Good Shepherd began in 1990 as a mission church of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. It met at Interfaith of The Woodlands until the mid-1990s when the current building was constructed. Pastor Mark Bitter served as Good Shepherd’s pastor from 1990 until 2010. Pastor Andy Retberg came to Good Shepherd in 2008 and served the congregation until 2020. Mr. Jim Boggs moved to The Woodlands in 2013 and served as a Youth Minister until 2017. Pastor Jeremy Schulz came to Good Shepherd in 2018 and continues to serve the congregation today.  The Lord has blessed and continues to bless our family of believers of about 300 souls.

In 2001 Good Shepherd added a preschool: Good Shepherd Learning Center. Our Learning Center offers a Christ-centered, quality education in a safe and loving environment, serving children 18 months through transition. God continues to bless us with full classes and dedicated teachers and staff. Renee Linden is the preschool director. 

Good Shepherd is dedicated to serving the family of believers and the people of The Woodlands with sound, Biblical teaching and preaching. Our local church also has a broader reach than just The Woodlands and surrounding area. Through our partnership with our national church body, we help spread God’s kingdom throughout the world.

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). The WELS, characterized as theologically conservative, is the third largest Lutheran church body in America. With national offices in Waukesha, Wisconsin, WELS began in 1850 when three German pastors met in Milwaukee. Today, it has grown to over 1200 congregations in North America. It has over 400,000 baptized members, which includes over 300,000 communicants, served by over 1000 pastors.

The synod operates four ministerial education schools: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wisconsin; Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minnesota; Luther Preparatory School, Watertown, Wisconsin; and Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Michigan for the education of our pastors, teachers, and staff ministers. Our congregations—either individually or as federations—operate one of the largest Lutheran school systems in the country with 403 early childhood ministries; 313 Lutheran elementary schools ; 25 area Lutheran high schools; 2 Prep high schools; and Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, Wis. We run one of the largest Christian prison ministries in the nation, distributing hundreds of thousands of Bibles and Bible correspondence courses to inmates across the United States over the last 20 years. We are a member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, an organization of 24 confessional church bodies throughout the world.

As members of the WELS, we share with our fellow believers in our synod’s stated mission:
As men, women, and children united in faith and worship by the Word of God, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod exists to make disciples throughout the world for time and for eternity, using the gospel in word and sacrament to win the lost for Christ and to nurture believers for lives of Christian service, all to the glory of God.

For more information about the WELS, check out www.wels.net. You will find a wide variety of information and resources available. The WELS also publishes a monthly magazine, “Forward in Christ.” Copies of the magazine are available in the church entryway.