All Saints (formerly Pilgrim) was established as a church plant in 1958 as part of the work of Zion Lutheran Church in Waldenburg, Arkansas.  It was formed so that members of the greater Jonesboro community might be able to have the pure, unadulterated Gospel of Jesus proclaimed to them for the forgiveness of their sins. The initial gathering place for the congregation was the Baptist Student Union at Arkansas State University.  Just a few years later, in 1963, Pilgrim broke ground on a new building at 1812 Rains St. and the people of Pilgrim and their friends have been gathering to hear the Word of God preached and to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion at this location ever since. Pilgrim was served by Pastor Groenke from 1962-1966; Pastor Kruger from 1968-1971; Pastor Heckmann from 1975-1977; Pastor May in 1979; Pastor Robinson from 1982-1985. Pastor Russell Shewmaker served as pastor from 1987 to 2020. From 2000 to 2019, Pilgrim and Zion jointly operated and supported Concordia Christian Academy—a top-tier, Christ-centered school—on Pilgrim’s campus.

The Rev. Joshua Leigeber was called and installed as head pastor of Pilgrim in August of 2020. In March of 2021, Pilgrim officially established a new classical Lutheran school and extended a divine call to The Rev. Andrew Lehman to be associate pastor and headmaster. In April of 2021, the people of Pilgrim voted to adopt a new name to correspond with a renewed historic Lutheran identity and new classical school: All Saints Lutheran Church and School. And in February of 2023, Fr. Jerome Leckband was called to be associate pastor and our second full-time teacher.

All Saints is a member of  The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a confessional fellowship with more than six thousand congregations and over two million members across the United States. The Missouri Synod also shares fellowship with 38 partner church bodies worldwide.

With the universal Christian Church, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod teaches and responds to the love of the Triune God: the Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; and the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God’s Word and Sacraments. The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.

All Saints Lutheran Church, together with the other congregations of the Missouri Synod, believes, teaches, and confesses the Biblical, orthodox teachings of the historic Church as they are confessed in the three ecumenical Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian) and contained in the Book of Concord.