A Church on Peachtree: The Ministry Continues
In celebration of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta’s 150th anniversary, the church commissioned a history book: A Church on Peachtree. Later, it was updated with a new chapter continuing the story through 2011. Here is a look at the years since then that have brought us to the 175th.
The Book of Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for everything under heaven. For First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, the last decade has been a time for saying farewell to one beloved senior pastor and welcoming a new one, for respecting tradition while exploring new ventures; it’s been a time for maintaining core beliefs while adopting new perspectives, for making plans and adapting them to suit an unprecedented global pandemic.
In 2012, Rev. Dr. George Bryant Wirth announced his intention to retire after twenty-three years at the helm. The transition team said of him in the church’s newsletter: “As a preacher, George has proclaimed the gospel while courageously tackling tough issues that threaten to split the denomination and the country. … As a pastor, he’s cared for his parishioners. … As a leader, he’s valued consensus and reconciliation over winning and losing. … Always, he has promoted tolerance and, more than that, understanding.”
After the festivities honoring Wirth and his wife, Barb, quieted down, the congregation settled into the capable and familiar hands of Rev. Dr. Joanna Adams, a friend to many members and frequent guest preacher and speaker at the church. Adams formally became the Interim Senior Pastor during Eastertide 2013. Meanwhile, a pastor-nominating committee (PNC) was already at work seeking the next leader.
The church’s prayer shawl and quilting ministry delivers handmade shawls and quilts to members and friends in need of care.
Tony Sundermeier, who holds a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Biblical Theological Seminary, was raised Roman Catholic. During his undergraduate studies at Eastern University, he became involved with the Wayne Presbyterian Church as a custodian (twenty hours per week) and an unpaid youth intern (twenty hours per week) in 1994. He went on to join that church and pursue his call to ministry. He came to Atlanta from First Presbyterian Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he was Senior Pastor from 2009 to 2014.
The PNC quickly realized that God wasn’t just calling a single pastor to the ministry at First Presbyterian. Rev. Dr. Katie Sundermeier, Tony’s spouse, is also an ordained minister in the PC(USA), having served in both parish and chaplain settings for over ten years prior to the family's arrival. Katie Sundermeier holds a BA from Vanderbilt University in German and communications, and a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. She completed her Doctor of Ministry from Louisville Theological Seminary in May 2022. The Sundermeiers accepted the call to Atlanta knowing that there would be distinct opportunities for both of them to contribute to the faith and life of the congregation. At the congregational meeting in June 2014, the PNC described Tony and Katie’s ministry approach as being shared, collaborative, and mutual. The PNC knew, and the congregation soon discovered, that they were welcoming a clergy team. In January 2015, Katie Sundermeier joined the pastoral staff and eventually became the Associate Pastor for Congregational Life. Later, in May 2016, she was named the Executive Director of the Samaritan Counseling Center of Atlanta. Under her leadership, the counseling center has grown exponentially, and the pastoral ministry of the church has been enriched by her work with Stephen Ministry, small groups, support groups, worship, the capital campaign, and care.
“The Sundermeiers have used their tremendous gifts of energy, winsome preaching, relationship building, and love to bring the best out of First Presbyterian,” said PNC member and Clerk of Session Rick Bold. “They have lived out the first principles of our faith, sustained a vibrant community, and fearlessly led us to tackle the biggest projects for the sake of the Gospel. Our church is one of the brightest spots on the Presbyterian map under their leadership.”
Upon his retirement, George Wirth was named Pastor Emeritus. Both he and Interim Pastor Joanna Adams continued to be supportive and involved with the church. “We had George’s full support,” Sundermeier said, and added that the hand-off in leadership was so smooth that leaders of other churches undergoing transition contacted First Presbyterian for advice. From Wirth to Adams to Sundermeier, the church did not miss a beat.
In between worship services, members and friends gather for Sunday School, fellowship, and opportunities to learn more about the ministries of the congregation.
Sundermeier quickly realized that the church he was leading was a few years from celebrating its 175th anniversary. He thought that this milestone offered an ideal opportunity for the church to take a fresh look at its ministries, operations, and facilities. In late 2015, he presented—and the Session approved—a process for developing a Long-Range Strategic Plan. A committee would work for the better part of 2016 to assess the church’s strengths and resources, develop a mission statement, vision statement, and values statement and to set “measurable goals for the ministry and mission of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta.”
An eleven-member committee—which included Sundermeier and former Executive Pastor Rev. Rebekah LeMon—conducted surveys, held “town hall” meetings, and met with small groups to involve as many members as possible before presenting their report in the fall of 2016. “We heard common themes about why we have chosen this place as our spiritual home,” the committee wrote in the plan’s introduction, “but we also heard the call to deepen both our individual and shared faith and commitments as we walk with our Lord, gather as a community, and love and serve our brothers and sisters in the world.” Out of this statement came First Presbyterian’s four core values: community, love, transformation, and servant leadership.
THE COMMITTEE SET SPECIFIC GOALS TO BE IMPLEMENTED BY THE 175TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2023:
- Prioritize engagement in the life of the church.
- Ensure that all ministries promote human dignity, personal empowerment, restorative relationships, and just generosity.
- Equip members and friends to be servant leaders in the church and in all spheres of their lives.
- Promote individual economic empowerment.
- Provide regular visits and spiritual friendship with all members and friends who are ill, bereaved, elderly, homebound, or in need of care
- Elevate the capacity of the church to be a dynamic center and resource for learning, building relationships, and spiritual growth.
- Reshape our structure, operations, and communications to prepare the congregation for our third century of ministry.
From Planning to Action
Implementation began almost immediately.
The church undertook a new branding campaign, utilizing the expertise of a branding agency. A distinctive new logo, adapted from a floor tile in the historic sanctuary, features a cross extending beyond a square. The new logo and a new predominant color—a vibrant red—would be featured on everything from Sunday bulletins to the church bus.
The congregation supported an innovative social entrepreneurship program called Epiphany. Member Ellen Adair Wyche proposed this “business incubator” after learning about similar programs funded through churches in Texas and Minnesota. Rather than revisit familiar approaches for addressing community needs, the church would award grants to existing organizations and businesses that were already successfully tackling these problems. But the church's involvement would not be limited to cash.
“In the past, we have been the implementers,” Wyche said. “What we’re trying to do now is be the catalyst.”
The church launched Epiphany in late 2018 and committed to awarding up to $250,000 to selected ventures. Seed money initially came from the church’s relationship with the television and film industry. The television show The Resident, which filmed next door at the High Museum, rented the church’s fellowship hall as a feeding site for cast and crew, and the film Instant Family shot scenes of a meeting inside the church. Members embraced the idea of Epiphany and donated the rest of the money. Judges chose five recipients out of more than eighty applicants.
The Sunday Morning Prayer Breakfast is a weekly opportunity for church members to show hospitality to neighbors in the community.
Even as it looked outward, the congregation examined its own operations through the lens of its newly stated values. In a “forward-thinking” attempt to eliminate unnecessary meetings and inefficiencies, the church streamlined its governance structure, reducing the size of the Session and instituting the office of “ministry leader” (traditionally known as Deacons) to head the various ministry areas.
In an effort to offer more options and styles of worship, in September 2016, the Session approved and Tony Sundermeier and Jens Korndörfer launched a new alternative service between the early morning chapel communion service and the traditional service at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary. The new service would have a different setting in Fifield Hall and a different approach to music—featuring a variety of instruments—but the same preacher and same sermon as the other services. In a letter to the congregation, Sundermeier wrote, “This worship experience will be perfect for folks who prefer casual dress and a casual setting and will be about fifty minutes long. You will also be able to bring your coffee in with you!”
The long-range planning committee also took a long, hard look at the church’s facilities, the congregation's evolving needs, and its location in fast-growing Midtown. The result was a new campus master plan that would provide centralized office space for the staff, improve space and opportunities for community outreach, facilitate worship and arts programming, and make the church more hospitable and easier to navigate for everyone (including those seeking assistance) while maintaining the architectural integrity of the historic building. A campus master planning team was formed, with Trustee Elder John McColl serving as its chair.
In 2019 and early 2020, the three worship services were drawing good crowds. The church was preparing to award a new round of Epiphany grants and launch a major capital campaign to fund renovations. Trips were being planned to visit global mission partners. A newly formed committee was set to make an exploratory visit to Lebanon and possibly Syria. Members were signing up for a tour to learn about their Presbyterian roots in Scotland. New classes were forming. During 2019, the church had taken in almost seventy new members and celebrated twenty-three baptisms. “The wind of the Spirit was at our backs,” Sundermeier said.
Then information began to circulate about a new virus that had surfaced abroad. The situation escalated quickly, with the coronavirus invading the United States and engulfing the world in a full-fledged pandemic.
Two Week to Two Years
The first response at First Presbyterian came on Saturday, March 7, 2020, when Sundermeier sent an email to the church’s contact list calling attention to Centers for Disease Control guidelines urging older people and those with severe chronic medical conditions to “stay at home as much as possible.” The church would be open as usual, but participants in its activities would be encouraged not to “shake hands, hug, or even fist-bump.”
New guidelines followed on Thursday, March 12, 2020, when the Session met via Zoom and voted to cancel all on-campus meetings between Friday, March 13, and Friday, March 27. In those early days, the belief was that if people would self-isolate for a couple of weeks, then ordinary life could resume. The church would worship via live stream in the meantime.
To keep members connected during the shutdown, the church launched daily devotionals beginning Monday, March 16. The first, written by Sundermeier, focused on Psalm 81’s exhortation to “raise a song” to the Almighty. Sundermeier suggested that members email him songs that had a special meaning in their lives.
Many church members were excited to return to in-person worship with family and friends.
The church—like businesses and institutions all over the country—extended its shutdown. The Session created a task force to make recommendations on how to cope. That task force was led by Dr. Sheryl Gabram-Mendola, a newer member to the church and a respected leader in the medical community. The church provided classes online, groups of all types met via Zoom, and worship streamed over the internet; even counseling sessions and pastoral visits often happened virtually. Members held gatherings with global mission partners in Brazil and Jamaica. More than four thousand households worshipped together on Easter Sunday 2020.
The church’s gardens, parking lot, and parking deck became a service-delivery area for everything from communion elements to COVID tests. As businesses reduced their staff, more people sought aid through Community Ministries. For the friends who relied on the church for hygiene, the church provided mobile bathrooms. Throughout the pandemic, Community Ministries stayed open and continued to serve their vulnerable neighbors as best they could.
And still the pandemic went on.
By 2021, activities were resuming in fits and starts. Sundermeier described it as an “in-between kind of year.” Those who returned to in-person worship got used to never seeing the bottom of fellow congregants’ faces. Everyone spoke through masks and took care not to touch. Finally, in late February 2022, the Session made masks optional for everyone, and the COVID task force disbanded with gratitude from Sundermeier, the Session, and the entire congregation.
COVID had been challenging, but some good had come out of it. The church was fortunate to have already had a robust social media system in place along with the technology for live streaming, which had been installed in 2013. While some other churches scrambled to get up to speed, First Presbyterian was able to send its worship services and classes out to members and the larger world and open its sanctuary to musical artists around the city whose usual venues were closed. Many artists continued to perform at the church after other venues reopened.
The technology allowed former church members who had moved away and spiritual seekers who were unfamiliar with the church to connect online. Some would continue to participate and attend in person. Groups and committees learned that not every meeting had to be in person.
Despite the fact that youth were among the groups most affected by the pandemic, the children and youth ministries at the church continued to grow under the leadership of Rachal Little, Ben Fletcher, and Katie Covington. Over the last decade, First Presbyterian celebrated more than two hundred baptisms, with around 350 children preconfirmation age. The youth and college ministries engage more than one hundred students each year.
Back to the Future
Upon reflecting on all that took place during "COVID time," Sundermeier said, "The wind of the Spirit remained at our back through those challenging years. It just looked different than we had expected." As COVID vaccines and treatment became more widely available, and restrictions loosened, church leaders relaunched Epiphany as well as plans for the capital project.
In the fall of 2021, volunteers began evaluating applications for a new round of Epiphany grants. The church made awards in early 2022 to five more enterprises.
First Presbyterian Church’s youth ministry provides middle and high school students opportunities for faith formation, service, fellowship, and fun.
Meanwhile, the church had also begun the largest capital campaign in its history—more than twice the size of the previous largest—to fund its major renovation. After an information blitz that included opportunities to hear details and see plans both online and in person, the congregation approved the overall concept in December 2021. Fundraising cochairs Erin and Michael Demo wrote, “Our family is so moved by this project that we are glad to support it with our time and financial gifts. …We are leaning into this vision, knowing what a profound impact this project will have on our community and in the lives of our members.”
In addition to the Demos, cochairs Tom and Mary Katherine Greene led a seasoned and dedicated capital campaign committee through this important ministry.
More than four hundred households pledged a total of about $36 million toward the project, and demolition began on August 29, 2022. Sundermeier called the final count “incredible!”
The first phase focused on providing a new centralized gathering space, called the Commons, a new worship/performance/ lecture space, and more appropriate facilities on the first two floors of the Smith Building for serving the 1,500 or so vulnerable clients who seek help at Community Ministries each month. The Women’s Transformation Center on the fourth floor was being converted to private efficiency apartments that could house women in transition rent-free for up to a year. Ministry partners Samaritan Counseling Center of Atlanta, Childspring International, and Johnson C. Smith Seminary would also have improved office space on the third floor.
Committed to Formation and Care
While the long-range plan set some new goals and resulted in some new projects and approaches to ministry, in other cases it sought to define commitments the church was already attempting to live out.
Rev. Dr. Katie Sundermeier revitalized the church’s Stephen Ministry, a national ecumenical ministry to organize, equip, and supervise congregation members—called Stephen Ministers—to provide one-to-one care to people in the congregation and the community experiencing life difficulties.
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta was one of the first churches in the country to embrace Stephen Ministry, Katie Sundermeier said. The church's ministry began in 1982 and recently turned forty, but the once-vigorous program had waned by the time she joined the church staff. As a pastor who had worked with Stephen Ministers at previous churches, she understood the ministry's value. With her leadership, a new class of ten Stephen Ministers trained in 2016. Four classes later, the ministry now reaches dozens of people at a time in need of a confidante who is distinct from clergy or a counselor.
“When a Stephen Minister shows up, a part of God shows up with us,” she said.
In the areas of faith formation and adult education, Senior Pastor Tony Sundermeier proposed the idea of a scholar-in-residence position that would be funded by a bequest from movie theater magnate John Hardwick Stembler Jr. The first Stembler Scholar, Dr. Ryan Bonfiglio, brought several innovative programs to the church, including TheoEd, modeled on TED talk videos and podcasts, and Theology Matters, billed as “short courses for the thoughtful Christian.”
When Emory University recruited Bonfiglio to head the Candler Foundry—a new initiative that carried the basic philosophy of the Stembler Scholar into a wider area—he was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Chris Holmes, who joined the church staff in July 2019. Holmes’s creative programming and online teaching expertise proved invaluable during the COVID pandemic. His pastoral gifts also brought a unique balance to faith formation as both a habit of the heart and of the mind.
Pastors at FPC and rabbis at The Temple have a long history of mutual support and ministry.
Some of the most popular offerings Holmes brought were part of a series called Office Hours, cohosted by Holmes, a New Testament scholar, and Old Testament scholar Dr. Brennan Breed of Columbia Theological Seminary. The seminary and the church cosponsored the sessions, which featured guest professors from seminaries and universities across America.
In terms of “relational priorities” and “purposeful engagement,” First Presbyterian had long-standing partnerships with Hillside Presbyterian Church, a predominantly Black congregation in Decatur, as well as The Temple, the church’s Reformed Jewish neighbor on Peachtree Street.
“Members of both congregations seem to be like family to one another,” said retired Rabbi Alvin Sugarman of The Temple. “They allow the other to be who they are. It gives real meaning to the term interfaith.”
In 2009, First Presbyterian and The Temple became the pilot for Reclaiming the Center, a program sponsored by the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies, based in Baltimore. With The Temple by then under the leadership of Rabbi Peter Berg, participants explored the significance of land to the Israelites and tackled some of the toughest texts in the New Testament. During the sessions, members of The Temple invited church members to accompany them on a mission trip to Cuba. Some of the church’s participants went on to form a partnership with a Cuban church in addition to relationships they already had with partners in Kenya, Brazil, Haiti, and Jamaica.
Transitions in leadership have been “seamless,” Berg said. “Every rabbi and every pastor for the last one-hundred-plus years has had a wonderful, sustaining relationship.” When The Temple celebrated its 150th Anniversary, First Presbyterian Church commissioned a choral piece and sang it at a Shabbat service marking that occasion. Berg and Sundermeier continue to collaborate in ministry, and many friendships are shared across the congregations.
Even before the church listed “relational priorities” among its core values, in 2015, the church’s leadership issued a statement on “Christian marriage.” After decades of debate, the Presbyterian Church (USA) had adopted a change in its Book of Order that allowed same-sex weddings to be conducted on church properties. It stipulated, however, that no pastor or session could be forced to host or conduct any marriage ceremony.
The Children’s Ministry of First Presbyterian Church continues to be a vibrant and vital aspect of our congregational life.
A few months later, the US Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage. The church’s statement affirmed that any Christian marriage service deemed appropriate by a pastor and permitted by the state of Georgia may be performed at First Presbyterian Church. The Session also approved a policy that stated that a pastor on the First Presbyterian Church staff must participate in the planning, rehearsal, and ceremony of every wedding on church property as a sign of their commitment to “nurture all marriages” that begin at the church.
The church took a stand for “restorative relationships” and social justice in 2020 when pastors on the staff, plus former Interim Pastor Joanna Adams and Senior Pastor Emeritus George Wirth, signed a letter responding to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Their document, issued on Pentecost in May 2020, connected Floyd’s last words to the day when the breath of God blew on Jesus’s disciples: “I can’t breathe,” he said as he suffocated under the knee of a police officer while other officers looked on and bystanders begged for relief. The ministers went on to name some other well-publicized victims, noting that countless others’ deaths “didn’t make the news.”
“We must use our breath—the very breath we have received as a gift from God—to break the chokehold on systematic racism,” the letter said. “To every Black and Brown member of this congregation, and to this community and city we share: we confess that we have perpetuated bias and prejudice. … We commit to doing the work we need to do to become anti-racist, We commit to being an ally and partner in the work for racial justice and equality.”
“We must use our breath—the very breath we have received as a gift from God—to break the chokehold on systematic racism."
Letter from FPC Pastors, 2020
The ministers called on members of the church to join them in a 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge created at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The challenge was a continuation of work the church had already been doing to increase sensitivity and understanding with regards to the racial issues confronting American society.
In 2019, the New York Times published the 1619 Project, a groundbreaking journalism series (and later a book) that looked at American history through the lens of slavery and its legacy. Stembler Scholar Chris Holmes suggested to Sundermeier that the church initiate a conversation about the project. Sundermeier agreed, and the first Dinner and Dialogue was scheduled. “It was well attended,” Holmes said, “and in the weeks that followed, we got enough responses that we decided to do a follow-up.”
Holmes was joined in leadership by Iyabo Onipede, whom he met through Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Onipede had attended the first session as a participant, and afterward, Holmes suggested she take on a larger role. He admitted that, as a white male, he needed to share the responsibility of directing these sessions with a Black person who had a theological background.
With COVID, the sessions paused, then restarted via Zoom. The group followed up its study of the 1619 Project with other readings: The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James Cone; Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson; and The Racial Healing Handbook, by Anneliese A. Singh. The latter is a sort of journal that asks readers to record their feelings and experiences.
In 2020, the church conducted six conversations on race and racism with guest interviewees for elected church leaders. The goal of the church’s programming was “not to make white people feel guilty,” Holmes said. “Healing is the right word. Racism is a distortion of our humanity for white people and nonwhite people.”
History Set the Stage
While First Presbyterian Church’s staff and members have looked toward the 175th anniversary and the church’s future, the Archives and History Committee focused on its past, preparing documentation for the church’s sanctuary building to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
The idea was suggested by Dr. Ray Luce, former Director of Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division, who was impressed by the stained glass windows on a tour of the sanctuary. Luce, then a professor of historic preservation at Georgia State, sent over two of his graduate students to help start the process.
Four years and many drafts later, the church was finally approved at the state level for inclusion in the Georgia Register. The following year, in May of 2020, approval came for the National Register in two categories: in Architecture, for the late Gothic Revival style, and in Art, for the eighteen stained glass windows by the studios of Tiffany, D‘Ascenzo, and Willet. An exterior plaque describing the listing is at the main Peachtree entrance to the church.
Members at First Presbyterian participate in a legacy of worship and service that stretches back to 1848.
In a sermon marking the one hundredth anniversary of the sanctuary, Sundermeier described walking in with his wife, Katie, for the first time in the spring of 2014. “We were standing on sacred ground, and we knew it,” he said. “Somehow, in some mysterious way, we felt the weight of almost a century of worship, a century of singing and praying, a century of preaching, a century of weddings and funerals, a century of special services, a century of thousands upon thousands of people— sinners and saints alike—who have called this place their spiritual home.”
During the past season of ministry, many of First Presbyterian’s associate pastors answered calls to senior or solo pastorates or other significant positions: Craig Goodrich was called to be the Senior Pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Naples following a brief ministry at Trinity Presbyterian in Atlanta (2013); Lindsay Armstrong was called as the Executive Director of the New Church Development Initiative for the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta (2014); Chris Moore-Keish became the Senior Chaplain for Presbyterian Homes of Georgia, Austell (2014); Allison Per-Lee became the Senior Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Snellville, Georgia (2015); Greg Allen-Pickett became the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hastings, Nebraska (2017); Ann Henley Nicholson was called into a leadership position at Princeton Theological Seminary (2019) and was then called as a Vice President to Columbia Theological Seminary (2022); Keith Thompson accepted the Associate Pastor position at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC (2021). And in 2022, Rebekah LeMon became Senior Pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta; Leigh Bonner accepted an Interim Associate Pastor position at First Presbyterian Church of Athens; and Jamie Butcher accepted a position as Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
The church also honored staff who retired after many years of service to the congregation. Captain James Oates, chief security officer at the church, retired after twenty-six years.
In 1995, he had recently retired from the air force when a family connection who owned a security firm asked him to come work at the church. Oates said he decided to try the job for a while to see whether he liked it, and stayed until December 31, 2021.
During his tenure, in 2017, the church made the decision to formally employ all of its security and custodial staff, who had been working for other companies under contract. This allowed them to receive the same medical benefits as the other pastors and staff.
“The best thing about it was that being part of the church was like an extended family,” Oates said. “I befriended so many people that it wasn’t like coming to work.”
Rev. Dr. Tony Sundermeier
Parents from both the preschool and the church shared over the years how much their children loved Captain Oates.
In addition to Captain Oates, there were three other notable retirements: Global Mission Director Rose Emily Bermudez, Community Ministries Director Mary Joe Dellinger, and Associate Pastor Connie Lee. Both Dellinger and Connie Lee served the church and their neighbors with humility, Christlike compassion, and commitment to “the least of these.” Their solid and consistent leadership provided the groundwork to take Community Ministries to its next chapter, a commitment to empowerment, dignity, and self-sufficiency for every person they serve.
Amid the departures, there were also notable arrivals; the church welcomed the Sundermeiers in 2014 and Holmes in 2019, along with Rob Sparks as the Associate Pastor for Care in 2019 and Kate Culver as the Associate Pastor for Community Ministries in 2021.
In 2022, the Session also created a Pastoral Resident position to provide a variety of ministerial experiences to those who are postseminary but pre-ordination.
Kalecia Wright was the first person to hold this position. In 2012, the church also welcomed organist Dr. Jens Korndörfer, who was later promoted to the role of Director of Worship and the Arts. “Jens has a huge impact on the life of the church,” said Senior Pastor Sundermeier. In 2020, American Organist magazine described Korndörfer as “a virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition, plumbing the depths of demanding repertoire with no trace of empty display, rather creating performances that are deeply musically satisfying as well as exciting.”
Senior Pastor Tony Sundermeier has sought to expand both the ministry and the legacy of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta.
Korndörfer’s connections throughout the city are responsible for the variety of musicians who now frequently perform at First Presbyterian Church.
Korndörfer was joined on the music staff by Dr. Daniel Bara, the John D. Boyd UGA Foundation Professor of Choral Music, Director of Choral Activities, and Professor of Music at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia, and Dr. Deanna Joseph, Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Georgia State University. Joseph was named Outstanding Faculty Member there in 2021. This husband-wife team continues to codirect the church’s orchestra and choir.
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta has a staff and congregation that are at once steeped in tradition and open to the Spirit. Its mission statement, adopted in 2016, describes the church as “a community of humble followers of Jesus Christ who choose, by God’s grace, to live by love, seek continual transformation, and equip all to be servant leaders in Atlanta and throughout the world.” For 175 years, First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta has offered a place for sinners to seek redemption, the hurting to find comfort, the poor to find assistance, the lonely to find companionship, and those who seek to live more like Jesus to find support and encouragement.
May it always be so.
