Austell First United Methodist Church

Website: www.blessaustell.com

Sunday service: 11 a.m.

Worship style: Relaxed traditional

Average Sunday attendance: 50

Minister: Rev. Brett DeHart

Denomination affiliation: United Methodist

Mission statement:

“Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,” with a specific vision to “BLESS AUSTELL.”

History:

The church was organized in 1883, and the first building was constructed in 1887. The current sanctuary was built in 1949 at a cost to church members of $100,000.

Pastor’s path:

The Florida State graduate worked as a sportscaster after college, and then spent 10 years in the business world before answering the call to ministry in 2003. Part of the life exploration process for DeHart, before entering ministry, was a run against then 6th district congressman Johnny Isakson in 2000.

DeHart graduated from Emory’s Candler School of Theology in 2006, spent two years at Underwood UMC in northwest Atlanta and three years as an associate minister at Roswell UMC before taking the pastoral position at Austell First in 2008.

Ministries:

The church was recognized by the Austell Business Association as Business of the Year in 2009, the first time a church had been given that honor in the association's 50-year history.

The award came on the heels of the September 2009 flood that devastated a third of the homes in Austell. Many church members took part in the area restoration, by volunteering or becoming staff members of the North Georgia Conference disaster relief warehouse in Austell.

The church is a partner in education with next-door neighbor Austell Primary School, a public school for children in kindergarten and first grade, and Austell Intermediate, for grades second through fifth. DeHart said church members fill in by staffing fall festivals, Donuts with Dad, and other school events that need volunteers.

Since August 2010, members have sent backpacks filled with food home on the weekends with 100 children at the two schools. On Mondays, the children return the backpacks, which are refilled and sent back for the next weekend. The initiative, called Backpack BLESSing, is an effort to help the children who receive food at school during the week also have something to eat on the weekends.

The Austell church is the site of a free Christian preschool run by Feed My Lambs. The 40 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled attend Monday through Friday and get breakfast and lunch each day.

Thoughts from the pastor:

“We want to be the hands and feet of Christ in our community and be a catalyst for community transformation. But there’s no way for us to do it all. We’re a smaller church with limited resources, but we can get the ball rolling, spark some things and inspire and engage others by being a leader in our community.”