By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Staff Writer

With nostalgia, music, and—of course—food, members of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church will celebrate a quarter century of service to Peachtree City and the surrounding community.

In 1974, leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America asked 28-year-old John Weber, an Iowa native then serving a Wisconsin parish, to move his young family to Fayette County, Ga. to develop a Lutheran congregation.

Weber has often related how the one thing he knew he never wanted to be was a mission developer, and the one place he never wanted to be was in the Deep South.

So here he was.

Weber went door to door, meeting the community, often explaining Lutheran tenets to people who had never heard of the historic Protestant denomination. In a population of about 6,000, the young pastor with the black mustache and gold incisor—who was also a volunteer firefighter—soon became a familiar figure.

The church's name was chosen, and the first service held on Dec. 1 at Glenloch Recreation Center with its cartoon-mural Loch Ness monster overseeing the gathering of 80 worshippers. The official organization of Christ Our Shepherd took place on June 8, 1975, with the names of 97 adults and 62 children on its charter.

The congregation called Weber to be its first pastor, and he serves to this date. His wife Ginnie is a nurse in the critical care neonatal unit of Atlanta Medical Center. The Webers' daughter Britt is a Fayette County teacher, and their son Brent is married and the father of the Webers' two grandsons.

Early on the church purchased property for its first building at Peachtree Parkway and Ga. Highway 54. Dedicated in June, 1978, that structure was expanded in 1987 and a pipe organ installed. The present facility was completed in December, 1998.

Today Christ Our Shepherd has more than 1,600 confirmed members and an average Sunday attendance of nearly 800 worshipping in four weekend services. The congregation has two full-time pastors, Weber and Rev. Miriam Beecher, and a staff which includes full-time directors of music and youth activities.

The congregation also participates in the internship program of Lutheran Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., providing on-the-job training to second-year seminarians. In addition, the church houses Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Preschool, with 80 students enrolled for next fall and a staff of 11, plus Director Bonnie Kent.

Don Ethier, 25th Anniversary Committee chairman, says a “birthday” dinner (requiring advanced reservations) will open the weekend celebration June 17, with special speakers who will include Rev. Eleanor Russey of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Rincon, Ga. Russey was Christ our Shepherd's first associate pastor from 1989 to 1997.

On Sunday, June 18, the community is invited to join the congregation for worship services of celebration at 8:30 and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Music will include a hymn written for the occasion by Director of Music David Beecher, and Darleen Krautwurst, administrator in the office of the Southeastern Synod, will be guest preacher.

A service of renewal of wedding vows will follow each morning worship service, Ethier said, adding that reservations are requested.

The committee is also preparing a cookbook with about 600 recipes by members of the congregation. Now at the printer's, the book will be ready for holiday purchase, Ethier said.

Other items to commemorate the anniversary, such as Christmas ornaments, license plates, and T-shirts bearing the church's new shepherd logo, are available for purchase in the narthex. Proceeds will help defray expenses of the celebration, and will also help send young people to attend the ELCA's National Youth Gathering later this summer in St. Louis.

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