Bethany Primitive Baptist Church

Website: www.bethanypbc.org

Services: 10:30 a.m.

Worship Style: Simple -- 25 minutes of song, 45 minutes of preaching

Average Sunday Attendance: 150-200

Minister: Gus Harter

Denomination Affiliation: Primitive Baptist

Mission statement:

Preaching the Gospel for the comfort and encouragement and instruction of God's people.

History:

On Sept. 26, 1926, 26 men and women constituted Bethany Church. Membership more than doubled in the first year. In 1927, the congregation relocated to a new brick meeting house on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta, then sold it in 1979 and moved to Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker, where the church remained for 29 years. Members left Tucker in 2009 and built a new church in Suwanee, which was completed in November 2010.

Pastor's path:

The Florida native completed undergraduate studies at Southeastern Bible College in Alabama, where he began serving as pastor of a small Methodist church. He continued his education at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, where he first attended a Primitive Baptist Church and decided he had found his spiritual home.

The pastor served churches in Kentucky for two years, then in Florida for seven more before moving to the Atlanta area with his wife and five children. Harter became pastor at Bethany in November 1971, where he served for 29 years.

In 1994, the Harters had five adult children and 21 grandchildren when they felt God prompting them to adopt. By 1998, Harter and his wife, Betty Jo, had adopted 13 children ages 3 to 16. The pastor had developed a desire to help Primitive Baptist churches in the Philippines, and made regular trips there to work with ministers and congregations. Just a few months after resigning as Bethany's pastor in May 2000, he moved his family to Manila.

Harter worked with local ministers to plant churches in seven major islands.

After adopting six more Filipino children, the Harters came back to the U.S. in 2008. He served several months as co-pastor of a Texas church before heading back to Atlanta and re-joining the staff at Bethany, which was in need of a pastor.

At 73, the Harters still have 12 children at home -- the youngest is 8. Keeping up with the children is keeping him young: "I have to be young, I don't have a choice," the pastor said.

Ministries:

The congregation enjoys lunch together two Sundays a month, and has a cookout on the fourth Sunday each month.

The focus is on family at Bethany, where children attend worship with their parents. Rather than having Sunday school, "we teach the parents to teach the children," Harter said.

The seven-acre church campus includes a large recreational area for children and a small house that is used by visiting ministers or missionaries who want to spend the night.

Thoughts from the pastor:

Seldom a Sunday goes by without visitors, said the pastor, who explained that the word primitive means original.

"We worship like they did when they came over from England. We're very fundamental, and not charismatic" like many believe of the Primitive Baptists. "The closest to us theologically is a reformed Presbyterian church."

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