A Brief History of MLGS/IA



Immanuel Lutheran church began in Sheridan in 1903 as “Evangelische Lutherisch Immanuels Gemeinde” and held services in German. Voters’ meeting minutes of the congregation were in German until 1926. Pastor Cain still has occasional shut-in visits in German.
In the 1920’s under Pastor Her, Immanuel Lutheran had a German-language school in the second floor of the Park Street parsonage. A request for a mission grant to build a school was declined by the District at the time
Wyoming became a center for classical Lutheran education when William Heine, one of the original pioneers, became Education Executive for the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod[1] with the support of the Rev. Dr. Ron Garwood, Wyoming District President and former pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan. Pastor Heine’s wife, Melinda Heine, had researched classical education and shared its promise with her husband. Pastor Heine served Immanuel Lutheran Church (ILC) from 1997 until 2008. He is a permanent member of the Board of CCLE and served as Dean of Chapel of Saint Paul Lutheran High School, Concordia, Missouri before being installed in 2012 as Headmaster of Memorial Lutheran School, Houston, Texas. He was awarded the CCLE Magister Magnus in 2015 and entered his heavenly reward in December 2016.
On the occasion of the Centennial of Immanuel, MLGS was founded in 2003 as a ministry of ILC, under his direction and the support of the congregation and parents. CCLE V, a Conference on Classical and Lutheran Education, was held on the campus of the University of Wyoming and St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Laramie. This conference served to inform the congregation and inspire Pastor Cain to become a Headmaster.
Our first teacher, Mrs. Alicia Russell, spent a year in training as an apprentice teacher at the classical Lutheran school (Mount Hope Lutheran School) in Casper, Wyoming, under the tutelage of Mrs. Betty Garwood.
Mrs. Russell opened the school in 2003 with 7 students in kindergarten through 2nd grade. In 2004, Mrs. Mary Heine was added to the faculty, and the student body grew to 28.
During the 2006-07 school year, Mrs. Amy Johnson served as full-time aide to Mrs. Russell. During the 2007-08 school year, Mrs. Johnson taught grades 3-6 with Ms. Atwell serving as a her full-time aide. Mrs. Russell taught K-2 with Mrs. Pendergraft as her full-time aide. Mrs. Erica Cote worked as a part time aide from 2008-2010.
Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, Mrs. Pendergraft was named Teacher’s Assistant. She has announced her retirement from MLGS/IA at the end of the 2016-17 school year. A nationwide search for her successor led to the congregation calling an Assistant Pastor, The Rev. René Gonzalo Castillero, Ordained and Installed on 18 June 2017. He will be our Lead Teacher. Mrs. Russell will be our Mentor Teaacher.
The Rev. Paul J Cain was installed as Pastor of ILC and MLGS Headmaster in April of 2009. He was elected to the Board of Directors of CCLE as a term member in the summer of 2010 and was reelected in 2011 and 2012. On May 17, 2013 he was selected to be a permanent CCLE Board Member.
In 2010, we were blessed with the gift of the former library of Red Grade Christian Academy. In 2012, we were honored to receive a gift of the remaining funds of Three Peaks Christian School. We are not claiming the mantle of these schools, but we are encouraged and humbled by their supporters’ confidence in us.
MLGS hosted the annual CCLE Conference on the campus of Sheridan College in the summer of 2011.
Mrs. Nancy Huckfeldt began serving as MLGS School Monitor early in 2011 and served us for the whole 2011-2012 school year. Mr. Larry Roberts worked as MLGS School Monitor from 2012-2015. Mrs. Beth Manthei has been our School Monitor since fall 2015 and will be our School Monitor again for this school year.
We were blessed to have Mrs. Elizabeth Carlson as our first called LCMS Rostered Teacher for Kindergarten for the 2015-2016 school year.
Rev. Castillero (Lead Teacher and Classroom Teacher) and Mrs. Russell (Mentor Teacher and Classroom Teacher) are our Faculty/Staff for 2017-18 Pastor Cain and others will serve as substitute teachers.
The MLGS Board has had a goal of building from the bottom up, with full classes of 12 Kindergarteners each year. Our plan was to continue expanding our school by adding grades when possible. Sixth Grade was initially added on a year-by-year basis by special permission of the Board as pilot projects. Fall 2014 marked the official addition of 6th Grade, Fall 2015 our very first class of 7th Graders and the new name of Immanuel Academy for secondary school, and Fall 2016 marks the beginning of 8th Grade instruction and Immanuel Academy as our 6th-8th secondary school. The 2015 Convention of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod called for a task force to explore the possibility of a classical Lutheran High School for the District. It is projected to begin in Fall 2018.
Our school is funded by tuition, significant mission support from Immanuel Lutheran Church, as well as foundation grants and passionately dedicated individual donors.
The school is a member of ACCS, the Association of Classical and Christian Schools and is accredited by CCLE, The Consortium for Classical Christian and Lutheran Education (http://www.ccle.org/) as well as National Lutheran School Accreditation (NLSA).


[1] http://www.mtco.com/~preuslh/ClassicalEducation.php