Category: Faith

Dunwoody’s Kingswood United Methodist Church celebrates 50 years

by Dyana Bagby | Sep 17, 2018 | Dunwoody Reporter, Faith | 0

Kingswood United Methodist Church celebrated 50 years of ministry on Sunday, Sept. 9, with a special worship service, including former pastors and charter members. Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, leader of the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, officiated and preached during the service. The church held its first worship service on Sept. 8, 1968, in a classroom in what was then Peachtree High School. The congregation was chartered with 76 members, eight of whom attended the Sept. 9 service. Before moving to its current location at the corner of Tilly Mill Road and North Peachtree Road in...

Archdiocese to honor first responders at Buckhead church

by Evelyn Andrews | Sep 9, 2018 | Buckhead Reporter, Faith | 0

The Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta will celebrate its annual “Blue Mass,” a service that honors all public safety officials and first responders, at a Buckhead church on Sept. 11. The service will be held at 10 a.m. at The Cathedral of Christ the King, which serves as the mother church for the Atlanta Archdiocese. The church is located at 2699 Peachtree Road. The Mass has been held in Atlanta each year since 2015 to honor the service of public safety officials and first responders and to remember those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks, the release said....

Unitarian Universalist church proposes expansion as interest grows

by Evelyn Andrews | Aug 19, 2018 | Faith, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

The expansion of a Unitarian Universalist church in Sandy Springs is just part of the faith’s metro Atlanta growth at a time when some other religious congregations are struggling or shutting down. The Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation, located at 1025 Mount Vernon Highway N.W., is part of a Boston-headquartered religion that teaches from all major world religions and allows members to read any religious text. The city Planning Commission recently recommended approval of the church’s request to expand its footprint by 2,400 square feet to expand the sanctuary and build a fellowship hall. “One of our huge strengths is...

Prayer vigil at Plaza Fiesta brings awareness to families, children detained at border

by Dyana Bagby | Jul 19, 2018 | Brookhaven Reporter, Faith, Slideshow, Top Stories | 0

A small group of people gathered July 19 near the children’s play area at Plaza Fiesta on Buford Highway for an interfaith prayer vigil for the families and children of those detained at the border by federal authorities and for those who have been deported. Pastors from several metro Atlanta churches led more than a dozen people in prayer for the families being separated and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The names of dozens of people recently deported were also read aloud. “This is affecting us all,” Rev. Fabio Sotelo of St. Bede’s Episcopal Church said...

Robin’s Nest: Love reveals itself in tender mercies

by Robin Conte | Jun 25, 2018 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Commentary, Dunwoody Reporter, Faith, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

I saw a movie many years ago called “Tender Mercies.” I don’t remember much about it except that Robert Duvall was in it and it took place somewhere in the Southwest. I recently googled it out of curiosity and learned that Duvall played a has-been country music star in the film and won an Academy Award for his performance. But what stuck with me for all these decades was the title. It haunted me because I think it speaks to what we yearn for so often in our human condition…tender mercies. We want to be loved, we want to...

Church ‘adopts’ police officers to show support for service

by Dyana Bagby | Jun 10, 2018 | Brookhaven Reporter, Faith, Public Safety, Slideshow, Top Stories | 0

Sgt. Jake Kissel did not think many officers of the Brookhaven Police Department would be willing to participate in the Adopt-A-Cop ministry started last year by Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church. Those in law enforcement tend to be private individuals, he said, and he predicted not many would want to be “adopted” by a local family that would promise to pray for them every day, send them letters of encouragement, write them emails or invite them to their home. “Now to see the connection between the officers and the parishioners … it is really blowing my mind,”...

Church seeks to preserve its 150-year African-American history

by Evelyn Andrews | Jun 8, 2018 | Buckhead Reporter, Faith, Slideshow, Top Stories | 0

A small church founded by former slaves in the late 1800s is preparing to save its unique history as part of Buckhead’s African-American life during a renovation of the sanctuary building and cemetery. New Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church was first established in 1869 and has been in its current building since 1936. It’s preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary next year. The Buckhead Heritage Society is partnering with the project due to the church’s significance as one of the last remaining buildings that marks the African-American history of the area. “It really is all that is left of...

Local faith leaders join in Atlanta unity prayer

by John Ruch | May 22, 2018 | Buckhead Reporter, Faith, Politics, Top Stories | 0

A group of Buckhead faith leaders, inspired by former Mayor Sam Massell, convinced 15 congregations to join in a common prayer for “Atlanta Together” unity on the May 19-20 weekend. A total of 30 faith leaders from those 15 houses of worship signed onto the call for the prayer. The congregations were mostly in Buckhead, but included two historic Civil Rights bastions: The Temple, a Midtown synagogue, and Ebenezer Baptist Church, Martin Luther King Jr.’s congregation in Sweet Auburn. While Massell said he hoped more congregations would sign on, he called the event “tremendously successful” in terms of thousands...

Buckhead faith leaders, ex-mayor call for Atlanta unity prayer weekend

by John Ruch | May 8, 2018 | Buckhead Reporter, Faith, Politics, Top Stories | 0

A group of Buckhead faith leaders, inspired by former Mayor Sam Massell, are asking congregations citywide to join in a common prayer for “Atlanta Together” unity on the May 19-20 weekend. The dozen houses of worship signed on so far are largely Buckhead-based, but include two historic Civil Rights bastions: The Temple, a Midtown synagogue, and Ebenezer Baptist Church, Martin Luther King Jr.’s congregation in Sweet Auburn. To Massell, the effort is another facet of the “Atlanta Together” theme he has pushed since last fall’s close and bruising election between now Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Buckhead’s Mary Norwood,...

Sandy Springs council OKs replacing church with houses

by John Ruch | Apr 21, 2018 | Faith, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

A Baptist church in Sandy Springs will be replaced with two houses priced at $1.5 million to $2 million each after gaining City Council approval on April 17. The Metropolitan Baptist Church at 4795 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road is shutting down after more than 40 years as its attendance has dwindled to only seven members. The 2-acre property near the Buckhead and Brookhaven borders went on the market for $1.485 million last fall. The redevelopment will be carried out by Eddie Levin of Sandy Springs-based Design Construction by Craftmaster. The houses will front on Peachtree-Dunwoody...

Zoning board approves variances for Brookhaven church expansion

by Dyana Bagby | Mar 4, 2018 | Brookhaven Reporter, Faith, Real Estate | 0

The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted Feb. 21 to approve two variances for Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church and its school. The two variances allow the church to reduce its parking from 337 spaces to 274 spaces and to increase its lot coverage from 35 percent to 60 percent as part of its school expansion and addition of a new rectory. OLA, located at 1320 Hearst Drive, received approval in December from the City Council for three special land use permits as part of its expansion, which will add 28 more students for a total of...

‘Dead Man Walking’ author, local death penalty opponents speak at forum

by John Ruch | Feb 16, 2018 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Faith, News, Sandy Springs Reporter, Slideshow, Top Stories | 1

Sister Helen Prejean, the famed author of “Dead Man Walking,” joined prominent local death penalty opponents in a Feb. 15 forum to highlight a new book on the subject published by the Buckhead-based Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. Prejean told a big audience gathered at Sandy Springs’ Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church said the death penalty violates the Christian Gospel by saying “we’re going to imitate the worst kind of violence.” Bishop Robert Wright, who conceived the idea of the essay book, “A Case for Life,” led the discussion, which included Rev. Wilton Gregory, the Roman Catholic archbishop for Atlanta; former...

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