Church History
Our church was initially organized as Lutz Methodist on March 29, 1959, under the guidance of Dr. Lorenzo Dow Patterson. By June of 1961, the original membership of 23 had grown to 125 members and a sanctuary was dedicated. The church was located on the west side of U.S. Highway 41, south of Sunset Lane. In 1966, a parsonage was constructed on the church property.
In 1968 the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denominations merged to form the United Methodist Church. The Lutz E.U.B. Church, the first permanent church in the community, was designated the First United Methodist Church of Lutz. Our church was renamed Patterson Memorial United Methodist Church, honoring Dr. L. D. Patterson, our organizing pastor.
Within a few years, it became apparent that the Lutz area could not support the growth of two United Methodist churches. By 1972, the Florida Conference of the U.M.C., seeing a need to establish a U.M.C. further north, purchased the site we now occupy. At their suggestion, our 1972 annual charge conference voted to relocate to Land 0' Lakes. The Lutz property was sold to the F.T. Blount Company. Once more we changed our name, becoming the First United Methodist Church of Land 0' Lakes.
During the building of our current facility, we worshipped in a mobile home on our new property. Our sanctuary was dedicated on December 1, 1974 and a parsonage was constructed in 1977. In 1986 we increased our holdings through the purchase of three acres adjacent to the north of our property. Recent years have seen extensive renovations to the church properties.
Pastors who have led the Lutz congregation:
Dr. Lorenzo Dow Patterson, 1959
Jennings Neeld [interim), 1959
William Tiffin, 1959- 1962
T. Gerald Williams, 1962- 1963
Lee Strother, 1 963 -1966
Paul Watts, 1966- 1970
D. Douglas Clewis, 1970- 1972
Land O' Lakes Pastors:
D. Douglas Clewis, 1972. ,1975
Terry Thompson, 1975- 1977
J. Wayne Vaughan, 1977- 1982
R Charles Boggs, 1982- 1986
Frederick Ball, 1 986 -1990
J. William Talbott, 1990- 1991
Thomas C. Ettinger, 1991 -1994
Dan Campbell, 1994- 1998
Kent Crow, 1998-2005
Guy Weatherly, 2005-2007
Peter Cottrell, 2007 (Current)