In several weeks of mixed emotions, the congregation of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City is bidding their senior pastor farewell and God’s blessings.

The Rev. John Martin Weber, 62, has served the community for 34 years and is believed to have the longest tenure among clergy in Peachtree City.

Last month he announced his plans to retire from his position as a parish pastor, but will continue to serve at the request of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – “churchwide,” as parishioners call the national church body.

Weber has developed programs – such as small group ministries – that he will share in seminars with other large congregations.

The congregation plans several events to celebrate Weber’s time here. First up is a picnic at Shakerag Knoll in Peachtree City, so that church members and friends of the congregation may come to wish the Webers well. The picnic runs from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday afternoon – rain or shine. Bring a chair.

For further information, call 770-487-8717.

The women of the church are planning an informal luncheon for Ginnie Weber, and a dinner will honor the Webers on June 27 at the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center,

Weber’s last worship service as pastor of Christ Our Shepherd will take place July 27, at 10 a.m., at Starr’s Mill High School in Peachtree City. The Rev. Julian Gordy, bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the ELCA, will participate in the service.

In 1974, the Division of Missions of the ELCA sent Weber, a 29-year-old associate pastor in Milwaukee, Wis. to Peachtree City to develop a new congregation. He arrived in September, 1974, with his wife Ginnie and two young children, and began canvassing the city to invite people to worship and, often, to introduce Lutheran precepts to a largely Southern Baptist population.

The mission’s first worship service took place Dec. 30, 1974 at the Glenloch Recreation Center in Peachtree City. About 80 persons attended. Ninety-seven adults and 62 children attended the official organization service at First Presbyterian Church on June 8, 1975.

The congregation called Weber to become its first pastor.

Today the church has grown to approximately 1,700 members.

An interim pastor will work with the congregation while a search committee begins the task of finding a new senior pastor. The associate pastor, the Rev. Miriam Beecher, and David Beecher, Minister of Music, will serve the congregation while the search continues.

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