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Waterford’s
Art & Antiques Auctioneers
FAITH
Churches welcome
pastors back home
Receive A Free Auction Valuation!
We will be in Atlanta seeking consignments
for our upcoming November and future auctions of
American, Asian & European fine art, antiques &
decorative works of art.
Figure of Buddah Amitabha,
A Western Tibetan Bronze
12th/13th Century
SOLD FOR $106,400
When: Fri. & Sat., October 11th & 12th
Time: 9:00am - 6:00pm
Where: Charlotte Rm, JW Marriott
Buckhead, 3300 Lenox Road NE,
Atlanta, GA 30326
To make an appointment or for any
questions contact Veronica O’Brien at
T: 856-281-5700 or
E: specialist®waterfordsauction. com
www.waterfordsauction.com
Construction, llc
BY MELISSA WEINMAN
melissaweinman@reporternewspapers.net
Life has led two local pastors back to
where they started.
Rev. James Neil Hollingsworth Jr.
took the pulpit as
senior pastor at Sec
ond-Ponce de Leon
Baptist Church
in Buckhead — a
church he often at
tended as a teenag
er.
And Rev. David
Shivers moved back
to Sandy Springs
in August to take
the helm as pas
tor of First Baptist
Church of Sandy
Springs, a church
he grew up in and
where his father,
E.B. Shivers, served
as pastor from 1958
to 1980.
Shivers said he left the area to go to
college and never moved back. Now 35
years later, he’s exploring his hometown,
which he’s found has changed quite a
bit.
Rev. James Neil Hollingsworth Jr.
Second-Ponce de Leon
Baptist Church
Before Construction
After Construction
Specializing in Construction, Renovation, Repair & Maintenance
• Patios/Pool Decks • Pools & Spas
• Brick & Stone • Chimneys/Fireplace
• Outdoor Kitchens • Arbors
• Decorative Concrete/Pavers
Decks • Driveways • Efflorescence Cleaning • Grading & Drainage
• Historical Restorations • Masonry Maintenance Contracts
• Retaining Walls • Stone Patio Restoration & Sealing
• Stone/Tile Deck Waterproofing & Leak Repair
www.southernoutdoorcd.com
Serving your community
for 15 years
“This was just farmland and a house
on this corner,” Shivers said of the
church property.
Shivers grew up across the street from
where the church now sits, and spent a
lot of time riding his bike around the
area. Shivers said
the church was a
big part of his child
hood.
“It was such
a special place to
grow up,” Shivers
said.
Second-Ponce
de Leon Bap
tist Church vot
ed unanimously to
call Hollingsworth,
known as Dock, to
serve as its seventh
pastor. His first ser
vice at the Peachtree
Road church was
Sept. 22.
Hollingsworth
has several connections to the church he
now leads. Growing up, Hollingsworth
attended special events at Second-Ponce
de Leon with his high school friends.
And while at Mercer University as an
undergraduate, several of his college
friends attended Second-Ponce de Leon.
According to the church, Holling
sworth had no intention of staying when
he came to Second-Ponce de Leon as in
terim preacher 15 months ago. He had
served as interim pastor at nine differ
ent congregations over the past 12 years.
Hollingsworth also worked at Mer
cer University’s Macon and Atlanta
campuses for the past 18 years. He was
assistant dean and assistant professor
of leadership, and supervised ministry
at Mercer University’s McAfee School
of Theology. He was also executive di
rector for The Center for Teaching
Churches, according to the church.
“I fully thought I would retire at
McAfee, but the energy and possibility
of this place has captured my imagina
tion, and by God’s grace it would not let
me go,” Hollingsworth said in an email.
For nearly 20 years, the congregation
at First Baptist Church of Sandy Springs
has been trying to get Shivers to come
back to Georgia and lead the congrega
tion.
“The first time I got a call was proba
bly around 1994. I had just started pas-
toring a church in Mississippi,” Shiv
ers said. “Life was happening. We were
growing churches. It was just not the
right time. I had to wait on God’s per
fect timing.”
But Shivers said he’s always been in
terested in returning to First Baptist.
“This has been a church I have prayed
for since I could pray,” Shivers said. “I
have prayed for this church daily. It’s my
first love, as far as churches go.”
Shivers said he hopes to return the
church to the vibrancy he remem-
8 | OCT. 4 — OCT. 17, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
