Fort Mergard

Jim Mergard

 

PCC moved into our first building at 1214 Pfennig Lane 11 years ago this month the sanctuary looked very clean, very white, and very plain. The beautiful wood cross that now hangs over the baptistery wasn’t there yet. There were no banners, no wall-hangings, no blinds in the windows, and no sound booth in the back. Our sound guys ran the sound mixer and pc from a table in the back of the sanctuary. Jim Mergard, drummer, high-tech guru, first building committee chair, and the ultimate “git-r-done” guy assured me that he and his brother-in-law, Tim, would soon replace the raggedy table with a nice sound booth. Tim was a carpenter who lived in Phoenix, AZ. When his family visited the Mergards he was always eager to take on a project with Jim. Jim was originally an electrician, so he and Tim formed quite an efficient construction team. On one visit to Pflugerville Tim and Jim Construction Co. turned my garage into a playroom giving my family much needed additional living space. I’m sitting in that room now, under the ceiling fan Jim Mergard installed. I had no doubt they could handle the sound booth project.

On Tim’s subsequent visit Jim let me know they were ready to go to work on the sound booth project. It took them only one day to rough in the sound booth. After my strenuous work day of turning pages in my Greek Lexicon and tapping out sermon notes on my laptop I made my way from my office to the sanctuary to see how the guys were doing. The look on my face must have been humorous, because Jim immediately asked, “Is it bigger than you expected?”

“It’s a little bigger than I thought it would be,” I lied. Actually I was thinking, “Are you kidding? We just lost seating for 60 people for a sound booth? What the heck are you guys going to put in that thing? We needed a sound booth, not an apartment.” I can’t remember who coined the name “Fort Mergard”, but it stuck. And, as with all of Jim’s projects, he knew exactly what he was doing. Peak into Fort Mergard some Sunday and you’ll see that it’s packed with audio-visual equipment and pcs we use every Sunday.

Jim Mergard is a man of vision. Whether it be the sound booth, the audio-visual equipment, the church office phone system, the worship team, or the over-all direction of the church, Jim Mergard always had a visionary perspective. And, if Jim had an idea he was going to lead the work to get it done… often that meant doing the entire job alone. It wasn’t unusual for me to catch Jim working on something at the church after midnight… pulling wire for something or installing something. For the first few years Jim and his sons Brandon and Keith set up every chair in the sanctuary every Sunday. He designed the set-up pattern and printed a guide-book for later set-up teams to follow. For many years Jim was the glue that held our worship team together. For years Jim was the first person at the church every Sunday to unlock the doors and turn on the lights. And that barely scratches the surface of what Jim has meant to PCC for the last 16 years. No one has given more of himself to PCC than Jim Mergard.

 

Jim and his wife Annette are moving to California where I am certain they will continue to serve the Lord well. But I will miss them both and will always think of them as dear friends and co-workers in Christ. As long as Fort Mergard stands in our sanctuary I’ll remember Jim and Annette with a thankful heart .