King of Kings celebrates season with new pastor

Rev. Jackson Haas

MIDDLETOWN - After five years of living in Montana, the Rev. Jackson Haas has moved closer to home where he led Christmas services at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Middletown for the first time.

A native of New York state, Haas was formally installed as pastor on Nov. 11.

According to the new pastor, his focus for his first Christmas season at King of Kings and his first year is about learning about the people and the church's almost 50 years of tradition.

"The first year will be about getting to know the church and the people involved in it," Haas said. "I want to see how they celebrate and join in with them."

Haas lived in Montana for five years where he worked to develop a chaplaincy program at the hospitals and hospices in the state.

He joins a church that is one of two major Lutheran bodies in the state as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The congregation was organized on March 11, 1960, in the Bayview Elementary School by the Rev. C. Roger Burkins. The charter was signed by 121 people, a number of whom are still active members.

Burkins held the first church service in the present location on 250 Harmony Road in Middletown on Sept. 23, 1962, and served until 1967.

He was succeded by the Rev. William Hanson, "The Rev." as he was affectionately called, who was installed in 1967 and served the congregation for 34 years.

Hanson was with the church during its dedication of the new Sanctuary on Oct. 6, 1991. Haas is the church's second full-time pastor since.

He said that he looks forward to working on the church's program development.

"My big thing is to go beyond the traditional expectations," Haas said a few days before Christmas. "I want to connect the message of Christmas beyond the common stereotype of it just being about a baby and a manger."

- Jamie Romm