Written by: Hayden Kobza
Morty Lloyd swayed with the music, hands clasped, as the praise team led worship inside the Chattanooga Church. The voices of singers and the sounds from instruments merged with the response of the congregation. Once the music faded and the members settled, Lloyd walked up to the pulpit and delivered his sermon, “Confronting Conflict,” a speech that spoke of the hardships in life, both personal and collective.
Lloyd knows firsthand about challenges. On Sundays, he is the senior pastor of the congregation that meets just off Bonny Oaks Drive, but come Monday morning, he’s also mayor of the City of Collegedale, Tenn., and the major gifts officer for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation (AOPA).
Early Life
He was born in 1964 at Chattanooga Memorial Hospital to Marilyn and Mort Lloyd. His father was one of Chattanooga’s first news anchors and worked at WRCB-TV and then WDEF-TV. His mother owned and managed a radio station in nearby Dalton, Ga.
Following the Watergate scandal, Mort Lloyd went into politics driven by the desire to make real change. The decision bore fruit when he won the Democratic nomination for Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District.
To celebrate his victory, Mort Lloyd flew his plane to his parents’ house in Shelbyville, Tenn. Usually, his son Morty would accompany him on these flights, but on that day, he was attending a party.
“It was August 20th, 1974,” Lloyd stated in an email to the Accent. “I was in Rome, Ga., at my niece’s birthday party. Otherwise, I would have been in the airplane with my father that day. We always flew together, so it was unusual for me not to be in the plane with him.”
Little did young Lloyd know that while his father was flying, the plane’s propeller broke off, sending its pilot to the ground. He died instantly.
“My sister received a call from my mother in Chattanooga notifying her of the accident and my father’s death,” Lloyd stated. “She kept it quiet and later told me as we were driving to Chattanooga. It was an awful day.”
Lloyd described how the incident still affects him to this day.
“As a 10-year-old child who lost his father and best friend, I was devastated. He and I mutually enjoyed aviation and flying together. It was a tough loss that I still feel 50 years later.”
While Lloyd still feels the pain of his father’s death, he believes that God protected him that day for a greater purpose.
“I know that God has a plan for everyone’s life. By His providence, God didn’t intend for me to be in the plane that day.”
Following his father’s death, Lloyd’s mother, Marilyn, took up her husband’s political torch, becoming the first woman in Tennessee elected to a full term in Congress. She served 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 until 1995.
Confronting Conflict
In his sermon on Sept. 29, 2024, Lloyd applied the weight of real-world struggles. “We’ve seen the stories in the news this week about the conflict going on and all the different school shootings — the violence that’s going on, the breakdown of the home and where that has led,” he said from the pulpit.
“Our lives are shaped by conflict,” he continued. “Some enjoy conflict. … Others avoid conflict altogether.” Lloyd balanced his sermon with humor and seriousness. He said light-heartedly about the background of Christians, “I mean, we are a bunch of mutts.”
Most of the congregation laughed or smirked. He continued, more seriously, “We all come from different backgrounds, different family history, education and work backgrounds.” Then, with even more diligence, he added, “We are a bunch of mutts. But God put this group of people together … and said, ‘I want you to become more like me.’”
Lloyd’s words resonated with Barbra Woods, an older woman who has been attending the church for 10 years.
“Because, like he said, we are mutt here — different backgrounds,” Woods said.
Woods is drawn to the mayor’s church because “it’s real,” she said. For her, “real” meant more than just authenticity; it was the connection to someone she considers a genuine, hands-on leader in the community.
“That’s why I’m here,” she said. “I love the Word. I love the Gospel.”
Over the years, Woods has volunteered with Lloyd, accompanying him on two mission trips—one to Haiti and another to Suriname, where they administered missionary work to the Tepu Indians.
While reminiscing about Haiti, Woods recalled that while she was working with the families, Lloyd worked with the airplanes.
“Pastor Morty worked in the hangar, you know, and he’s an airplane pilot. … You didn’t know?” She laughed, “Lord Jesus, he loves to fly!”
Love for the skies
In 2024, following the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a group of dedicated pilots led by Lloyd flew several missions, transporting essential supplies to hard-hit areas in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Ryan Byford, director of airport operations at the Collegedale Airport, said the pilots had a significant impact on areas devastated by the hurricane.
“[In] a lot of the communities that were affected, there [are] a lot of outlying areas that did not have access,” he said in an interview with the Accent. “Roads were closed; the only way in was through air – helicopters and stuff like that.”
Aviation has been a joy of Lloyd’s since childhood, as his wife, Joyce Lloyd, explained. “His dad was a pilot,” she said. “He started flying with his dad when he was two weeks old.”
Reflecting on this lifelong passion, Lloyd shared, “It’s always been in my blood. As a child, I always looked up at the sky, watching airplanes.”
Lloyd did not let the death of his father keep him from flying.
“God revealed to me that he made me passionate about aviation,” he said. “I know that my father would be thrilled that I’ve continued to pursue aviation, both personally and professionally.”
Lloyd spent many years as an air show director and coordinator. He started fundraising by doing Air Show Chattanooga from 1992 to 2005.
“We did it as a fundraiser for … the TC Thompson Children’s Hospital, now the Erlanger Children’s Hospital,” Lloyd said.
After Air Show Chattanooga, he became the major gifts officer with Mission Aviation Fellowship. He then served for two years as vice president of development with Mission Eurasia. Three years ago, he took his present job with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation.
His work with AOPA involves fundraising for high school aviation science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum. AOPA launched the project seven years ago, initially reaching 700 students.
“Two years ago, we had 600 high schools using our curriculum,” Lloyd noted. “Last school year, it jumped to 1,000, and this year, we expect to exceed 1,300 high schools.”
One of Lloyd’s favorite parts about working for AOPA is student testimonies. He told the story of a young student who grew up in Teterboro, N.J.
“He would ride his bike to the Teterboro airport and watch the jets fly over and said, ‘I’ll never be smart enough or rich enough to ever do that,’ but thanks to our curriculum and the scholarships that we offer … that young man is now on a path to become a professional pilot,” Lloyd said.
Political career
Lloyd was never set on getting into politics. After graduating in 1986 from Lipscomb University with a degree in theology, he explored various paths—working in the air show industry, owning a wedding business and pastoring a church.
Lloyd said he even resisted the influence of his mother to pursue a political career.
“My mother, for many years, tried to encourage me to get into politics,” he said, “and I told her that I didn’t feel called to get into politics at that point in my life.” In an interview with the Accent, his wife recollected the persistent push for her husband to enter politics.
“People have always tried to talk him into running for something,” said Joyce Lloyd. … “He was always like ‘no.’ But he did tell me years ago, ‘You know, people have always tried to get me to run for political office, but the only thing I might consider is running for the Collegedale commission.’”
Lloyd’s wife had tucked his reluctance into the back of her mind. So, when people urged him to run for the Collegedale Board of Commissioners, she recalled, “His first answer was ‘no.’ But when he came to talk to me about it, I said, ‘Well, remember when you said?’ And he replied, ‘You’re right.’”
Lloyd was elected as a City of Collegedale commissioner in 2022. He took office as mayor on Jan. 23, 2023, following his nomination by Vice Mayor Tim Johnson just a month after joining the Board of Commissioners. He succeeded Katie Lamb, who had served as mayor for eight years.
“I believe that being a pastor has prepared me for being mayor, he said.” “You’re not going to please all the people all the time. You’re going to make people mad. But I believe [that] as long as people know that you’re listening to them, it makes a difference.”
Collegedale’s future
Planning for the future is his most important concern for the city.
“There is a lot of development going on right now, and two years ago when I ran for commission, I made that my number one priority, because the decisions that are made concerning future development will shape this city forever,” Lloyd said. “Once a subdivision goes in, it’s there forever. Once a business goes in, if it’s a large business, it may be there for many [years].”
In an interview with the Accent, City Manager Wayon Hines talked about the impact that Lloyd wants to bring to his city.
“He has a fairly specific vision for the community he wants to live in,” Hines said. “He wants a very clean and safe community.”
In his long-term plan, the mayor wants to see quality developments both in housing and in a better downtown that raise the property and livability value of the city.
“We want to see families moving here. We want to see families enjoying our parks, families being able to walk to a restaurant and having a nice meal,” Lloyd said. “We’re looking at a five- to 10-year plan, and it’s a matter of finding a developer whose goals and mission align with ours.”
Hines believes that Lloyd has been successful in his vision. He talked about how this year has been “pretty historic” for the city regarding capital projects.
“We’ve made a major investment in the airport this year and received a grant … to remodel the interior at the library,” Hines said.
In addition to the airport and library, Hines said the City of Collegedale has set aside money for a Greenway expansion and rebuilding Imagination Station.
“We have a great working relationship, a pretty honest relationship … [and] anything we need to discuss, we discuss very directly, very honestly and openly,” Hines said.
Acknowledging that her husband’s life has been shaped by both legacy and loss, Joyce Lloyd said, “Adversity is just part of life, and I think he takes [adversity] in stride really well. Of course, on some level, adversity always upsets you a little bit … in that [at] heart, nobody likes it. He handles it well, and he, you know, tries to look for that root cause.”
Lloyd emphasized the significance of his responsibilities: “As a pastor, as a mayor, you’re making long-term decisions that affect your city [for years]. I take it very seriously. Being a mayor is a very weighty responsibility, but I enjoy it. I enjoy the impact that I can have in preparing Collegedale for its future.”
He then offered his perspective on work: “Go enjoy life! I can honestly say that I enjoy all three of my jobs. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do them. When the enjoyment goes away, it’s time to go do something different.”
