May 22, 2025
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — On a winter evening at First Baptist Church Peachtree City, a group of single adults gathered to forge authentic relationships, and God answered prayer in a big way.
Eighty singles, ages 19 to 37, from fourteen churches came to the March 7, 2025, event to talk, eat, and connect with others their age.
“People were just truly amazed to see that many of that demographic gathered that night,” said event leader Tom Coffan, a retired youth pastor who now teaches young adults at the church.
Coffan was assisted by Fairburn Baptist Association Associational Mission Strategist Jimmy Kinnaird, and PJ Dunn, a discipleship consultant for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. The event featured a BBQ dinner, a program narrated by Flat Creek Baptist Church Minister of Students Ryan Appling, worship led by Adiel and Lizzy Perez, and a keynote presentation on authentic relationships and being a friend worth having by Dunn. They also played games, hung out for a couple of hours, and talked.
Coffan said there were many authentic connections made. One such connection was with a young man who came in late. After saying hello, Coffan recalled that “without me prompting him, he just begins to tell me his story. And, what he says to me is, ‘Yeah, five years ago, I received Christ, but I didn’t do anything with it, and my life got to be a real mess. And, this is me coming back.' Right then and there, I said, 'My night is done, thank you, God, this guy is coming back.' Later, the guy was connected with others, and they welcomed him and “made him a part of them.”
Dunn said the result is stories and not numbers. "The stories out of that event were fantastic. And people who didn’t know young adults existed in their town. To see the event and people keep talking. That’s a story within itself.” He said that the hope is for them to find a church and form relationships from it.
“Tom really made it all happen. He just thought about all the moments to get those young adults to be disarmed a little bit so they could have some real relationships and get to know one another,” said Dunn.
Coffan hopes the event won't be the only one of its kind. “There was a real desire for more. It will probably lead to some kind of ministry that is cooperative between the churches in the county. There is a need not just in Fayette County. Creating a safe place where single adults can be heard and seen is the key. I think of Jesus and the woman at the well. He saw her. He saw her need. When that happens, they respond. And, that’s true in this age group,” he said.
The key to success in young adult ministry is authenticity, Dunn said. ”One of the catch phrases is ‘authenticity is the currency of this generation’. If you are going to build credibility, you have to be present with young adults, and they have to know that you are not some fly-by-night person.”
Dunn said that the key to relationships among singles is "being a friend worth having. It is based on the four friends who carry their paraplegic friend to Jesus. “Whatever we need to do to carry people to Jesus, we need to do, but it starts with us.”
Dunn hopes young adults will consider, "Am I a friend worth having?" If they do, he said, “they’ll go shake hands and say hello to someone else.”
Dunn said the COVID generation is coming of age. “We’ve just lost the art of friendship. I am trying to help them see that discipleship and friendship, when it’s based on the Bible, go hand in hand. Jesus was a friend of sinners, and so the message is really targeting that and being in community. You can keep doing this, but you can’t do it alone. That’s why God made us to be in community.”
Planning and prayer began last November. Kinnaird, Coffan, and others from First Baptist Peachtree City, Flat Creek, Fayetteville First Baptist Church, Fairburn First Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Tyrone, and Dogwood Church in Tyrone met and decided to bring all their groups together. The purpose was to connect people to a group where they can grow in Christ, to bring people who don't feel connected at all in Peachtree City to the things of God, and to show them that there are things going on in Peachtree City through these churches that they can connect to.
Coffan first met Dunn three years ago and during that time, Coffan shared his idea. Dunn told him, “If you can get young adults from multiple churches involved, you’ll have a much better event because part of the young adult culture is people that are not engaged in community. They are a very lonely generation.”
According to a 2023 US Surgeon General report, Dunn said, nearly 50% of all adults in the US are considered lonely. That loneliness in a person’s life is the health equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The report said nearly 1 in 3 young adults feel completely lonely, and young adults spend 70% less time with friends than two decades ago.
Dunn said singles now outnumber married adults, representing 53% of the total population, and the average age for marriage is 30 for men and 28 for women. Coffan cited a December 2024 demographic report by MissionInsite showing that 17.5% of the population in Fayette County is single/never married, and the total single population, including never married/divorced/separated/widowed, is 30.6%.
In the future, Coffan hopes church members and leaders continue to come together for the purpose of encouraging, event planning, and equipping.
Dunn said they want to spark community. “If you get them in community, then they become sticky. That’s where you go from just an event that is kinda fun because a ton of people come, into, 'How do I make them come next time?”
