In 1961 there was a small group of Baptist believers who met at New Liberty Hill Church which was near the railroad on Valley Hill Road in Stockbridge, GA.  They had been meeting seven or eight months when a challenge arose.  They did not own the building, and the owner needed the building back.  So the pastor, Rev. Howard Turner, had a meeting with some of the men of the church.  It was decided that rather than disband the church, they would step out on faith, search for property and seek to build a Baptist Church to the Glory of God.

 

The problem was that they were a young congregation with very little money.  A piece of property came available at  a very good price.  It was owned by Mr. Raymond Estes and was located on East Atlanta Road.  But there was just not enough money to buy it.  It was then that Mr. George W. Evans (father of Roy, Ben, Junior Evans and Jetti Lou Garrard) stepped forward to give the present property to the church to begin its services.  The family of Mr. Evans later deeded the entire property to the church.

 

The first services were held in a borrowed tent.  Those were certainly exciting days.  Roy Evans said that one service was interrupted by a mule invading the tent!  They met in the tent until 1963 when they borrowed money to build what is now the basement of the church.  In 1964-65 The second floor was built.  The auditorium was moved upstairs and the basement was subdivided into Sunday School rooms.

 

Over the years the white block building was bricked, and the baptistry added.  In 1990 the auditorium expansion and fellowship hall was built.  The parking lot was also enlarged.  In April of 1998 the church voted to buy the Turner home next door to the church.  The house was made into a multi-purpose building housing the church offices, youth rooms and prophet  chambers for visiting preachers and missionaries.  In 2004 the foyer area of the church was renovated and in 2006 the auditorium was updated.  In 2005 we purchased the "cottage" behind the church house.  The assistant pastor and his family lived there for three years, and now it is used to house missionary families.  The Lord has blessed us through these improvements and at the present time the five structures (counting the covered picnic table) and 6 acres are debt free, praise the Lord.

 

In the years before Pine Grove existed a young couple, Howard and Lou Turner, attended a small church in Decatur known as Stamps Chapel.  Mrs. Turner was from Blairsville GA, and had attended Ivy Log Baptist Church where she was saved as a young girl.  When they started attending Stamps Chapel, Mr. Turner was not yet saved.  It was not long before he fell under conviction, and though the witnessing of one of he men of the Chapel, Howard Turner accepted the Lord as his personal Savior.  He grew in the Lord and was later ordained as a deacon.  (It is interesting that Stamps Chapel later became East Lake Baptist Church and it was there that Gregory Howell, the present pastor of Pine Grove, was saved and ordained as a preacher of the Gospel.)  Bro. Turner was later ordained into the ministry at Oak Grove Baptist Churh.  It wasn't long before he was pastoring the small flock at New Liberty Church.

 

Bro. Turner pastored Pine Grove for 28 years.  Under his leadership the people became a stable congregation that sought to honor the Lord.  The Fundamentals of the Faith were emphasized.  Bro. Turner was pastor and held down a full time job at Nabisco.  He baptized many members at nearby lakes until the baptistry was installed.  It is thought that the first members to be baptized in the new baptistry were Chris Knight (now a deacon) and Sean Walker (a missionary sent out from Pine Grove).   

During his ministry the Turners lost their son, Norman to kidney disease.  The first funeral held in the church was for the infant of Mrs. Faye Jones who still attends Pine Grove.  Church services were always opened by singing "Amazing Grace."  The church granted some of its property to the Turners to build a home.  They lived next door to the church from 1980 till 1998.  Bro. Turner would seek solitude for prayer by slipping next door tho the church.  He retired from Pine Grove in 1989 for health reasons, but soon found himself preaching again at Calvary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA.  Bro Turner passed away in 2005.

 

In May of 1989. Rev. Paul Parsons was voted in as the new pastor.  Under his leadership, the white outbuilding, and new addition to the main church building was completed.  He resigned in May of 1991.

 

Bro. Greg Howell's first Sunday as Pastor was June 2, 1991.  Bro. Howell atteded Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, TN.  He received a B.A. in Bible.  He married Pamela Sue Craig on September 1, 1978.  Their  first two years of ministry were spent on the mission field in Nassau, Bahamas.  They both taught in a Christian School and  Bro. Greg was an assistant at Calvary Haitian Baptist Church.  They returned home in 1981 and began ministering at Bro. Greg's home church, then called Stone Mountain Baptist Tabernacle.  He taught school and was an assistant in the church there for 11 years.  The first year of the pastorate at Pine Grove, Bro. Greg still taught school.  After that, Pine Grove stepped out on faith and took him on as full time pastor. 

 

During his 20 years as pastor, Bro. Howell has seen his two boys grow to adulthood, as well as see the church mature as a lighthouse for the gospel both here in Stockbridge and aroung the world through its missions outreach.  Many great saints of God have graduated to Glory during this time.  Other new faces came to our church.  Some have gone out into ministry on their own.  David Watts and family joined in 1992.  David had answered the call to preach.  He graduated from Atlanta Baptist College where Bro. Howell teaches a class once a week.  David went out of our church to serve as assistant pastor at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Jackson, GA.  Sean Walker grew up at Pine Grove.  As a young man he surrendered to missions.  He and his family are now working in the far east.  David Watts served as youth director for a while.  He was followed by Chris Knight.  When Bro. Chris felt that he could no longer fill that position the church voted to hire an asistant pastor that would be both youth and music director.  In September of 2005, Bro. Dan Basham and his family moved from Michigan, and he became the assistant pastor.  Dan and his family was here for 7 years until he accepted the Pastorate of McAdam Baptist Church in New Brunswick, Canada.

In August, 2014, Rev. David Watts returned to Pine Grove to become our Assistant Pastor.  Our present deacons are Eddie Cason, Jimmy Hyde, and Chris Knight. 

 

Scripture admonishes us to do things decently and in order.  We have tried to do just that at Pine Grove.  In 193 we adopted a constitution and bylaws that is based on the Word of God.  It contains our statement of faith, church covenant and by-laws that govern our business.  Without apology we stand for the old time Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We emphasis salvation, holy living, and service to God.  We may be out of step with mainstream religion in America, but we are in step with the Bible.  We stive to remember that we are "in the world, but we are not of the world."

 

Over the years we have developed programs that reflect our biblical philosophy.  A big part of our ministry is the various children's programs.  Vacation Bible School in the summer, Wednesday night Patch the Pirate and Super Sailors clubs during the school year, Sunday School and Children's Church are all tools to reach children with Jesus Christ.  Our bus and van ministries reach out to families in the community.  Perhaps closest to our heart as a congregation is our missions program.  We have increased our missions giving to include 77 missionaries around the world.   As we have put God's business of soul in high priority, God has taken care of our need as home.  The preaching of the Word of God is at the center of all we do.  As others move away from strong preaching, we realize that it is "by the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe."  We want to preach and teach the Word until He comes again as He promised.  Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus.

 

Someone has wisely stated that there are no perfect churches and if you are looking for one, you will be sadly disappointed.  This history ad overview was meant to magnify what the Lord has done in our midst.  The world is changing drastically as we approach His return, but we wish to stay true to His Word.  We have shortcomings as all churches do, but we have a guide in the Bible to keep us on course.  We praise His name for all He has done.