“Children, go where I send thee
How shall I send thee?
I’m gonna send you five by five
Five for the gospel preachers…”
[African-American spiritual song, Public domain]
Apparently, God sent “five gospel preachers” with Fayette County residence or roots to Atlanta to start and serve a new Lutheran Church there.
In the picture above, starting second from the left are Pastors John Weber, Scott Ness, Mark Beatty, Justin Kollmeyer, and Jim Clark. These are the “five gospel preachers” sent from Fayette County.
Let me explain. The occasion for this picture is the recent Installation Service for Pastor Mark Beatty to serve as the first full-time pastor of St. Martin Lutheran Church on Piedmont Ave. in Atlanta.
This congregation was formed in 2019 by traditional conservative Lutherans and is affiliated with the traditional conservative North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which formed in 2010. Many more members, who share this faith, have been added to St. Martin since its beginning.
Pastor Mark Beatty, installed as the first full-time pastor of the congregation in an impressive service on December 1 of this past year, has his roots in Fayette County because he served his one year pastoral internship at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, under the supervision of Pastor Justin Kollmeyer. (That’s me.) Over that year I saw his many God given skills for ministry and his growth and development in them. I knew then he would make an outstanding pastor, and he has certainly been that for the past twenty five years.
In 2024 Pastor Beatty changed is affiliation over to the North American Lutheran Church based on his convictions.
It took a great leap of faith for Pastor Beatty to leave his former congregation and join the NALC clergy roster. But in becoming a pastor of the NALC, he was available for the call of St. Martin to be their pastor. It is such a great fit for this pastor to be the pastor and leader of this church. Great days and years are ahead. Amen!
And now a quick word about the other pastors with Fayette County connections.
Pastor Jim Clark served St. Martin for its first four years as its part-time pastor, even though he had officially retired. He did an outstanding job of keeping this infant congregation thriving and growing in those first years. His connection to Fayette County is that he served as the interim pastor at Prince of Peace, Fayetteville, (now NALC) when it was trying to get started back in the mid 1980’s. He even met his wife here.
Pastor John Weber is “a man who needs no introduction here in Fayette County.” I refer to Pastor John as “The Father of Lutheranism in Fayette County” because he started the first Lutheran Church here, Christ our Shepherd in Peachtree City, back in the 1970’s. He even has a fire station named after him in honor of his service as the first volunteer fireman in PTC. He, too, has been very supportive of St. Martin since its beginning, and shared in the Installation Service of Pastor Beatty.
Pastor Scott Ness, now the pastor of Prince of Peace, lives in Fayette County, and is also the Dean of this Mission District of the NALC. He was the official representative of the NALC Bishop for this occasion. He has a large family with several children currently in the Fayette County School system.
I am so blessed to have been the pastor of Prince of Peace for thirty four years, from its beginnings of holding worship services in the cafeteria of Fayette Elementary School, through all of our years of growing and building and serving alongside so many great lay people, until my retirement five years ago. While I was pastor there we moved our affiliation to the NALC. I actually was the Holy Communion pastor at St. Martin’s first service. I served as co-interim pastor in 2024 until Pastor Beatty came, and now I am a member of St. Martin along with my wife and my son and his family. We are so blessed to share in this exciting ministry with Pastor Beatty as our pastor.
I am often asked, “You drive to Atlanta to go to church every Sunday? Why do you do that?” My answer is that our son and most importantly our grandchildren live near St. Martin and are members there. In addition, we love Pastor Beatty, his sermons, and the attention this church gives to the beauty and majesty of the traditional liturgical service. And the driving to Atlanta part, believe me, it is a lot easier to drive into Atlanta on Sunday mornings than the other days of the week. We zip in and out pretty easily.
And one last question. Where is God “sending you” to do His Work and worship Him? Bless you who are so faithful in your response every Sunday and many days of the week. If you are not “going where He is sending you,” please be intentional to listen for His call to you, and may you be blessed and strengthened to “go.” Amen!
Dr. Kollmeyer, a thirty-eight year resident of Fayette County, is a retired Lutheran pastor. He offers his preaching and teaching ministry to any church or group seeking or needing a Christ centered, Biblically based, and traditionally grounded sermon or teaching. Reach him at [email protected].
