-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Lighthouse Ministries is pictured here late Friday afternoon. The church is located at 1333 Fourth Ave. N.

The congregation of Lighthouse Ministries in Fort Dodge will celebrate their church’s 50th anniversary on Sunday with a special service.

The date holds significance for church members because it was the birthday of the first pastor, the late Rev. Kenneth Fogelman.

The service will be at 10 a.m. Sunday at the church, 1333 Fourth Ave. N. It will feature special music, including hymns that were common when the church started but aren’t heard much anymore, and a slide show featuring images of various events in the church’s history.

”It will be kind of a walk on memory’s road,” said the Rev. John Elkin, pastor of the independent Pentecostal church.

According to Elkin, a request for material to include in the slide show was overwhelmingly successful, producing about 500 images.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic has put some limits on what the congregation can do to celebrate.

”It’s not going to be what we were hoping for,” he said.

Lighthouse Ministries was established in the fall of 1970, with the first services held in the Fort Dodge home of Frances Mosher.

Fogelman and his wife, Marilyn, were leading a church in Estherville when they were asked to come to Fort Dodge to lead the new church.

The church was moved into the home of the Fogelmans.

Elkin sad they did not have a piano in the house, so the Fogelmans played accordions during the services. He said their daughters will play accordions during Sunday’s service.

The congregation relocated to a building at 300 J St., that was originally built for First Lutheran Church. In 2012, it moved to its current location in the former First Christian Church.