Holy Trinity Lutheran Church welcomes all individuals seeking God’s love to its congregation.
The church was founded in 1973, when a small group of Lutherans would meet up at the then Land O’ Lakes community center, near the post office. In 1976, they bought a property in Lutz, just south of State Road 54 and U.S. 41, where the church still resides today.
“We might be a little congregation, but we have a big heart,” says Beverly Schmidt, who has been with the church since 1978.
When asked how the church has changed throughout the years, Schmidt says in its most important aspect, it hasn’t.
“We’re still the loving, caring, warm family we were from the very beginning,” says Schmidt. “We’ve always been a close-knit congregation. We have a very strong family core here.”
One way the church supports its family is through its Shepherds Group.
“There’s about eight of us that are ‘Shepherds’ and we have church members that are referred to as ‘lambs’ that we watch out for,” says Schmidt, “If we haven’t seen them in a while, we reach out and make sure they are okay. You have to care about your people.”
Duwayne Johnson, current president of the church, echoes Schmidt’s sentiments. He adds that another one of the church’s strengths is going the extra mile to welcome its members.
“We’ve heard many stories of people going to other churches, and no one would even say hi to them,” says Johnson. “Here, we go out of our way to express Christ’s love to you with genuine, heartfelt warmth.”
Johnson has been a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for almost 32 years. As current president, he handles all of the day-to-day operations of the church.
His main goals? To always add new members to the church’s family and to continue giving back to the community.
The church achieves this by supporting several local shelters and nonprofits such as Christian Social Services, Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers, Salvation Army, and the Special Olympics.
A popular outreach program at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is child care services. It has a Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) for 4 year olds, which is state funded, and a preschool program called Little Lambs.
Little Lambs is a nonprofit and offers a unique Christian-based program that is licensed by the State of Florida, and is led by experienced, certified teachers and assistants. The curriculum’s focus is on the development of the total child: spiritual, emotional, cognitive, social and physical aspects, through academics and creative interaction.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church’s worship service always begins at 9 a.m., and can be streamed online for free.It is then followed with Sunday School, then fellowship.
For more information on Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, go to HolyTrinityLutz.com.
