The Rev. Dr. Timothy M. Smith – Senior Pastor

Pastor Smith began to share ministry with the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in February of 2010. He previously served two congregations in his home state of North Carolina – St. Paul’s Lutheran-Startown in Newton, NC for 7 years and Grace Lutheran Church and Lutheran Campus Ministry in Boone, NC for nearly 17 years. 

His wife, Wendy, is a Middle School Math and Science teacher, and they have three children, all of whom are away in school. Matthew is a student at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC. Isaac is a senior at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC, and Ruth is a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill. 

Pastor Smith graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as well on a Morehead Scholarship, where he played JV Basketball for Coach Roy Williams, sang in and directed the Clef Hangers a cappella singing group, and graduated with Honors in Religion. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, including a semester in the Washington Theological Consortium and a year of internship in the former West Berlin, Germany. He earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, NJ in 1991. 

Pastor Smith was very active in the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA before coming to Atlanta, having chaired Lutheran Services for the Aging NC Finance in Committee, the synod’s Evangelism Committee, and the Youth Ministry Committee. He also served a 3-year term as Dean of the Blue Ridge Mountain Conference and a 10-year term on the synod’s Candidacy Committee. In 2008 he was the recipient of the Eli Lilly Foundation’s Clergy Renewal Sabbatical Grant, through which he and his family traveled to Tanzania to reside and work in a seminary community and to work with pastoral ministry among the Masai people. He has served for 3 years as chaplain of Music Week at Camp Lutheridge in NC and enjoys singing, exercising, and spending time with family.