THE HISTORY OF
OLD BUCKHEAD HOLINESS CHURCH
OUR BEGINNING
In the month of August 2012, we were evangelizing. We were asked to come Pastor a church in our hometown. To be honest, at first, we didn’t want to take the position because pastoring comes with great responsibility. We took a couple of weeks and prayed about it. Meanwhile, we were preaching a revival in Eatonton, Ga. The few people that had inquired about us being Pastors come out to our revival in Eatonton that week. That is where we got to know some of them. After much prayer and consideration, we took the position to Pastor in a very beautiful building that set in the ideal place right in the center of Madison.
It being our hometown we had already evangelized the hospitals, nursing homes & jail. When we first started pastoring the church, there were less than 20 attending, but it didn’t take long for the church to start growing. The church would sit 250. I know it isn’t all about numbers, but it is a good feeling when people start coming out. After 9 weeks of being there, we were packed. I will never forget how my heart was so overwhelmed to see the church packed, people giving their heart to God. I would say by this time, I had baptized over 100 people. I will never forget on a Sunday morning after church, after the 9th week, a wonderful service with full altars, people just praying. I was pulled into the office by the deacon board, and the owner of the building told me I was no longer needed there. I was fired. I asked them, “where did I go wrong?” They replied to me, “You draw the wrong type of people. I asked them, “did Jesus not die for all?” Besides, what’s the wrong type of people? They replied, “poor people.” My heart was crushed that day; I didn’t know how I would break the news to my family. The word had gotten out, not by me, about what had happened, and people of the congregation flooded my phone with calls about what they could do. We didn’t have the money to buy a building or rent one. There were over 100 people gathered in my backyard that evening and we had church. It didn’t stop there; they continued to gather there for services for a few weeks until we gutted our basement and turned it into a place of worship. We averaged between 100-120 in the basement for 7 months. The county officials got a hold of us and told us we were not allowed to hold services in the basement of our home any longer, even though we had everything up to code. If we didn’t stop, I could be arrested. I asked them to help us find a place to rent.
OUR JOURNEY
In April,2013 we had a store front on Ward Rd in Madison open to us. The Lord continued to bless us, and we continued to grow. After 1 year, without notice, the owner of the store front called to let me know our lease was up and gave us a week to get out. Once again, I felt helpless and went to the Lord in prayer, telling the Lord if it’s His will for this group to be together to provide us with a place to worship. Meanwhile, I never said a word to my wife or church family. I didn’t want to spread fear! Just so happened, that Sunday night was our communion and foot wash service. I will never forget that Sunday night, we had guest Bro Johnny and Rebecca Johnston, and I thought to myself when we do our foot wash, they won’t stay, they’d be gone. But to my surprise, they joined right in with us, what wonderful people! At the end of the service, everyone was leaving, they told me they had something to talk to me about and it was that God had sent them to give us a church building.
OUR STORY
This was just another demonstration of how God will provide! From the basement of our home our name was Madison House of Refuge. We were given the Old Buckhead Holiness church building at 1041 Saffold Rd in Buckhead. After our move, and transitioning to our new place, everyone in the community knew it be the Old Buckhead
Holiness Church, so we thought it to be wise to continue with the name that church was known for, not to mention, and I don’t think it is any coincidence that I’m a 3 rd generation Holiness preacher on both sides. We are currently residing at The Old Buckhead Holiness Church, worshipping the Lord, growing and waiting patiently on the Lord for our next move.