Tag Archive for: South Atlantic District

Faces of Faith ā€“ Atlanta, Ga.

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On Sun., March 30, 2025, Intown Lutheran Church welcomed three college students as adult confirmands. These young women impressively completed our 12-lesson Bible Basics class while also managing busy academic schedules and student-athlete responsibilities. All three of them are new to Lutheranism and very excited to be part of our church family!

Grace says: “Intown Lutheran Church not only gave me a place to learn straight from the Scripture and truly understand it, but it also gave me a new family of fellow Christians. This is a place where I can be myself and never feel alone, judged, or out of place.”

Kennedi says:ā€Æā€œUpon arriving in Georgia for college, I hoped to find a local church. Thankfully, a friend attending Intown Lutheran Church invited me to the worship service one Sunday. Being exposed to the great teachings of the Good News and the kind fellowship, I decided to continue attending Intown and even join various Bible study sessions each week. Now that Iā€™m officially a member, I can say that the meaning of Intown Lutheran Church is to cultivate a body of Godā€™s children and teach and learn the meaning and importance of his Word so that we all grow in our faithful walk with him.ā€

Written by Lucas Bitter, Intown Lutheran Church, Atlanta, Ga.

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Moments with Missionaries – Lucas Bitter

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Rev. Lucas Bitter, home missionary at Intown Lutheran Church in Atlanta, Ga., shares an update from the South Atlantic region. Through the support of WELS Home Missions and by God’s grace, they found and purchased land near their current rental property to begin building a brand new church. Later this year, they hope to break ground and begin building a worship space where they can continue to share the gospel with those in their community. Hear more from Rev. Lucas Bitter about the work being done in Atlanta, Ga., and save the date for this year’s Taste of Missions on June 14, 2025 at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

P.S. – Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to watch even more videos from our missionaries in the upcoming weeks!

The first Bible you ever meet

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Do you remember your first Bible? Do you know where your first Bible is? Mine is an old study Bible that some relatives gifted to me at my confirmation. Throughout the years, the margins have accumulated helpful notes and comments, different dates of when I visited that same text, and other scribbles that have made this Bible mine. Itā€™s practically tethered to me and has logged thousands of miles crisscrossing different cities, states, and continents.

Have you ever thought that you might be the first Bible that someone meets? Not that you are the Way, Truth, or Life of Scripture, but that you might be the first look at what a justified, grace-filled Christian life looks like in the world? Why would that matter at all?

You may have seen some of the latest articles that tell us that more Americans arenā€™t going to church like they did even five years ago. Church shopping rates are down, but there are more people who are turning away because of what their churches in the past had done. They also feel happy and content to do what they are doing now. Whatā€™s more surprising is that more people are completely unexposed to what the gospel message actually is.

Itā€™s a real concern in my community. Trinity, Fla., is a place that was conceived under the idea that you could be ā€œborn, work, and dieā€ all in one place. As Iā€™ve learned, chatted, and had coffee with some of the people that live in our community, there is a growing resentment that ā€œthe people inside the church donā€™t act like Jesus would.ā€ To put a number on it: Trinity currently sees 71.6 percent of its community inactive in any faith community, up 10 percent in just five years. Or to put it another way: About three out of the ten people you see in your grocery aisle this coming weekend are connected to religion in some way. The other seven are unattached to the means of grace and the sacraments.

Something will fill that void. The spiritual needs today arenā€™t different than at any point in human history. There will always be a real need for relationships, forgiveness, justice, comfort, purpose, and salvation. Humanity needs to hear it. Godā€™s given us the message to speak to it.

As a home missionary in the United States, this excites me. We have a real opportunity to show Christian love to people who have no idea what it looks like. We are Christā€™s ambassadors, as though he is making an appeal through us!

With more people unexposed to what the gospel message is, we may have to be more proactive about going and showing what a redeemed life looks like rather than asking someone to come and see. One helpful pastor I know said, ā€œWhere is the most unlikely place you will find an unchurched person? Inside of a church.ā€

We often lament that this is a darkening and dimming world. That just means we need some lights to guide our way. That can happen through prayers for our worker training programs and for your pastors, but also for your brothers and sisters who are sitting in the seats of church along with you, that they may be bold in their witness of the gospel and unashamed of its message. Include yourself in that prayer too.

Because to someone youā€™ve never met or someone you know extremely well, you might be the first look of what living out the Scriptures actually is. So what are they reading?

Written by Rev. Ben Bitter, home missionary at Peace Lutheran Church in Trinity, Fla.




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Little wins

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ā€œTime!ā€ I called out. I glanced at my phone. It was 8:11 a.m. on a dark and grey January morning in Parrish, Fla. I smiled because we had just shattered our missionā€™s record for how quickly we wheeled all the tables out of the cafeteria and into the hallways at Parrish Charter Academy. They say, ā€œmany hands make light work,ā€ and that was proven true by eleven energetic Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary students who traveled all the way to Florida to help our mission achieve small but significant wins on the way to even bigger ones.

From there, the seminarians set up for Sunday worshipā€”placing chairs in neat rows, arranging the altar, setting up the speakers, rolling out the coffee cart, and preparing for our Mornings with Mommy program. Once the church setup was complete, they went outside to pick up trash around the campus. Just as they were finishing up, a familiar maintenance truck pulled in with a trailer attached.

A few weeks earlier, I had asked the schoolā€™s maintenance man, Kelvin, if there were any projects our church could help with around campus. He thought for a moment, glancing at the basketball courts, soccer fields, and playground. Then his eyes landed on a sad pile of rolled-up turf. Hurricane Miltonā€™s winds had ruined the turf around one of the playgrounds, and new turf had been installed in its place. The old turf still sat there, waiting to be removed.

ā€œWe can help with that,ā€ I had told him confidentlyā€”unaware of the muddy mess the recent rain would create or that Floridaā€™s infamous fire ants lay hidden beneath the turf.

That Saturday morning, the seminarians wrestled with the turf, mud clinging to their shoes and fire ants testing their patience. Meanwhile, inside, we welcomed families to our Mornings with Mommy session. By the time the seminarians finished, they were covered in mud and dotted with ant bites, yet still somehow eager to help with more.

After lunch, they helped us run a small sports camp for the community, where kids played football and basketball, leaving with Risen Savior water bottles and happy exhaustion. By the end of the day, we had connected with 17 familiesā€” families who, earlier, had likely never heard of our church.

One of the students asked me later how I thought the day went. I told him I was thrilled! As a brand-new church, itā€™s hard to measure success in the typical ways. For us, a win can mean simply meeting more people and letting them know weā€™re here. It can mean building relationships with families or showing Parrish Charter Academy that weā€™re not just tenants but partners, ready to serve and make a positive impact.

Of course, our ultimate goal is to see eternal winsā€”baptisms, confessions of faith, and a growing, thriving church. But those blessings often begin with smaller steps: a friendly conversation, a helpful hand, or an invitation to join us. Each of these little wins matters because they reflect Godā€™s love in action, planting seeds that he can grow in his perfect time.

Written by Rev. Benjamin Balge, home missionary at Risen Savior in Parrish, Fla.




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A little “hope for everyday” goes a long way

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We live by the phrase ā€œhope for everydayā€ here at Living Hope in Chattanooga, Tenn. The hope our Savior gives us is all encompassing. Itā€™s eternal. And that hope for eternal life filters down to our everyday lives too. Thereā€™s hope for everyday life, everyday problems, and everyday people. So, thatā€™s our mission: bring ā€œhope for everydayā€ to people around us so they come to see the big-picture hope they have with Jesus. Weā€™ve found that just a little ā€œhope for everydayā€ can go a long way.

Jeanette would agree. Jeanette has been through some very dark and hopeless looking days in her life. As a child she grew up in the foster care system. Later, she got married and had two sons. But Jeanetteā€™s husband became abusive and for 16 years she suffered severe physical and emotional abuse. Child Protective Services even had to step in and take her sons away from a home that had become dangerous.

After that incident, Jeanette left her husband but soon had another scary encounter. She was randomly attacked by a gang outside of a bar and may have been beaten to death if it hadnā€™t been for a kind stranger who confronted the gang with his shotgun and ran them off.

Jeanette continued to fall on hard times after this due to a back injury that left her disabled. She ended up homeless for more than seven years. She usually stayed on friendsā€™ couches but had nights of sleeping outside in the cold, too. Jeanetteā€™s life seemed broken and full of hardship. Hope seemed like a far-off thing. Definitely not an everyday thing.

Eventually, Jeanette got into affordable housing. Then one day hope showed up at her door. One of the ways Living Hope has tried bringing hope for everyday into peopleā€™s lives has been through an effort called grocery canvassing. We pack up bags of essential groceries and knock on doors in nearby neighborhoods that could use some love. The food is just one little way of spreading everyday hope, with the aim that weā€™ll be able to talk about our eternal hope in Jesus with people too.

When a Living Hope member knocked on Jeanetteā€™s door with a bag of free groceries, she already knew who we were. Sheā€™d been saving a Living Hope Christmas flyer on her fridge the last few months. She didnā€™t know much about the Bible or her relationship with God but she wanted some answers and was willing to learn. Right at the door, Jeanette asked if she could come to church tomorrow. She just needed a ride. Some Living Hope members brought Jeanette to church the next morning and sheā€™s been coming back ever since.

Jeanette took a Bible information class, got baptized, and joined as a member at Living Hope this past June with her sons there to share her big day.

Jeanette says that walking into Living Hope ā€œfelt like joining a whole ā€˜nother family.ā€ A void in her life had been filled by Christ. Sheā€™d always wanted to make sure she was doing the right thing and finally, through studying the Bible and being at church, she knows Jesus has made her right. In Jeanetteā€™s words, ā€œItā€™s a feeling of freedom.ā€

A free bag of groceries may seem like a small thing. But itā€™s the little things, the little actions of spreading everyday hope, that can turn someoneā€™s life around when they get connected to their eternal hope in Christ. A little ā€œhope for everydayā€ can go a long way for lost and hurting souls.

Written by Rev. Eric Melso, serving Living Hope Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.

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It’s just sand, you can’t grow anything there

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The story goes that the farmers of Alabama and panhandle Florida werenā€™t interested in the lands now known as Panama City Beach ā€“ an area across the Hathaway Bridge from Panama City, Fla. They referred to it as worthless property because you ā€œcanā€™t grow anything there.ā€ Looking back, I wish I had lived back then and bought up a lot of the worthless sand. With foresight, Gideon Thomas purchased land right on the water in the 1930s. In 1936 he had a formal opening to what is now titled ā€œPanama City Beachā€ ā€“ complete with his beach hotel and 1,000-foot pier. The rest is history for this bustling community.

A lot has changed from those times when it was fondly dubbed ā€œthe Redneck Riviera.ā€ The latest growth spurts means more stores, support services, and construction crews that draw in more workers. A main driver behind many of the new planned communities is the St. Joe Company. The development that gets the most attention is Latitude Margaritaville Watersound 55 ā€“ an affordable retirement community a bit like ā€œThe Villagesā€ of mid-Florida. Presently 3,500 homes have been built and pre-purchased by people from 49 of the 50 states. They anticipate 160,000 new homes in the next 40 years. A new airport was built a few years ago to accommodate growth and now a new hospital and medical facility are in the process of construction. A recent news article wrote, ā€œThereā€™s no sign of Bay County slowing down when it comes to people moving to our area.ā€ They recognize the unchanging asset here ā€“ the beautiful beaches. We would like to see a new solid gospel community in the middle of it built on our unchanging asset ā€“ the good news of Jesus.

Besides Panama City, the closest other WELS church is two hours away. But Amazing Grace in Panama City has some very active core members living in the middle of the growth areas such as families like Andrew and Tian with their four primary school children. Or Keisha, with her two teenagers and two preschoolers, who drives at least an hour to church (depending on traffic) from Santa Rosa Beach area. These families find it difficult to convince others in the area to make the long drive to ā€œthe Cityā€ over the Hathaway Bridge. For the last year we have been offering weekly a Bible class that swells to 30 in attendance when the snowbirds arrive. It has attracted new people like Jevone from Jamaica or Susie, a retired school music teacher. To provide even more points of contact, we volunteer as mentors at the West Bay Elementary School and provide occasional lunches or treats for the teachers and staff.

We are thankful the South Atlantic District Mission Board saw something special in our proposal to begin an outreach mission there and included it in the first round of picks for the ā€œ100 missions in 10 years.ā€ Now comes the waiting portion as calls go out to pastors to lead the mission endeavor.

In the early 1930ā€™s there was little use for what some referred to as ā€œthe ugly white sand.ā€ Today it is often referred to as one of the ā€œWorldā€™s Most Beautiful Beaches.ā€ What will the future be like for WELS gospel outreach there? Pray for it (and if you are looking for a warm place to retire and be a part of the outreach, join us). We pray this effort develops a church home for many others to enjoy the worldā€™s most beautiful message.

Written by Rev. David Kehl, serving Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Panama City, Fla.Ā 

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God works through the big and the small

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Big is good, butā€¦bigger is not necessarily better.

Easter was about a month and a half ago, and maybe you saw advertisements that looked something like this.

ā€œ10,000 Easter eggs, packed with candy and fun!ā€
ā€œ40 thousand Easter eggs!ā€
ā€œ100,000 Easter eggs for your kids to pick up!ā€
ā€œThousands of eggs dropped out of a helicopter!ā€
ā€œEaster bunny skydiving into egg hunt!ā€

Maybe you and your church reached out into your community via a massive Easter event, and you got to talk with people and love people who would never profess to be interested in learning more about Jesus, let alone open the door of your churchā€™s sanctuary on Easter or any other day.

If so, wonderful! Praise God!

Or, maybe, seeing headlines like those put a pit in your stomach and made you and your church feel at least a little inadequate. Maybe like youā€™re not doing enough, like youā€™re less than.

First, there is no enough. We can never be enough. Our identity, as souls loved by Jesus, is and always will be enough. Secondly, comparing your church to other churches is not the name of the game, nor is it beneficial to anyone.

And lastly, a big event can be wonderful, but. . . bigger is not necessarily better.

Within a 10-mile radius of our ministry center, there were over a dozen other big Easter egg events advertised. But 16 months ago, a seemingly small thing happened, a family with three young girls attended worship for the first time. It seemed like a small thing, but following worship that day in January 2022, we had planned an open forum to talk through a ministry plan and brainstorm new ideas. It happened that the family, who was there for the first time, decided stay for the open forum, and they decided to speak at the open forum.

And it just so happened that their idea was a special needs Easter egg hunt. Their former church, of a different denomination in a different state, had held one previously. We looked ā€”there wasnā€™t one anywhere near us!

Long story short, for two Easters now, weā€™ve hosted an Easter egg hunt for children with special needsā€”children with Down Syndrome, autism, and other needs. Children who would not be able to be at an event with hundreds or thousands of other people. But a few dozen? Thatā€™s just right.

This year 12 kids came, from five families, and it started unexpectedly down pouring five minutes before the event was supposed to start (one can never trust even the best weather apps). Regardless, we still got to have fantastic conversations, show love, and one of the unchurched families attended worship the very next day and became interested in taking our Foundations course to learn more about Godā€™s grace.

100,000 eggs? A helicopter? No, not exactly, but God works through the big and the small. Whether your church is big or small, your events are large or small scale, God promises to work whatever he wills. And whatever he wills is always best.

So be confident and joyful in his promises, whether your ministry seems big or small. God always works in just the right way, and his grace is always good and always working.

Written by Rev. Nathan Loersch, home missionary at Illumine Lutheran Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina.Ā 

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It’s not about the jars

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A pastor who is much smarter than I am once said that planting a mission church comes down to ā€œthe man, the mission, and the moment.ā€ How are things looking for our new church in Canton, Ga.? The moment seems right. Our county has grown over 400 percent in the last 30 years and the population of Canton itself is projected to grow by 25 percent over the next 10 years. Thatā€™s a ton of people who will be looking for a new church home or who have never even heard the good news about Jesus.

Everything appears to be lining up for the mission, too. By the grace of God, Christ the Rock is blessed with a launch team of 25 people of all different ages from all different kinds of backgrounds, who are willing to share what it means to build on Christ the Rock with our growing community. And when 70 percent of the people in our area are unchurched or left churched, itā€™s a tremendous blessing to have mission-minded Christians ready to go with that mission in front of them!

Itā€™s when we get to that last one, ā€œthe manā€, that’s when things get a little sticky. Because who am I? What do I bring to the table? How can I accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished to get a new church off the ground? The moment and the mission might be right, but, manā€¦a lot of times I feel ill-equipped. Like Iā€™m the weak link in the ā€œman, mission, momentā€ mantra.

Maybe thatā€™s okay, though. What was it Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4? ā€œWhat we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. . . we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.ā€ Paul, the greatest missionary ever, his reminder was itā€™s not about the jars. . . itā€™s about Jesus. A clay pot is so fragile. Itā€™s temporary, non-descript. It is so not the center of attention! Itā€™s whatā€™s inside the clay jar. . . thatā€™s the real focus. Thatā€™s the treasure! If you make mission work all about the jar of clay instead of the treasure of Jesus inside, then you are going to wrestle with feeling fragile and inadequate.

But thanks be to our Savior, who transforms us into clay jars with the greatest treasure the world has ever seen inside of us. The treasures of forgiveness, life, and freedom through faith in what Jesus did for you and me. That good news comforts and strengthens us as we carry out our mission. ā€œWe are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.ā€ Now I am by no means an expert when it comes to pottery, but I do know that words like ā€œpressed on all sidesā€ ā€œpersecutedā€ and ā€œstruck downā€ donā€™t sound like good things when youā€™re talking about something fragile. Then you notice Paul says we are ā€œnot crushedā€ or ā€œin despairā€ or ā€œabandonedā€ or ā€œ destroyedā€. That can only be possible if someone is taking care of the jar. The glory of the gospel we carry is that Jesus loves us enough to fill us up with this good news and he holds us tight in his arms. He is our strength when things get tough.

The moment is right. The mission is clear. The man. . . is just a clay jar. But it was never about the jar. Itā€™s all about Jesus.

Written by Rev. Cale Mead, a home missionary at Christ the Rock Lutheran Church in Canton, Ga.

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Faces of Faith ā€“ Fan

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I was born and raised in western China until I was 18. I grew up happily without being bothered to think about where we all come from and if there is ultimate truth. Shortly after I came to college, I met my now husband, Dan, and was introduced to Christianity. It all sounded very interesting, so I thought I would explore it more at the local Presbyterian church. Even though I was impressed by the worship itself, I was confused at the terms and not able to understand the messages in the sermon. I quickly lost interest and moved on to other parts of school life. Over the years, I had more and more questions: why do Americans cherish tradition in a certain way? What is my way of living and how do I find guidance? Fast forward 10 years, and Dan and I learned about Intown Lutheran Church from our good friend Stephen. We stumbled across a Bible basics class led by Pastor Lucas Bitter, and I unleashed the questions I had boxed up in my head. I sought answers, and I found grace. The true gospel I found at Intown prepared me for baptism. I was never this connected with spirituality before. After this many years, it is never too late to begin!

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