April 28, 2025
BRASELTON, Ga. — North Metro Baptist Church has relocated to a beautiful new campus and a modern state-of-the-art facility with all the most recent innovations and technologies and opened for business, the Lord’s business that is, on Palm Sunday.
All those who travel on GA-124 Highway will be able to identify the church because of the three large white crosses that tower over the front of the church. These crosses are evocative of the three crosses near I-40 that mark the site of the Bellevue Baptist Church in the Memphis area, prompting truckers to call the church “Fort God.”
Stephen Cox, executive pastor of North Metro and son of pastor Frank Cox, was asked to be the “point man” or the supervisor for the building program. He said, "It’s been an incredible honor to oversee this project during such an important moment in our church’s history. While the scope of the work was overwhelming at times, I was constantly reminded that God had placed the right people around us for the job. We were blessed with an amazing team who executed each step of the process with excellence and a deep passion for bringing the vision of our pastor and building team to life.”
Prior to Palm Sunday, he stated, “We’re incredibly excited to open the doors of our new campus and welcome people into a space designed to be a central hub where they can come to know Jesus and grow in Him.
“This building is the result of so much prayer and planning and is now ready to serve our community,” explained the church’s executive pastor. “Our slogan at North Metro is ‘helping people find direction for life,’ and our hope is that every person who walks through these doors experiences the cross-centered direction for life that only Jesus can offer.”
In anticipation of the first Sunday in the new chapter of North Metro’s ministry, Dr. J. Robert White exclaimed, “Our church is very excited about moving into our beautiful new facility. The church is strategically located at the crossroads of four counties, presenting a remarkable opportunity to reach thousands. I believe that the vibrant preaching and singing of the Gospel will attract many new believers as well as support the ministries of local churches."
White added, "Dr. Cox’s vision has assured a bright future for North Metro Baptist Church. Our family is delighted to be a part of North Metro and can hardly wait to see God’s glorious plan for our church revealed.”
North Metro deacon chairman Patrick Tyndall expressed his exuberance in anticipation of the first worship service in the church’s new location, stating, “It's clear that God led us to this new property, and this Sunday marks the culmination of years of His guidance to get us here. Thinking back to the vision or burden that God gave to our pastor over seven years ago and his deciding to form and charge a Strategic Planning team, I’m grateful for a pastor who listens to and obeys the Lord and teaches our church to do the same.
“Between then and today,” Tyndall continued, “I've witnessed so many examples of God's provision for our church. As we move in this Sunday, I know that I’ll be thinking of Psalm 66:5, 'Come and see what God has done.' There's just no doubt that God placed us here, and I'm excited to see the lives that will be changed and the impact on our new community through our church.”
The church gathered on Palm Sunday for what pastor Frank Cox called their “soft launch.” However, that description of the day might have been an understatement, because the atmosphere was electric, the campus was buzzing with activity, and the worship center was filled for the first Sunday on the new campus.
The dream of relocating the church was birthed in Cox’s heart some years ago, but it began to take shape in terms of a reality in April 2022 when the North Metro pastor told the Braselton’s planning board that the church had as many as 400 families living in the area and indicated that he wanted to follow the growth by relocating the church from what had become a highly commercialized district in Gwinnett County to the Braselton-Hoschton area.
On May 9, the Braselton Town Council unanimously approved a conditional use of 37 acres at the intersection of Highway 124 and Highway 211 for the North Metro Church to build a new campus.
Earlier in his ministry, Cox had made a similar decision when he relocated the same church from Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth to Lawrenceville.
The remarkable path that God orchestrated for the right property to be secured was nothing short of a miracle. The Miami-based firm that signed a contract to redevelop the site of North Metro Baptist Church on Old Peachtree Road near Buford Drive by transforming the property into 800 apartments was cancelled, and the selling of the property to a Korean church had the providence of God written all over it. The Korean pastor did not want the church building to be torn down, and he led his people in an amazing prayer campaign that God honored. The Korean church purchased the property, the audio and media equipment, and much of the church’s furnishings.
The Korean pastor, convinced that the North Metro church on Old Peachtree Road could only be used as a church, was permitted to use the facility one Sunday afternoon, and there were 2,000 present to hear the pastor’s message and the 300-voice choir.
Occasionally, during the construction of a building, the crew has a “topping off’ party when the last beam is placed on top of the structure. During North Metro’s “topping off party,” Cox asked for nine minutes to talk to the workers and used his time to thank them for their labor and then shared the gospel. The roofer called his wife after Cox’s message, and they agreed to donate $100,000 to the church.
A 24-year-old church member asked Cox to pray for his father, who was in critical condition in the hospital. Cox not only prayed for him but went to see him in the hospital and, upon discovering that he was not a Christian, led him to faith in Christ before he died. The son expressed his gratitude for Cox’s ministry to his father by giving $100,000 toward the construction of the new church building.
The new North Metro Church is designed to be a welcoming center for the region, with an inviting coffee shop that will be open not only on Sundays but also during the week. To complement the beautiful worship center, there are additional gathering rooms for worship for every age group in the church. There is a brightly colored playground for children, an outdoor basketball court that will be well-lit at night for the church’s neighbors to enjoy, and there is a pickleball court situated on the church campus as well.
Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., was present on Palm Sunday for the ribbon cutting and the “soft launch” on North Metro’s new location. He was jubilant in reporting, “What an amazing day. I could feel the excitement when I drove onto the campus.
“It was immediately obvious that many had worked diligently to erect the beautiful facility, but I also sensed that many had fervently prayed that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit would be evident in every phase of worship at the new church site. The overflowing attendance and the number of people who flooded the altar during the invitation was heartwarming, even overwhelming.”
The new North Metro campus is destined to become the spiritual, social, and recreational hub of the four-county area in which it is located.
