You may now add your email address to a list that will be used to announce changes to the site, make general announcements (like meeting cancellations) and the like. The program we are using puts you in control of the email you receive from us. In addition to verifying that you actually want to be added to the list, you may be sure that if you wish to be removed from the list, you will be, unless you ask to be reinstated. If you wish to be added to the list, click on the “eMail Lists” link under “Blogroll”. Give us a try, and let us know what you think.

Good Shepherd is located on one of Lilburn’s busiest roads, but when Presbytery purchased the land in 1972, Killian Hill Road was not even paved. The Reverend Bill Satterwhite was hired in late 1973 and began knocking on doors asking people if they would like to become pioneers in creating a new congregation. Fourteen brave souls met together in a future-member’s home and began praying and dreaming together.

We held our first worship and fellowship event on Sunday, March 31, 1974, at the Red Arrow Ranch. The next Sunday (which happened to be Palm Sunday), we moved to a more elaborate setting – a room above a butcher shop at the Mountain Park Plaza shopping center. We were still meeting there when we were officially organized by the Presbytery on October 6, 1974.

As wonderful as it was to meet above the butcher shop, we began to dream of building on the property that Presbytery had purchased. Groundbreaking for the first building was November 2, 1975. What we now refer to as the Fellowship Hall was the first building. It was completed in time for Easter, 1976, and served as a Sanctuary as well as a social hall.

It was not long before we needed additional space. One Friday afternoon in August, 1982, one of our church members was driving toward Atlanta and he noticed a modular building for sale. He stopped and bought it, writing a check for several thousand dollars from his personal account. He then called the pastor to inform him that he’d just bought the building, but had only a few hundred in his checking account. By Monday morning, the church was able to cover the check.

It was a challenging effort to transport the building to the church property. Two years of great fellowship and hard work went into putting the building together. This building continues to serve our church, housing the Christian Education programs and offices. The Preschool, which had started in 1978, was moved into the new Christian Education Building.

The church continued to grow and began planning for the construction of a new Sanctuary, which was completed in 1992.

We continue to grow, but our growth is not measured by the buildings we construct, but the lives we change. We continue to serve God as His disciples, and invite others to join us in love and service.

For those of you who are interested, our pastor has posted the plans for 2008. Click on the “Service Schedule” on the right to see what those plans are. If you find this posting useful (or not) or if you find errors, please share your comments so that we can decide whether to continue updating this document or not.

The Ultimate answer is posted in a comment. But you are encouraged to give your own answer before looking at the comment.

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.” This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor.