sager is the author of Gospel Centered Spirituality and numerous articles and pamphlets. Throughout his theological career, he has been actively involved as a guest preacher and lecturer. He has also provided leadership at retreats and conferences across the United States for both clergy and lay groups including “Marriage Encounter,” and “Via de Cristo.” More recently, he served as “Theologian in Residence” for the Melancthon Institute, an interdenominational church renewal consortium in the Houston metropolitan area.

During the month of March, Sager will be leading a retreat in North Carolina for clergy who are working in the first year of their pastoral career. Allan Sager and his wife, Erline, who will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this summer, enjoy their retirement traveling with international trips taking them to Greece and New Zealand. Closer to home, trips from Ohio to Texas and Arkansas have become more frequent since both of their daughters’ families have recently moved south.

Daughter, Monica Christenson, a public school teacher, lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and is married to Matt Christenson. The Christensons have two school-age children, Kyle and Leah. Daughter, Rev. Denise Sager, an ordained Lutheran minister, currently resides in Dallas with her husband Doug Kirsop and son, Andrew. Another son, John, is a student at Ohio Weslyan University from which daughter, Jenny, recently graduated with plans to go to medical school.

The public is invited to attend worship this Sunday, January 18, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. with Dr. Sager as guest preacher and the Adult Sunday School Class at 9:15 a.m in the Teinert Fellowship Hall when Dr. Sager will be sharing photos and giving a presentation of his recent travels to Greece as related to the missionary journeys of St. Paul.

Following Sunday School and worship, a barbecue lunch will be served in the Teinert Recreation Center in recognition of Dr. Sager’s homecoming and gratitude for those who planned and worked on the recent St. John 125th anniversary celebration held this past December.