October 14, 2026
POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — Burnt Hickory Baptist Church broke ground Sunday, Oct. 11, on a 2,400-seat worship center as part of its “All In” initiative, a project church leaders say will provide needed space for a congregation that is already holding five Sunday morning worship services in two auditoriums.
The new worship center will provide additional capacity for worship and ministry, while renovations to the existing worship center will create additional classroom space for LifeGroups and other ministry opportunities. The project also includes more than 160 additional parking spaces.
Senior Pastor Matt Petty said the project is about far more than additional space.
“This is not a building project. It is a kingdom impact project,” Petty said.
“It is about making room to share the gospel with those who do not yet know Christ, to disciple believers of every generation, and to invest faithfully in our community and the nations.
“This new multipurpose worship center will give more capacity for worship and ministry. More than that, it will make room for the more than 100,000 people within a 5-mile radius of our church to hear about Jesus.”
Alan Folsom, senior adult pastor at Burnt Hickory, said the need for additional space reflects growth throughout the church.
“This past year, we welcomed approximately 450 new members, with about half coming through baptism,” Folsom said.
“Our children, students, adults, and 60-plus adults have all experienced significant growth. To me, that is one of the clearest signs of a healthy church.
“We are already at capacity in many of our worship services, and our Sunday LifeGroups, Wednesday night ministries, LifeCourses, and fellowship opportunities continue to grow. Our Wednesday night meal alone recently served nearly 1,000 people.”
The groundbreaking marks another step in a story that began more than half a century ago.
In 1973, the Rev. Buddy Crowder and seven families began meeting in an old sign shop on the site of the former Due West Hardware Store. Six years later, on Oct. 7, 1979, Burnt Hickory was constituted as a Southern Baptist church under the leadership of Pastor Larry Naylor with 200 charter members.
The church’s first building was a sanctuary with classrooms in the basement, followed by an educational building.
Mike Stephens became pastor in 1987. Soon afterward, the church began holding two worship services, and another educational building was constructed to provide additional room for Sunday school and weekday preschool programs.
In 1994, the church began construction of an 800-seat sanctuary. Continued growth prompted church leaders to recommend the purchase of 30 acres on Due West Road in 1999.
Stephens emphasized what he described as New Testament church ministry and led the staff and congregation to “passionately pursue Christ to passionately pursue people.”
After 32 years of service, Stephens resigned as pastor in 2019. Petty, the church’s longtime student pastor, was elected his successor and became senior pastor Aug. 4, 2019.
Folsom joined Burnt Hickory just months before the transition.
“I came to Burnt Hickory in March 2019 and have seen the Lord bring the church through an important season of transition and tremendous growth,” he said. “I served alongside Pastor Mike Stephens for those first three months before his retirement. Pastor Mike built a strong foundation, and I believe Pastor Matt Petty has faithfully built upon that foundation.
“Pastor Matt is a gifted, biblically grounded communicator and a strong leader, and he has led us to remain focused on reaching people and making disciples.”
The “All In” initiative is built around four emphases: pray boldly, commit faithfully, give generously, and celebrate together.
“‘All In’ is our church-wide commitment to step forward together in faith, trusting God to expand our capacity for worship, discipleship, and missions for generations to come,” Petty said. “We are all together, all committed, all for His glory.”
Executive Pastor Marty Godfrey said the church is undertaking the project after pushing its existing facilities close to their limits.
“One of the great dangers for a growing church is becoming so focused on celebrating what God has already done that we lose our sense of expectancy for what He wants to do next,” Godfrey said. “We are incredibly grateful for the generations of faithful people who brought Burnt Hickory to this moment, but we believe the greatest way to honor their faithfulness is to build on it.
“Right now, we are holding five worship services every Sunday morning in two auditoriums. We have pushed our existing facilities about as far as we can push them.
“So, this new worship center isn't being built because we need a nicer place to go to church. We are building it because we need more room to do ministry.”
Godfrey said the campus is in use throughout the week by church ministries and community groups.
“Burnt Hickory isn't just a Sunday morning church,” he said. “Almost every day of the week, something is happening across this campus. Our people are gathering for ministry and discipleship, but just as importantly, we have opened our doors and built relationships with hundreds of community partners, including our schools, law enforcement officers, and many others.
“We don't want our campus simply to be a place our community drives past. We want it to be a place our community considers theirs.”
Before construction dollars are spent on the new facility, however, the church plans to direct the first $1 million given through the initiative toward ministry beyond the campus.
“That is why the first $1 million given toward this initiative is not going into bricks and mortar,” Godfrey said. “It is going out. We are investing it in multiplication by expanding our internship and residency programs, strengthening church planting and church revitalization efforts, and further developing mission outposts with our international partners.
“I love the picture that creates. Before we build up, we are sending out.
“We are not building a $35 million monument to ourselves. We are building a tool that we pray God will use long after many of us are gone, while investing from the very beginning in taking the gospel far beyond this campus.”
Godfrey said the church is also looking beyond the people who currently fill its buildings.
“Some of the people who will be most impacted by what we are doing aren't even old enough to drive yet. Some haven't been born. Some don't attend Burnt Hickory today. Some don't know Christ today. And some may never set foot on this campus because they live on the other side of the world. Those are the people I think about when I think about this project.
“The generation before us built something they would never fully enjoy themselves, and we have been the beneficiaries of their faithfulness. Now it is our turn. We want to hand the next generation more than a building. We want to hand them a healthy church with a passion for the gospel, a heart for its community, a commitment to making disciples, and the courage to keep reaching people we haven't reached yet.”
Folsom said the groundbreaking represents an opportunity to prepare for continued ministry in the years ahead.
“The groundbreaking for the new worship center is exciting because it represents much more than a new building or simply giving us more room,” he said. “It represents an opportunity to prepare for what God wants to do through Burnt Hickory in the years ahead.”
Godfrey said he views the project as part of a much longer story.
“So, when we break ground, I don't really see it as the beginning of a building project,” he said. “I see it as another chapter in a story God has been writing at Burnt Hickory for a long time. And if we steward this moment well, I don't think the best days of this church will be the ones we look back on. I think they will be the ones we may never live long enough to see.”
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