The name for Christ

Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City

was selected because it represented Christ as the

central part of the lives of those establishing

the Lutheran mission, a comforting shepherd who

reached out to those who were hurt and in need.

Peachtree

residents, Jimmy and Margo Booth, first appealed

to the Division of Missions of the Lutheran

Church in the early 1970s. The Rev. John Weber

was sent in September 1974 as mission developer.

Word went out to interested persons and calls

were made door-to-door to locate people

interested in the Lutheran church.

The Waldemar

Zimmermans and the Sapper family were among the

first to answer the call.

The Webers

conducted a meeting in their home two weeks after

their arrival with the Booths and Alice Sapper in

attendance.

The first worship

service was Dec. 1, 1974 and even though it was a

cold day, mixed with rain and snow, 80 people

were in attendance. The service was conducted at

the Glenlock Recreation Center, with a portable

altar made by Zimmerman.

In February 1975,

charter membership was opened and remained open

for five months.

Sunday School

classes were first conducted in June 1975 and it

was also this month that the first service for

the official organization of Christ Our Shepherd

Lutheran Church was conducted, having taken place

at the First Presbyterian Church of Peachtree

City.

The congregation

purchased 3.1 acres of land at the intersection

of Ga. Highway 54 and North Peachtree Parkway.

The church then met

in a warehouse until its first building was

completed in 1978. The church is now on its third

fellowship hall and has just added additional

Sunday School rooms and a new administration

area.

The church, which

began with 80 members in 1974, grew to 500

members in 1984, now enjoys a membership of 1,700

persons.

The Rev. John Weber

was born and reared in Red Oak, Iowa. He began to

feel pulled into the ministry in grade school.

He is a graduate of

Rock Island College in Illinois with a major in

psychology. He then was graduated from the

Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, with a

master's in divinity.

Serving for four

years at the Fox Point Lutheran Church in

Milwaukee, he then received the call to Peachtree

City in 1974.

He has been married

to Ginnie since 1967 and they met in college.

They are the parents of a son, Brent Weber, who

lives in Suwanee and is a facility manager for a

Presbyterian church, and a daughter, Britt Weber,

who teaches kindergarten in Fayette County. Brent

and his wife have two children, Skyler and

Brodie.

"The focus of

this church has always been to bring the gospel

beyond ourselves," said the Rev. Weber.

"Our part in the community has always been a

big part of that focus."

Services are each

Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m.

and 6 p.m. with Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. and 4

p.m.

The church is at

101 Peachtree Parkway North and can be reached at

770-487-8717.

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