Atlanta, Georgia, has long been a transportation hub. Its original name was Terminus, signifying the end of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. For several decades, major interstate highways have crossed and surrounded the city. And the joke in the 1960s was that if you died and went to heaven you had to fly through Atlanta first.

That traditional role as a transportation and commercial center has reached proportions far beyond what was generally envisioned even as recently as the late 1980s. The explosive growth of the metropolitan area, including the expansion of the major airport (that it is now the world’s busiest), the influx of numerous ethnicities and cultures and religions, the significant homosexual community, and, of course, the ubiquitous traffic headaches, have created a significantly different setting than the one into which I was born more than half a century ago. Atlanta represents the New South—a “brave new South”—whose character is more urban and cosmopolitan than it is traditionally Southern. It is to this metropolis of more than 5 million souls that the RPCNA’s newest congregation seeks to minister.

Wrapping our arms around this ministry area will entail considerable stretching, and we look forward to the day when there will be numerous RP congregations throughout greater Atlanta. At the moment, we have two foci of ministry. Northminster RPC is located in Alpharetta, Ga., to the north of Atlanta. Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery formally organized the congregation on April 24. Our ruling elder is Bob Shapiro, who served as editor-in-chief for Presbyterian & Reformed News, an independent news source that covered the Presbyterian Church in America. Our deacon is Keith Ling of Alpharetta. A total of 86 people from 10 states attended the organization services. We have 30 members, and an average attendance of 28.

In addition to Sabbath morning worship, there is a weekly study on the doctrine of the covenant, a ladies’ Bible study, and a monthly prayer meeting, with future plans for a catechism class for the numerous young people of our congregation.

We reach out to the surrounding area, particularly via door-to-door canvassing. In 2009, I knocked on 1,229 doors and distributed 1,166 brochures about the church. Thirty-three foreign countries were represented among those whom I visited. The most popular religious preference was Roman Catholic, with Baptist coming in second. There is a heavy concentration of people from India, resulting in a significant number of Hindus in the area. In late May and early June, Stephen McCollum from the RPC of Ireland joined me in going door-to-door. Over the course of two weeks, we went to 2,272 houses, distributing 2,135 brochures and 646 tracts. We finally saw the first fruit of all this effort—a young man who attended church on June 6. There are others who have expressed a measure of interest, and about whom we remain hopeful.

Besides the northern suburbs, our second focus is Atlanta itself. For more than a year, we have had an outreach in the inner city. That ministry that started as a Bible study on the campus of Atlanta Metropolitan College and then at a couple of churches, and over the past couple of months has migrated to an outdoor setting (see accompanying article). This remains a difficult ministry, with numerous vicissitudes, and we covet your prayers that it would continue and stabilize.

We in Atlanta are grateful for the support and encouragement we have received from the RPCNA. And we hereby issue a cordial invitation for our fellow Reformed Presbyterians to visit us. Y’all come!

Introducing Frank & Penny Smith

Born in Atlanta, Frank J. Smith grew up in the South. After college, he moved with his family to Westchester County, N.Y., where his father planted a congregation for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

Following graduation from seminary, Frank Smith did a year’s internship in northern New Jersey before returning home to assist his father. Thus began a father-son ministerial team that lasted for 13 years until the elder pastor passed away.

Besides ministry in New York, Frank Smith has pastored in the coal-mining area of southwestern Virginia and in rural Wisconsin. He and his wife moved to the Atlanta area in late 2008, and he became stated supply of the RPCNA mission work there.

Pastor Smith graduated from Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, Ga.). He earned his M.Div. and Th.M. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. His Ph.D. is from the Graduate Center at City University of New York. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (D.D.) from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the USA in conjunction with the National Clergy Council, for his work in ecclesiastical journalism and interchurch relations. Among his books are The History of the Presbyterian Church in America: The Silver Anniversary Edition; Worship in the Presence of God (co-editor and contributor); and Tales from the City: Real Stories of Urban Christian Ministry (editor), which detailed the ministry of an interdenominational, multi-ethnic group in Atlanta. His recent articles have focused on the history of science and the doctrine of worship.

Dr. Smith is the founding editor of Presbyterian International News Service (PINS). He served two terms as president of the Coeburn (Va.) Ministerial Association, is on the board of advisors for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, and is a contributing editor for The Confessional Presbyterian, a scholarly journal.

He is married to the former Penelope A. Wild, a British lady with a distinguished career in the Royal Air Force and with British Aerospace. The Smiths have a son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren, with one on the way.

Where Folks Know They Are Sinners The following is adapted from a recent email from Penny Smith to the ladies in the congregation.

Thank you all for your prayers for our downtown ministry. I thought you may enjoy some of the details of our experience last Lord’s Day on the corner of Kennedy and Brawley.

As you know, we have been ministering to residents of this drug-and-prostitution-wracked slum known as the Bluff for eight weeks. We were led to go there by Mary, to whom we have been ministering for over a year. As our Bible studies in church buildings had not given us the response we had prayed for and as it appeared to be the Lord’s will that we discontinue that effort, Mary insisted that we needed to go to the heart of the problem, “out to the highways and byways,” as she kept saying, quoting our Lord.

Mary suffered a stroke that left her in a coma for 28 days—an event that helped deliver her from addiction to heroin. She constantly encourages others with addictions to get themselves into treatment centers. Mary’s now-deceased husband was the drug kingpin in the Bluff; so even though Mary now lives in the old Imperial Hotel, which has been turned into low-income apartments, almost everyone down there knows her and knows the difference being clean has made to her. When she has accompanied us, she loudly gives praise to God and calls everyone to come and hear the gospel.

Driving into this neighborhood, comprised of broken-down houses, boarded-up buildings, and streets littered with trash, including old mattresses and broken furniture, is somewhat breathtaking. Folks, including some homeless people who have taken up residence in abandoned buildings, and heroin-addicted men and women are hanging around in groups on street corners or on porches, looking menacingly at us as we pass by, which is very intimidating. Their reaction is not surprising, as it has been made clear to us a couple of times by residents that they are suspicious that we may be police informants. When Mary is with us, however, as we drive to the burned-out church, park and get out of the car, it is less intimidating than when we have only people from the northern suburbs with us.

This past Lord’s Day, Elder Bob Shapiro, Stephen McCollum (on a mission team from the RPC of Ireland), Frank and I, along with Mary, enjoyed an exciting and blessed time. All day the weather had been stormy, and as we were driving in and out of rain for the 50-minute drive down Route 400 we wondered whether, for the first time, we would be unable to meet outdoors. Naturally, as we were driving, I was praying that the Lord would divide the rain clouds and give us a clear patch of sky so that the gospel could continue to be proclaimed, even though I knew that, in His providence, it might not be His will.

As we arrived and started talking to folks, inviting them to come to hear the Word of God, we were warmed by the reception we received. We split up to talk to people, with Bob going in one direction, Stephen in another, Frank and I in another. Mary was hugging many of her old friends, pleading with them to “come to church” on the steps of the old burned-out church building. We caused quite a stir at that intersection, which is why we are coming to be recognized and even anticipated. One of the men, Dyck, a Vietnam veteran who has attended a couple of times, was extremely excited to see us again. He had brought his friend Cass along, having told him about Frank’s teaching and our personal interest in him and his family. A group of men that Frank and I approached said that they weren’t interested in attending; but a couple of them thanked us for coming each week, and one even said that it’s great that we “come down from the north” to preach to “poor folks like us.” The fact that he knew that we come down from the north shows that word about us has gotten around.

As we walked over to the steps to begin, I looked up to see a patch of blue sky and a few white fluffy clouds overhead. I was so excited, and thankful that the Lord had given us a dry patch. I must have had the biggest smile on my face! We began by singing a couple of hymns as loudly as we could to attract people, and we soon had a total of 14 in attendance, the biggest number so far. Stephen led the study from Ephesians 2. He used our white board to emphasize his main points, and he did a superb job, especially as he interacted with various members of the group as they candidly sought clarifications and asked questions. He also did well as he had to deal with loud, souped-up engine noise from cars and motor bikes (not to mention the extremely loud rap music from open car windows) as they went by. One or two of our group wandered off during the study, notably when a fight broke out around the corner. A young woman, Nakisha, for whom we have been praying, approached us during the study. She didn’t want to stay but asked if we would continue to pray for her. She wants to get off drugs and stay out of jail.

As Stephen’s presentation was coming to a close, a gentle rain started to fall and I wondered if we were going to be rained out before we could sing the twenty-third Psalm and pray at the end. However, the rain eased off again and we were able to complete the time as planned. Bob offered the closing prayer after asking for requests, which varied from a newborn grandchild having already had one operation and needing more, to the most common one of being relieved from addiction.

After the study several of the group stayed around to talk to us, including Melissa who, like Nakisha, desires to be released from her bondage to addiction. One thing that is so noticeable in the Bluff is that, unlike the ritzy suburbs, most folks know that they are sinners in need of a Savior. This makes it a privilege to minister to them.

As we drove away from the area it started to rain again, and shortly thereafter the heavens opened and it poured so heavily that visibility was drastically reduced and road conditions became dangerous. In our rear view mirrors we could see black, thunderous clouds receding into the distance as we headed out of the city.