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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