Legacy of Church Planting

By Jeff

Just off Harbins Road in Norcross sits a building where the Iglesia Bautista Belen worships every Sunday. In fact, there are three other buildings on that property as well. One houses a Chinese church, another a Korean church, and another sits empty.

Here’s why this matters. Barb Newman and I worshipped at Iglesia Bautista Belen this past Sunday. We were guests along with representatives from Peachtree Corners Baptist to celebrate their new space. A couple people from DBC's facilities crew worship with their families at this church as well.

This Spanish speaking congregation started six or so years ago as a Sunday School class at Peachtree Corners Baptist. For about a year the teacher, now pastor, Carlos Salaverria led a group of one most Sundays. Eventually it grew and formed its own church.

Strangely enough, Peachtree Corners Baptist was also started from a Sunday School class at Dunwoody. According to www.pcbonline.com , Dunwoody Baptist voted in 1980 to commission 15 church members to form the Peachtree Corners Mission. They met in the home of the DBC Missions Pastor every Sunday night until DBC purchased a small trailer on some donated land where Peachtree Corners Baptist now sits.

From that new church start, Peachtree Corners grew, eventually launching a new Spanish speaking Sunday School class which has now become Iglesia Bautista Belen.

We were honored as the spiritual “grandparents” of this growing church and given much thanks for having the vision to launch Peachtree Corners Baptist. This was a good reminder of what we’ve been called to do as followers of Jesus. We have been called to bear fruit. In a day when many churches would rather “franchise” their own congregations through mult-site services, it was good to see DBC’s legacy of planting independent congregations who then repeat the process.

Thought you might find this interesting. Now when you drive down Peachtree Corners circle, you’ll see some of the fruit of DBC Missions over the years. And, should you ever be on Harbins Road, look out for Iglesia Bautista Belen.