By CAROLYN CARY
Contributing Writer

It took the cooperation of four Fayette County Baptist churches, telemarketing, 14,000 phone calls, door-to-door surveys, a billboard and several thousand direct-mail pieces to create the Greentree Church in Tyrone.

On its birth Sunday, Sept. 24, 1989, nearly 200 persons were in attendance, making it the largest church start-up in the history of the Georgia Baptist Convention at that time.

The stated purpose of its nearly 300 members: “We are intent on diligently loving and obeying God and deliberately loving and reaching people in order that we all become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.”

Its philosophy says that they are interested in people, that people from every walk of life matter to God, so they matter to Greentree.

The name “Greentree” was chosen because of the positive response of the people - each part of a tree is useful, the roots, wood, bark, leaves and limbs. Together they provide shade, fruit, beauty and oxygen that continues life.

The pastor is David Hammonds, who was born and reared in North Carolina, where his father was a pastor. He is a graduate of Appalachia State Teaching College, where he majored in Industrial Arts. The next four years were spent in the Air Force.

On Aug. 16, 1972, he felt the definite pull into ministry; he was 24 years old at the time. He entered Liberty University, graduating in 1978 with a degree in Pastoral Science.

After serving churches in both North Carolina and Georgia, he arrived at Greentree Church in February 1997.

Pastor Hammonds and wife, Sandra, have been married since 1973. She is an administrative assistant at Chick-Fil-A, and they are the parents of two daughters: Andrea, who is married and lives in Memphis with her husband and their 1-year-old, Ali; and Alison, who is a student at Arlington Christian School.

Worship services on Sunday morning are at 9:30 a.m. for Bible Study and 10:45 a.m. for the regular worship service. On Wednesday evenings, there is a fellowship meal at 5:45 p.m. and then Bible studies for youth and adults.

The church is located at 414 Jenkins Rd., Tyrone. It has a big lake in front, complete with ducks. For information, call 770-969-0255.

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