Staff

Meet our professional staff. They joyfully bring many years of service to Christ to energize the ministries of Peachtree Christian Church. Get to know them in person this Sunday!

Dr. Barry McCarty, Senior Pastor

Dr. McCarty is the Senior Pastor of Peachtree Christian Church. A native of Atlanta, his family has deep roots in the Christian Churches of North Georgia. He was ordained to the ministry on Easter Sunday 1976 by the same congregation in Jasper, GA, where his great-grandfather Cicero Presley, an early Disciples of Christ minister, began preaching in the 1890s. Following his undergraduate education at Mid-Atlantic Christian University, Dr. McCarty received an MA from Abilene Christian University and a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.

Prior to serving as a pastor, Dr. McCarty was a college and seminary professor with published texts in the fields of preaching and church leadership. Following five years as president of Cincinnati Christian University, in 1993 he answered the call to new church work, leading the Centre Pointe Christian Church in growing from a core of 140 people meeting in a rented school cafeteria to over 1,000 in six years. Known for his passion for Biblical preaching, Pastor Barry describes his mission in life as ?inviting people to follow Christ and teaching them to do everything he told us to do.?

His wife of 35 years, Patricia, is a former assistant editor for two weekly Christian magazines, Lookout and Christian Standard, and is now a ministry assistant for the Church Planting Group at the North American Mission Board. They have three grown sons: Ryan (Cincinnati), Noah (Douglasville, GA), and Ian (Atlanta). A life-long athlete and former black belt karate champion, Barry stays in shape by riding with the Atlanta Cycling Team. His idea of a summer vacation is riding the mountain stages of the Tour de France race course.

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Dan Johnson, Executive Pastor

Dan Johnson spent 23 years as a member of Peachtree Christian Church before he joined our staff. During that time he served as vice chair and chair of the Official Board, and as a member of the executive committee. He is currently a trustee, an elder, and is leading the Peachtree Heritage Fund to raise the church's permanent endowment to $7 million to care for and preserve the historic sacred space where we worship and serve the city of Atlanta.

The Executive Minister is the church's chief operating officer and the Senior Pastor's chief of staff. Dan's responsibilities include effectively organizing and administering the personnel and resources of the church and managing its daily operations.

As the founder and president of ImageMaster Productions, Inc., he has a proven background of managing people, projects and finances. During his 20-year career as a film and television producer and director, Dan has won 24 Emmy Awards from the Southeast Regional Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Dan's transition from the business world to vocational ministry was a long and thoughtful process undergirded by much prayer. He has a strong Christian faith, a spirit of servant-leadership, and a clear call to serve alongside our Senior Pastor to ensure the smooth operations of our church.

Dan and his wife, Kay, have 2 daughters who are active in the youth ministry at Peachtree.

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Rev. James L. Bell, III, Minister of Music and Special Ministries

Jim Bell, Minister of Music and Special Ministries holds degrees in Voice and Choral Music from Belhaven College and Kansas State University. In addition, Rev. Bell has done post-graduate study at The University of Northern Colorado and The University of North Texas. A Minister licensed by the Regional Church, his ministry at Peachtree began in 1987.

As a Rotary International Graduate Fellow, he also studied at The University of Vienna and the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, Austria. Prior to coming to Atlanta, Rev. Bell was a professor of voice and choral music with the Texas University System. As a singer, Rev. Bell has worked with many of the major conductors in the world. In Atlanta, he sang with the late Robert Shaw appearing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, The ASO Chamber Chorus, and The Robert Shaw Chamber Singers (home based in Souillac, France). Under the baton of Maestro Shaw, Rev. Bell has performed throughout Europe and has appeared at Avery-Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Rev. Bell maintains an active career as a singer, teacher and conductor. He is married to Martha Steed Bell and they have two children, Laura Elisabeth and James IV.

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Herbert Buffington, Organist

Herbert Buffington has been Organist at the Peachtree Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since 1996.

He maintains an active solo recital schedule and has appeared in concert at such major venues as the Washington National Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA, National City Christian Church, Washington, D.C., the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, Maryland, The Kauffman Center, Kansas City, Kansas, Duke University Chapel, Durham, North Carolina, and the Bates Recital Hall at The University of Texas at Austin. He has served on the faculties of church music conferences and American Guild of Organists "Pipe Organ Encounters" and as recitalist and improvisation clinician for American Guild of Organists chapters across the country. Some of his organ improvisations and published compositions have been featured on Minnesota Public Radio's "Performance Today" and American Public Media's "Pipedreams." His recording of Christmas Improvisations ("Joy to the World") has received highly favorable critical acclaim.

Widely recognized for his refined ability as an organ improvisateur, an art that few organists in the United States have made their specialty, he won Second Prize in the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation at the 2010 National Convention in Washington, D.C., having previously received Third Prize and the coveted Audience Award (from an audience of his peers) in the same competition in 2008.

Mr. Buffington received early musical training as a chorister in the Men and Boys choir at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, where he also held the position of Cathedral Sub-Organist for several years before entering undergraduate school. He received academic degrees from Duke University (A.B.) and from the Peabody Conservatory of Music at The Johns Hopkins University (M.Mus.). European study was at the Vienna International Music Center and the Hochshule fur Musik in Vienna, Austria. His organ teachers have included the late Fenner Douglass, Robert Parkins, Peter Planyavsky and Donald Sutherland. Improvisation study has been with Bruce Neswick, David Dahl, and the late Gerre Hancock.

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Ms. Robin Turner Schulz, Children's Education Director

Robin serves as our Children's Christian Education Director. She has worked in the Children's area for ten years, the past three on staff as Director.

Robin has a Bachelor’s degree in Business / Marketing from University of Georgia. She worked for Turner Broadcasting / CNN for five years full-time and then three years part-time prior to starting this position. She adores working with children and spent her high school and college years teaching children how to ice skate at Stone Mountain Park.

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Rev. Bob Tyler, Minister of Pastoral Care

Following 20 years as Senior Minister of Peachtree City Christian Church, upon his retirement, Bob and Ruth Ann came to Peachtree to worship and became members in 1999. Dr. Collins asked Bob to share in pastoral visitation. In addition, Rev. Tyler became Interim Church Administrator, and now continues as Minister of Pastoral Care, which involves pastoral oversight and visitation of Senior Adults in hospitals, care facilities and at home. He teaches the Peachtree Singles Plus Class and serves as Staff resource for Membership, Prayer, Health, and Stephen Ministries.

Bob's wife, Ruth Ann, is from Columbus, IN. They met as Students at Cincinnati Bible Seminary where they received the B.S.L. (Bachelor of Sacred Literature) degree. In continuing education Bob pursued further studies in hospital ministry and Clinical Pastoral Education at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati. . Before coming to Peachtree City in 1980, they served Christian Churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Kingsport, Tennessee; and East Point, Georgia. They now reside in the Senior community at Christian City, where Bob serves as a volunteer chaplain. They have one daughter, Betsy, who lives in Peachtree City.

Email Reverend Tyler

Staff Directory

Peachtree Christian Church staff can be contacted by telephone at (404) 876-5535 using their individual extensions, or by email (userid followed by (at) peachtree.org) using the userid(s) listed below.

STAFFER	TITLE	EXT.	USER ID
Amy Anderson	Communications Manager	308	aanderson
Rev. Jim Bell	Music/Special Ministries	302	jbell
Katie Bond	Youth Director	313	kbond
Herbert Buffington	Organist	n/a	hrbuffington
Pat Grubbs	Financial Secretary	315	p.grubbs
Dan Johnson	Executive Minister	324	djohnson
Frankey Jones	Childtown Director	102	fjones
Dr. Barry McCarty	Senior Minister	301	bmccarty
Agnes Ogir	Receptionist	300	aogir
Jill Rice	Executive Assistant and Managing Editor	324	jrice
Christina Staton	Nursery Director	n/a	n/a
Robin Schulz	Children's Education Director	318	rschulz
Dee Stone	Connections Assistant	312	dstone
Thadious Turner	Maintenance Supervisor	300	n/a
Rev. Bob Tyler	Pastoral Care	305	btyler
Wedding Coordinator		307	weddings

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Board & Trustee Contact Information

OFFICIAL BOARD
Chair	Shane Hornbuckle	email
Vice Chair	Hunter Keith	email
Secretary	Otis Farmer	email
Asst. Secretary	Martha Vickers
Treasurer	Butch Woodyard	email
Asst. Treasurer	Tony Weigle	email
Parliamentarian	David Arnold	email
Executive Committee Chair	Shane Hornbuckle	email
Memorials Committee Chair	Joe Gardner	email
Nominating Committee Chair	Lamar Lambert	email

TRUSTEES
Chair	Jim Grace	email
Vice Chair	Steve Vasen	email
	Tony Watts	email
	Dan Johnson	email
	Rick Warren	email

TRUSTEES EMERITI
	Jack Simpson	email
	Tom Thurmond	email

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