"Welcome to the Calvary Chapel McDonough Website. Within these pages, you'll find information about our pastor, our church, it's history and our beliefs."

OUR PASTOR

Calvary Chapel McDonough is pastored by Manny Collazo.

Manny was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. Like many young people, during his teenage years, he rebelled against every rule and boundary in his life while pursuing freedom and pleasure. Fortunately, by the time he was 17, Manny got tired of life without purpose and meaning. So he began searching for answers to those soul searching, life sifting questions: Why am I here? What am I going to do with my life? Where am I going? It was shortly after that Jesus became his answer.

Six (6) months later, Manny left his hometown for California where he graduated from Calvary Chapel Bible College. Upon graduation, he served as an intern pastor at Calvary Chapel San Jose for one (1) year. During this time, he met and married his wife Denise and relocated to Monterey. After 3 years, Manny was asked to be the youth pastor at Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay.

OUR BEGINNINGS

On August 2nd, 2001, Manny and his family moved from California to be an Assisting Pastor at Calvary Chapel Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, GA. Since arriving, it was his desire to be a part of God’s plan for Calvary Chapel on the East Coast.

Around the same time, Jeff and Chantel Gurak relocated to McDonough, Georgia. Having been involved with a prominent Calvary Chapel in Boise, Idaho, the Gurak's longed for a church that valued the balance that makes Calvary Chapel unique - the teaching of God’s Word and an openness to the work of the Holy Spirit. Since most Calvary Chapels in Georgia were north of Atlanta, the Gurak's developed a passion to see a Calvary Chapel started in the south side of Atlanta. So, in order to determine their community’s interest in a Calvary Chapel style ministry, Jeff put an ad in the local paper asking all interested parties to respond. Approximately one (1) year later Manny met the Gurak's. They were so excited about the possibility of a Calvary Chapel in their area that they decided to facilitate this venture by hosting the fellowship in their home.

On April of 2003, we began our first Sunday morning service. Before long the small gathering outgrew the Gurak’s home and we moved to larger meeting places to facilitate our growth.

OUR PRESENT

We moved into our current facility at 227 Technology Parkway in October of 2006. Our simple home fellowship has blossomed into a church family of various backgrounds and experiences who fellowship as one in honor of the One. Besides our Sunday morning services there are other plenty of ways to interact at Calvary Chapel McDonough. On any week there is a variety of ministries and programs to be involved in. Whether your interests include Children and Youth Ministry, Evangelism and Outreach, Women’s and Men’s Groups, Home Fellowships, Music or Media Ministry we have a place for you in our church family.

OUR FUTURE

Obviously, we have hopes and dreams for the future of Calvary Chapel McDonough. However, we understand that God determines what the scope and influence of our service will be. So we are confident that Jesus will build His Church as we focus on being the Church. Therefore,

> Our passion is to be a church where Jesus is preeminent and people are a priority.

> Our vision is to be a church whose lifestyle is contagious, message is relevant, and ministry is practical to its community.

> Our mission is to be a Church that equips people to pursue God’s purpose for their lives, emphasizes God’s Word, and remains open to the work His Spirit in our hearts and lives.