Welcome to Our Church

It's a pleasure to welcome you to the Buford Presbyterian Church website. Whether member, friend, or visitor - we hope that this site reflects the friendly and open nature of our congregation. If you are searching for a church home, we'd like you to know that there's a special place here just for you.   Our Church is...

  • A Place for Worship. The primary reason we meet together is to focus our attention on God, giving Him our worship and receiving His blessing and inspiration. Each of these occasions is a special time of spiritual refreshment.
  • A Place for Learning. To us, studying the Bible is vital because it not only instructs us intellectually, but also guides us spiritually. We believe it and accept it as God's Word to us, a Book that is alive and relevant to life today. Learning its truths is a thrilling adventure.
  • A Place for Enrichment. For every person at every age level we offer a wealth of opportunities - special programs and ministries for children, youth, and adults which fill the church calendar. You can be sure that in this kaleidoscope of activities there's more than one place where you can be personally enriched.
  • A Place for Friendship. Nothing quite compares to the joy of Christian friendship. That's why we make it a priority to build lasting bonds between the members of our church family - bonds of concern and genuine commitment to one another.
  • A Place for Service. Just as Jesus Christ came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister..." we accept our responsibility to reach out in service to others. This applies both within the church family and outside our fellowship.

Best of all, this circle of care is ever-widening. We'd love it to include you too.

Inspiration for the Week

Quote for the Week:
"Our relationship or dialogue with God, our discovery of God, takes place in faith and only in faith."
---Carlo Carretto 

Inspiration for the Week:
We live in a culture that is saturated with the values of consumerism. We shop for most everything we have from household items to things of a more lasting value and importance. The church, in our time, has found itself in a position of complicity with the consumerism that characterizes modern life in the U.S. 

Most of us have heard of friends or neighbors "shopping" for a church home. The thought process is not unlike that of purchasing a new car. What does this congregation have to offer? What is required of me if I join (i.e., how much does it cost?)? Will it have lasting value? More often than not, there is a sense of looking around for the "best buy" and "best fit." 

To some degree, this is understandable. Given the diversity of Christian churches nowadays, not every church is necessarily the right one for us. We need to carefully "select" the congregation that works for us since the church we attend is of critical importance for us in our spiritual journey. I truly hope that those of us who have cast our lot with Buford Presbyterian have an authentic sense that this is where we are supposed to be or, to put it another way, that this is where God wants us to be. 

However, we need to always bear in mind that God has chosen us more than we have chosen God. Jesus said as much to his own disciples. In the end, it is more about God than about us. God has sought us out and set us among the sheep of God's pasture. We might do well to ask the following (with apologies to JFK): "Ask not what God can do for you. Ask what you can do for God." God has purchased us and at an ultimate cost. 

Prayer for the Week:
"My Lord, I come to this moment knowing altogether too well that my feet are prone to wander, and my heart is prone to coldness. Go with me, my Lord. Keep my feet to your path and my heart aflame with your Spirit." 

Pastor Corey

Buford Presbyterian Church Warmly Welcomes to our new Pastor:
Rev. Dr. Corey Ingold

We are pleased and excited to welcome Rev. Corey Ingold as our new permanent Pastor (Head of Staff) on August 8, 2010. He comes to us after serving at Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, VA where he has been Pastor (Head of Staff) for eight years. Prior to that, he also served as Solo Pastor of Rocky River Pres. Church in Concord, NC and Associate Pastor of Steele Creek Pres. Church in Charlotte, NC. 

In addition to serving his church, he has served the community as a member of the Board of Trustees for Interfaith Outreach, a local ministry dealing with community needs, and for Westminster-Canterbury, a 500-bed senior care facility in Lynchburg. 

He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Laurinburg NC, and a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary here in Atlanta, and Doctor of Ministry from Union-PSCE in Richmond, VA.

One of the common themes that comes up when we speak about our church is the sense that we are a family. The Ingold’s will be a wonderful addition to our community of faith and we welcome them to our family in Buford!

From the Minister's Desk

These first weeks at Buford Presbyterian have been very blessed ones for me and my family. The reception given in our honor on August 8 was overwhelming, and I’ll never forget all the children who gave me tootsie rolls of welcome that day. Your generosity was extended into the next week with the “pounding” of household items that has packed our pantry to the brim. Our cups runneth over, and we cannot adequately express what it means to feel so welcomed and embraced by this congregation. 

I also have been thankful for the gifts of new eyes as I come to learn more about you and how the Christian faith is uniquely practiced and expressed here at BPC. After a while, we normally begin to settle into a routine after making changes in life, and I know that will increasingly become the case with me. But right now, I have new eyes and am seeing church life with a fresh perspective. 

Here are some of the things I see: lots of children and youth and young adults, many of them new to the life of faith but eager to learn more; a wonderful facility that, while expensive to pay for and maintain, gives us the ability to do things many other congregations cannot; an excitement about the future and our prospects for both serving and sharing the gospel in this community and well beyond; an appreciation for worship that points to God and not just back at us; a gathering of people who get along with each other and appreciate their time together on Sundays or whenever they get together; and finally, a sense of investment by church members that comes through in the extensive list of volunteers who have some duty to perform on Sunday mornings and other times. 

This is an active church, and its people display a wide variety of gifts and talents. Though you have called me to perform pastoral duties as you called Rix some 5 years ago, the church here is a body of Christ with many, many more component parts. We’re all in this together as we share both joys and burdens and as we seek to glorify God in our worship, service, and fellowship. It is with great excitement that I take on the mantle of pastoral leadership here, and I look forward to deepening relationships with you as time goes by. 

Peace in Christ,
Corey