Beginnings on Highway 92
In July 1987, Pastor David Osborne arrived in the Towne Lake area of Woodstock, Georgia, sent by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a pastor/developer. He knocked on doors, met neighbors, and invited them to start something new, and by 1988, Sunday morning worship and Sunday School classes were being held in rented space in an office park complex along Highway 92. On Charter Sunday, December 11, 1988, the founding members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church signed the living charter and the congregation was formally organized.
The church that grew out of those early gatherings still meets at 1208 Rose Creek Drive, a few turns off the same highway corridor, and remains part of the ELCA Southeastern Synod. Its mission statement gathers everything into a single sentence: "We are called, gathered and blessed to be a community and instrument of grace for all sheep of the Good Shepherd." Its welcome is unusually broad: "Good Shepherd Lutheran Church warmly welcomes people of any age, race, nationality, sexual orientation, life circumstance, and physical or mental capability." That welcome is stated plainly and often, in the bulletin and in the words of the pastor.
Pastor Karen Boda joined the congregation after serving as Interim Pastor at Christ Lutheran in Marietta and Community of Grace Lutheran in Grayson and as Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Life in the ELCA Southeastern Synod. A second-career pastor and graduate of Candler School of Theology at Emory University with a Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary affiliation, she and her husband live in Decatur with their dog Rosie. Vicar Sam Maier, who is in his seminary formation year from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, joined the staff alongside her. Anna Kate Peed, a classically trained pianist who has performed with Mercer Singers and recently sang Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass at Carnegie Hall, stepped into the role of organist and choir director. Pam Weinelt, who has coordinated the praise service since 1999 after directing music at St. Thomas Lutheran in Roswell, continues to lead the contemporary worship team. Katie Reome, the new Youth and Family Ministry Intern, came from Xavier University in Cincinnati via a master's program at Candler and works alongside the pastors in the children's and youth areas.
Two Services, Two Sounds
Sundays in Towne Lake begin with two very different takes on the same Lutheran liturgy. At 8:30 AM, the Traditional Worship Service fills the sanctuary with organ and the Chancel Choir; worship leaders wear robes, the congregation kneels for parts of the liturgy, and Holy Communion is celebrated every Sunday with all who wish to receive it. At 10:45 AM, the Praise Worship Service trades the organ for keyboards, guitars, percussion, and a rhythm section accompanied by the Praise Singers. The spoken liturgy is less formal but follows the same Lutheran shape, and again communion is shared every Sunday.
The preaching at both services is delivered by an ordained Lutheran pastor. The texts, prayers, and readings follow the liturgical calendar, with the lectionary providing the week's appointed Bible passages and a short insert listing those readings prepared for each service. Members and visitors are welcome at either service; some move between them to fit family schedules, while others prefer the sound and feel of one over the other.
How a Service Unfolds
Anyone new to Lutheran worship will find that the services at Good Shepherd follow the historic four-fold pattern of Gathering, Word, Meal, and Sending. The congregation gathers to confess its sins, hear words of forgiveness, and focus on the themes of the day. The Word portion brings readings from Scripture and the sermon; the community responds with one of the ancient creeds and prayers for the needs of the world. In the Meal segment, offerings are brought forward and Holy Communion is shared. Finally, having been fed by Word and Sacrament, the congregation is sent out to share the good news of Jesus in word and action.
All who wish to receive communion are welcome at the table. Children who have not yet been baptized, and very small children, may receive a blessing instead until they are ready to learn more about the sacrament. The 10:45 AM service is also livestreamed on Facebook each week, with no Facebook account required to view, and the full archive of services lives on the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Woodstock, GA YouTube channel.
Sunday School Between the Services
At 9:45 AM, between the two Sunday services, the church's education hour unfolds for kindergarten through adult. The K through 5th grade class meets in Room 111 using the Sparkhouse Digital curriculum and following the lectionary each week, mixing games, crafts, Bible stories, team building, and problem solving. Middle school and high school youth gather in the basement youth room, Room B1, where they rotate between open conversation and a Confirmation track that meets roughly every other week.
For adults, three classes run side by side. In Room 116, the Men in Mission group gathers around study materials, often works by Rob Bell, for an hour of scripture and fellowship. The group also meets on the first Monday of each month at Marlow's Tavern in Woodstock for a 7 PM meal and, quarterly, serves a meal to the men at The Extension in Marietta, a facility that helps men fight addictions and rebuild their lives. In Room 117, Faith Stories is led by a rotating slate of leaders and typically settles on a book or theme each term. In Room 118, Coffee and Conversation works through the "Beyond the Present Time" Bible study, with each week's lesson standing alone so newcomers can drop in at any point. During scheduled weeks the whole adult hour, led by Matt Provost, Vicar Sam Maier, and Bettina Miller, turns to a study of an ELCA Social Statement ranging from civic life and the Christian's vocation in public life to other statements that grow from the wider church.
Refreshments are served in the Fellowship Hall during the 9:45 hour. Sunday School follows the school-year schedule and takes the summer off, with selected adult classes continuing through the warmer months.
Voices, Bells, and Praise
Music sits at the center of life at Good Shepherd. The Chancel Choir, open to any singer high school age and older, rehearses at 7 PM on Tuesdays and leads worship regularly at the 8:30 AM service. The Bells of Good Shepherd, a handbell choir formed more than twenty years ago, rehearses on Wednesdays from 7 to 8 PM and performs four to six times a year at both services, including major festival occasions. The Praise Team, open to singers and instrumentalists of any skill level, rehearses Thursday evenings at 7 PM plus the first Saturday of each month at 9 AM, and leads the 10:45 AM contemporary service. Members are asked to commit one week at a time, and the music and a spot are prepared in advance when they let the team know they are coming.
Studying Scripture Around the Week
Bible study is woven into the rhythm of the week. On Wednesdays at 10 AM in the Fellowship Hall, "Word on Wednesdays" gathers with leader Lori Peters, who has guided the group for more than twenty years; participants may join in person or through Microsoft Teams. From 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM on Wednesdays, the Lunch and Learn group meets off the entryway in the Meeting Room, working through short four-to-six-week video and workbook series over brown-bag lunches. On Thursdays at 10 AM, Pastor Karen leads a class in the Fellowship Hall that previews the lessons for the upcoming Sunday.
For those who would rather meet over a meal, "Theology on Tap" rotates between Hickory Flat Kitchen in Canton and Game Day in Woodstock, holding two evenings of conversation each month. For young adults and those who prefer a book and a quiet table, Coffee and Conversation and Faith Stories fill the Sunday morning hour. A Good Shepherd lending library of Bible study resources is available through the church office, and the congregation publishes a Lutheran approach to Bible study that emphasizes faithful engagement together: reading Scripture, asking lots of questions, listening to one another, and accepting that there may be more questions than answers.
Forming Children and Youth
The church walks alongside its young people from kindergarten through high school. Sunday School continues throughout the school year; Confirmation, open to youth in grades 6 through 8, meets during the 9:45 Sunday School hour in the basement youth room. The ELCA frames Confirmation as a pastoral and educational ministry that helps the baptized person, through Word and Sacrament, identify more deeply with the Christian community and participate more fully in its mission; eighth graders add a year focused on service to the congregation and community. The Sparkhouse Digital curriculum guides the children's classes, and Good Shepherd publishes an annual Children and Youth Protection Policy administered through "Protect My Ministry" background screening.
Elementary-age children in grades 3 through 5 gather for "FX3," while middle-schoolers meet for "FLY" (Middle School Ministry) and high-schoolers meet as "Saints & Sinners." Vacation Bible School runs each summer for children from rising pre-kindergarten through rising sixth grade and welcomes volunteer crew leaders and station assistants. Each month, Second Sunday Family Afternoons take families out of the building for an afternoon of intergenerational fellowship, usually meeting near a Woodstock location between 2 and 4 PM. In summer, rising sixth through outgoing twelfth graders are sponsored to attend Affirm, the ELCA Southeastern Synod's summer youth event held at the University of West Alabama; a young-adult track called the Young Adult and Youth Ministry Institute runs alongside it for those one or two years out of high school. The church also points families toward NovusWay, a network of Lutheran camps across the southern United States.
The Garden of Grace and Care for Creation
Good Shepherd takes seriously what the ELCA names as the call to pursue justice for creation "through active participation, solidarity, sufficiency and sustainability." The Caring for Creation Committee, chaired by Joella Molway, meets quarterly by Teams and supports a long list of recycling streams at the church: oral care waste through TerraCycle, household batteries, eyeglasses for the Lions Club, aluminum pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, and clean prescription bottles routed through Matthew 25 Ministries to pharmacies abroad. On the first Sunday of each month, members drop off hard-to-recycle plastics in Hefty ReNew orange bags, and on a Sunday each November the parking lot becomes an electronic recycling drop-off, accepting computers, peripherals, cabling, audio and video gear, monitors, televisions (with a small fee for CRT screens and larger sets), tablets, and small appliances.
The Garden of Grace, started in 2020 under the leadership of Mary McCoy and now tended by volunteers from the Caring for Creation Committee, has grown from two raised beds to seven. Its harvest goes to Forever Fed, a local food bank, and to the Cherokee County summer lunch program. Six apple trees planted by Mike McCoy in memory of Mary McCoy line the property, and a pollinator garden of mostly native plants surrounds them to attract bees, butterflies, and moths. The Caring for Creation Committee also publishes a Good Shepherd covenant that pairs recycled glass, aluminum, and metal with practical guides on LED lighting, thermostat settings, insulation, single-use plastic reduction, and sustainable clothing, connecting the love of God shown in creation with the ordinary choices of the week.
Hands in the Community
The rhythm of outreach at Good Shepherd moves between regular partners and seasonal campaigns. A barrel at the front door collects food year-round for MUST Ministries, which serves Cobb and Cherokee counties. The first Sunday of each month is "Two Can Sunday," when worshippers bring two nonperishables that rotate between Papa's Pantry in Canton (operated by Encompass Ministries) and Timothy's Cupboard, a food bank that operates out of Timothy Lutheran Church in Woodstock. Garden of Grace produce augments these donations with fresh vegetables and fruit during the growing season.
Through the Lutheran Coalition for Habitat, Good Shepherd joins with about eleven other area ELCA congregations to fund and build Habitat for Humanity houses in the north Atlanta suburbs; the Lutheran Coalition has helped build more than thirty-five homes since 1994 and hosts the annual Taste of Habitat fundraiser each September. Each July, members volunteer with Give a Kid A Chance to fill backpacks for Cherokee County children starting the school year. Inspire-itus, formerly Lutheran Services of Georgia, finds volunteers assembling Christmas packages for newly resettled refugee children, preparing apartments for arriving families, and supporting the agency's larger work in foster care, adoption, and disability services. Caretakers of our Community collections support Sleep in Heavenly Peace, the Atlanta Food Bank, homeless veterans, local schools, the Drake House, Mostly Mutts Thrift Shop, Carmel Elementary School, local assisted living facilities, and Child's Play Preschool. The congregation also channels benevolence support to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, Lutheran World Relief, and Lutheran Disaster Response.
In September the church joins the wider ELCA in "God's Work. Our Hands." Sunday, a single combined service followed by community projects; in January the congregation gathers for the MLK Day of Service. The Yarns Angels group meets several times a year to knit, crochet, and sew blankets, hats, scarves, lap robes, and mittens for The Encouragement Project, which distributes them to low-income children and families, cancer patients, foster care, crisis pregnancy centers, the homeless, the elderly in nursing homes, and hospice patients. A Caregivers Support Group, launched in 2025 with training and a liaison from the Alzheimer's Association as the first one established in Cherokee County, meets twice a month to build a support system for those caring for people living with dementia.
Walking Through the Doors
First-time visitors will find the sanctuary straight ahead through the main doors, with restrooms to the right in the Administrative Hallway and the Fellowship Hall to the left. Greeters meet guests at the entrance, ushers hand out bulletins at the sanctuary doors, and the pastor makes a point of welcoming anyone who identifies themselves as new. Nobody is asked to stand up, introduce themselves, or wear a name tag; some worshippers come in jeans, others in jackets and ties, and the church makes a point of saying that what matters is that a person came, not what they wore.
An unstaffed nursery is available in Room 113 throughout the Sunday morning, equipped with a screen showing the livestreamed service so that parents can step in and still follow along, with changing facilities on site and a small play area just outside the sanctuary. After each service, the Fellowship Hall hosts refreshments and a chance to meet members. Membership orientation and reception happen at least twice a year as a low-key way to learn more about the congregation and meet its leaders; full membership follows Confirmation or Affirmation of Baptism and carries with it the privilege and duty of worship, Christian education, ministry and committee participation, financial support through offerings and pledges, and share in the work of the Southeastern Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Online, Year-Round
The two Sunday services livestream on Facebook each week and the full archive lives on YouTube. Worship bulletins and announcements are posted before each service, and sermons and other resources are linked from the newsletter. Members and friends receive "Sheep Buzz," a weekly email newsletter that goes out every Friday at 3 PM, with details about upcoming services, community updates, prayer requests, and announcements; the church office sends matching text alerts to subscribers who ask to be added. Prayer requests come in through the newsletter and are passed to a prayer circle of members willing to lift them up. Giving can be done through the "Simply Giving" ACH program, through the Vanco Mobile Faith Engagement app (where the church can be located by searching for "woodstock"), through online banking bill pay, by mailing a check to 1208 Rose Creek Drive, or by designating Good Shepherd as the recipient of Kroger Community Rewards (NPO number 84490) or Thrivent Choice Dollars. The church office is open Monday 9 AM to noon and Tuesday through Thursday 9 AM to 3:30 PM, closed Fridays; the phone number is 770-924-7286 and the email is office@gslutheran.org.