The Good Shepherd Ministries started with a simple concept in January 2000: to grow a church that would help families better know, love and serve Jesus Christ. It was a vision our Founding Pastor and his wife, Steven and Jeannie McCullough, used to create ministries in line with those detailed in the New Testament. It’s a vision we cling to still.
The church quickly outgrew the basement of the home in which it first met and we moved to Rest Haven Cemetery, where the owners blessed us tremendously for three years by allowing us to gather rent-free. That in turn allowed us to soon build our own facility in March 2004 at the intersection of Leitersburg Pike and Longmeadow Road, where we’ve been meeting as a family of believers ever since. More than a building, it’s been a tremendous resource that we don’t take for granted. Our church is the people, but the space we meet in remains a gift that God has granted us to be able to reach, minister to and welcome the people in our surrounding neighborhoods and communities.
In 2015, our children’s ministry had grown to the point that we were able to expand with a large children’s wing addition, which features a dedicated Welcome Center and security checkpoint, eight specialized classrooms, restroom facilities, and plenty of adaptable open space. Our youth group, Disrupt (Disrupting Our World with Christ’s Love), has also continued to grow, embracing the missions focus of the church through missions trips and outreach projects. Our teens are not islands set apart either. They’re a crucial part of our multigenerational ministries and church family!
Through the years, the support of missions locally and overseas has remained one of our most crucial priorities in sharing the Gospel. As a church, we support dozens of local, domestic and international missionaries and ministries, partner with Operation Christmas Child in sending thousands of shoeboxes around the world, and participate in missions trips and endeavors, overseas building projects and more.
Which brings us to May 2020, when Pastor McCullough transitioned into full retirement. We thank God that he and his wife Jeannie remain a prayerful and foundational part of the church, watching the seeds they first planted grow and be nurtured by God. Our current lead pastor, Kenny Brown, has been a part of TGSM since it was established twenty-two years ago. After establishing our first youth group in 2001, he served for more than fourteen years as a volunteer leader before becoming a full-time staff ministry director in 2015. Soon after, God’s call in his life deepened. He became Youth Pastor in 2016, followed by Assistant Pastor in 2018.
As Pastor Kenny looks forward, he continues to calibrate his heart and mind to the Spirit’s direction and calling, working to lead the church in its desire to spread the gospel at home and abroad in ways both new and familiar.
And our story continues! We strive to involve ourselves in true ministry; to the individual, their family and friends, the congregation at large, and through outreach at home and abroad. From the very beginning, we’ve held fast to simple, scriptural guiding principles and a desire to embrace and join in Christ’s love in our church, our community and around the world. Our hope and prayer is that you join us in our story and discover, as we have, where God is leading us! We invite you and your family to be a part of our story.