Keith Moore does not like boredom.

That's good, since he's got plenty to do right now. In his 14th year as pastor of Braelinn Baptist Church in Peachtree City, he finds himself and his congregation in the midst of a host of programs and plans, not the least of which is the recent purchase of 53 acres on the other side of town for the church's eventual relocation.

The current campus at the corner of Crosstown Drive and Robinson Road has room to grow, but not a lot. Since moving there in August of 1994, the church has grown from an average Sunday morning attendance of about 400 to 950, with two morning services needed to accommodate the crowd.

So the church started looking into the possibility of relocation more three years ago. After a vote of the congregation in the summer of 1998 made it official, church leaders began searching for land.

“We looked at the growth of our church and the area, our other ministries we want to be involved in, and all of the needs we want to address in the community,” Moore said last week. “I told the church we could grow some more and prosper here, but we can see the end. So our people made the decision to take care of the generations that come after us.”

The Braelinn property is for sale, as it has been for about 18 months. The church marketed it alone at first, but now a commercial broker has been retained.

The new land the congregation eventually settled on was not on the market when the search began. But when word got out that the family that owned it was interested in selling, one thing led to another until Braelinn signed on the dotted line for “$1 million and some change,” as Moore put it.

Actually, two tracts make up the proposed site, which fronts Ga. Highway 74 on the west side. About eight acres was owned by Pathway Communities, including a small portion that is in the city limits of Peachtree City.

Pathway did not want the land, which included an old cemetery. The church jumped at the chance to own it, however, because of its historical value.

The vast majority of Braelinn's new property is within the town limits of Tyrone. There is access to Dogwood Trail on the north, Moore said, but the church's land does not extend to the corner of Dogwood and Hwy. 74.

Church leaders have met informally with Tyrone officials, but no official applications have yet been made. “We wanted to let them know what we wanted to do, and ask them in general if it was doable,” Moore said.

There is no set timetable for relocation, which Moore said depends mainly on resources. The current property does not have to be sold before the church moves, he added, and a team of church leaders is considering possibilities for the property in case it does not sell and becomes a secondary campus for the congregation.

“I'd love to see us up there [on the new land] two years from now, at Easter,” he said. “But that's a personal dream more than anything.”

If that is realized, it would be a long way from when the infant church met in Huddleston Elementary School during its first two years of existence, followed by more than five years at McIntosh High School.

Now Moore stands each week in front of people who have come from places like Newnan, Fairburn and Jonesboro. The new location will have a big advantage as far as accessibility, he says. “We wanted a location where we could have room for 3,000 on Sunday and still be a good neighbor.”

If current plans hold up, the new property will be bordered on the south by a new office building at the corner of Hwy. 74 and Peachtree Parkway, just north of the Kedron Village shopping center.

The master plan is in development now, and very little if anything has been set in stone for the new site. A likely approach would be the construction of an initial phase with a multipurpose building, hopefully with about twice the capacity of the current one, to be followed later by a large, more traditional sanctuary, classroom buildings and recreational areas.

But all of that could be a long way off. “I could pastor here another 20 years and not see a lot of this,” Moore noted as he ran his finger across a conceptual drawing entailing all of these ideas.

Moore makes no secret of the fact that the incredible growth of Fayette and surrounding counties played a major part in the church's plans.

“We went to the Atlanta Regional Commission and said, `Tell us about the south side [of Atlanta],'” he said. “They told us, `The whole world's coming to you.'”

The church also needed to make a preemptive sort of move while affordable land was still available, he added, since it is becoming more scarce in Peachtree City and surrounding areas all of the time.

The church has been contacted by a number of prospective tenants for its current land in the past year, such as other churches meeting in schools like Braelinn once did. Other prospects have included private schools, nonprofit organizations and even Peachtree City itself. The Recreation Department has taken a good look at the property as its own facilities and services become more and more in demand.

Moving from the southern end of the city to the northern tip is not as drastic as one might expect. “It's just five miles,” said Moore. “We wanted a good location without moving far enough to change the complexion of our congregation.”

Once the move does take shape, the church will have more space not only on Sunday but for ongoing concerns like the Braelinn Community Services, an outreach that meets a number of physical and financial needs for local residents and something Moore thinks is as important as anything the church is doing in the community.

The pastor acknowledges the scope of the church's commitment, but he also notes the faith of his congregation that has made it possible, and says they all look forward to what the next few years hold. “We're pretty pumped about it."

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page