Peachtree Presbyterian Church
Encyclopedia
Peachtree Presbyterian Church is a megachurch
in Atlanta, Georgia
, USA. The largest congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
, its membership in 2010 was approximately 9,000.
Peachtree began as a Sunday school for children in Atlanta founded in 1910. The church itself was chartered on 3 November 1919.
The original Church was a gray granite building built in 1926 at the corner of Peachtree Road and Mathieson Drive.
The church grew steadily, and moved to its present location at 3434 Roswell Road in the Buckhead area of Atlanta in May 1960, where the church campus now covers 26 acres (105,218.4 m²).
In September 1999 the church opened a large, modern recreation center include two basketball courts.
The Gym at Peachtree offers a range of fitness and recreational programs, which the church sees as an integral part of the ministry.
By 1992 the church had the largest Presbyterian congregation in the USA. The senior pastor, Rev. W. Frank Harrington, was runner-up in the election for moderator of the then-2.9-million member denomination.
The Senior Pastor since 2000 has been Dr. Vic Pentz.
Pentz, who comes from Southern California, has had varied experience before joining Peachtree including a chaplaincy to the crew of three Space Shuttle
launches at Cape Canaveral
, running an evangelistic beach ministry to Southern California surfers and speaking at conferences around the world.
Pentz and Peachtree are considered conservatives in the theological spectrum of the PC(USA); Pentz and several other leaders of evangelical PC(USA) churches have proposed setting up alternate structures for conservative congregations if a proposed amendment to the denomination's Book of Order passes permitting homosexual ordination. It is unclear whether the congregation would consider leaving the PC(USA), as other evangelical congregations have done in the late 2000s in opposition to denominational leaders' attitudes supporting gays and lesbians.
In September 2010 members raised more than $60,000 to buy the ingredients for 325,000 meals for starving children, at 19 cents a meal, which they prepared and packed for delivery to Haiti.
Megachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
in Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, USA. The largest congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Presbyterian Church (USA)
The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
, its membership in 2010 was approximately 9,000.
Peachtree began as a Sunday school for children in Atlanta founded in 1910. The church itself was chartered on 3 November 1919.
The original Church was a gray granite building built in 1926 at the corner of Peachtree Road and Mathieson Drive.
The church grew steadily, and moved to its present location at 3434 Roswell Road in the Buckhead area of Atlanta in May 1960, where the church campus now covers 26 acres (105,218.4 m²).
In September 1999 the church opened a large, modern recreation center include two basketball courts.
The Gym at Peachtree offers a range of fitness and recreational programs, which the church sees as an integral part of the ministry.
By 1992 the church had the largest Presbyterian congregation in the USA. The senior pastor, Rev. W. Frank Harrington, was runner-up in the election for moderator of the then-2.9-million member denomination.
The Senior Pastor since 2000 has been Dr. Vic Pentz.
Pentz, who comes from Southern California, has had varied experience before joining Peachtree including a chaplaincy to the crew of three Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
launches at Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
, running an evangelistic beach ministry to Southern California surfers and speaking at conferences around the world.
Pentz and Peachtree are considered conservatives in the theological spectrum of the PC(USA); Pentz and several other leaders of evangelical PC(USA) churches have proposed setting up alternate structures for conservative congregations if a proposed amendment to the denomination's Book of Order passes permitting homosexual ordination. It is unclear whether the congregation would consider leaving the PC(USA), as other evangelical congregations have done in the late 2000s in opposition to denominational leaders' attitudes supporting gays and lesbians.
In September 2010 members raised more than $60,000 to buy the ingredients for 325,000 meals for starving children, at 19 cents a meal, which they prepared and packed for delivery to Haiti.