One church’s story ... Part 2

This coming Sunday, Nov. 15, here at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, we will celebrate our 25th Anniversary and Homecoming with worship at 10 a.m. followed by a luncheon for all our members, former members, and guests. We invite all our former members and any of our friends in the community to attend and celebrate and reminisce with us.

I want to continue the quick look at our history that I started here last month.

Along with our first buildings completed in 1989, God was building our congregation with more and more people, strong faith, and strong programs for ministry. We added the early service. Emphasis was always on children’s and youth ministry, with many Christian education programs such as Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, evangelism, and quality worship services. We began a great tradition of outstanding special services for Christmas and Easter.

Fayette Samaritans was started by our invitation to other churches to get together to help people in our community.

In 1989 Mrs. Deanna McAteer started and still leads our Cherub Choir and Kids’ Music Co., both of which are pinnacles of our ministry still today.

When we first moved into our new sanctuary we had only a piano to play for our worship services. We had built chambers for the pipes of a pipe organ, but we thought it would be a long time before we ever actually got one. But God had other plans. After a series of miracles, we installed and dedicated our pipe organ on Sept. 30, 1990.

Only three years after our initial building, we set forth in faith and built our Fellowship Hall, which could also be divided into classrooms. The dedication was on March 15, 1992. This was a marvelous boost to the effectiveness of our ministry. At the same time we divided our multi-purpose room into classrooms, choir room, and a conference room.

In 1992 we also began our youth ministry of Christian musical presentations called The God Squad, which has been one of our signature ministries and a ministry known throughout the Southeast over the years.

Again it was a time of growing in faith, growing programs, growing numbers, reaching farther into the community, and feeling God’s hand upon us. We ventured into the “Vicar program” with Vicar Keith Hedrick and Vicar Mark Beatty, who were “student pastors” for us. Pastor Keith Hedrick was called back as assistant pastor from 1998-2001. The ordination services for both of them were held here at Prince of Peace.

On Sept. 8, 1996, after thorough study and prayerful consideration, in order to reach more people, and to offer a variety of worship styles, we began the Contemporary Worship Service. This has proven to be one of the most effective tools for outreach ministry for both members and guests. It is a credit to this congregation that we are able to maintain the quality of both types of worship and the unity of the congregation even with our different preferences for worship styles. Our wide range of music ministry has always been one of our strongest qualities.

God used the demands of our growth again to call us to “Rise Up and Build!” After years of study and planning and both a regular capital funds campaign and a special parking lot campaign, we saw our dreams come true with the completion of our Life Center and new parking lot, all of which we dedicated on Feb. 3, 2002. We know what a gigantic contribution this building has made to all our ministries. It has been the catalyst for the growth and development of so many of our programs for both inreach and outreach. The full commercial kitchen was completed in 2005.

In 2006 Mrs. Paula Littleton joined our staff as youth ministry director and Pastor Knox Herndon was added as assistant pastor. Children and youth ministries still dominate a major portion of our efforts here in our community.

So much of this little historical sketch has been tied to the progression of our building programs. But it must be said that these buildings are not Prince of Peace. It is the people who have been and always will be Prince of Peace. Throughout the years we have had the finest leadership any congregation could hope to have. Our council presidents, all our officers, and all our council members have been outstanding disciples of Jesus Christ. Our committee members and workers at every level have been dedicated, determined, and dependable. It is the lives of the members of Prince of Peace that really tell the story of our success and progress, as God has used us for His purposes.

What does it mean to reach the celebration of our 25th anniversary? It truly means just this: We have had a great start to our ministry and work here. But it is just and only that, a start. We believe we have our best years ahead of us by far, but we couldn’t have come this far and be this excited about the future without all the dedicated people in the first 25 years.

God loves you! And so do I!

Kollmeyer is Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on Hwy. 314 in Fayetteville, between Lowe’s and The Pavilion. For more information log on at www.princeofpeacefayette.com or call 770-461-3403.