Last year, the 67-year-old pastor started a church to serve fellow Zo people from the Myanmar region. He worked outside of the church helping new immigrants, who were mostly refugees, navigate American society.
Lianchinkhup Taithul died Sunday when his car stopped for unknown reasons and was struck by a train on North Clarendon Avenue.
Rev. George Tatro hasn’t yet heard where his friend was headed that night, but he figures he must’ve been off to assist someone.
“He was always on the run helping people,” Tatro said Wednesday. “He was always working.”
Tatro is pastor of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, which, along with Peachtree Presbyterian, helped get the new Zo Presbyterian Church off the ground in Stone Mountain.
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Tatro was fascinated by Taithul, who he said was trained at Princeton Theological Seminary and took pains to translate The Bible into the Zo language in addition to his work with refugees.
The Zo congregation, which has about 70 members, is devastated.
“It was a huge loss,” Tatro said.
An associate minister is expected to possibly take over for now in Taithul’s absence.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday at noon at Memorial Drive Presbyterian, 5140 Memorial Drive, Stone Mountain.
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