Good Shepherd Lutheran Church was organized in 1942, as a congregation of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS). Three men have served as its pastor: Rev. Hilton Schlecht, Rev. Oren Geiger, and Rev. Ron Youngdale. In 1986 a Director of Youth Ministries position was added. Jen de la Motte currently serves as the DYM.

The congregation met in several locations for the first few years. The current site was purchased in 1947. Property in northeast Turlock was purchased in 2002 for future expansion needs. Good Shepherd and Grace Lutheran (Modesto) participated in Ceres Lutheran Mission from 1988 – 1996. It included a preschool and church. Valerie Stonebreaker was commissioned as a fulltime missionary in Togo, Africa, from 1997 – 2020. She recently retired. The congregation continues to support five missionaries. (Check out our Missions section.) We support the Lutheran Hour Ministries and the Lutheran Women's Missionary League.

The mission of Good Shepherd is summarized with the words: “Enabled and equipped to share Jesus.” The congregation has adopted a vision statement as a driver for ministry: “Community Focused to be Community Engaged.”

Currently, the congregation offers a variety of ministries for all ages. Two community focused ministries we have developed are Learning Matters, which offers English speaking people a way to get a GED or to become more proficient in reading and writing, and the Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dog Ministry, where a trained dog is a bridge for a team of people to bring comfort to people in times of need and to bring the Gospel.

To God be the glory!