Church History

Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (formerly Harvester Church) began as the dream of a Douglasville Bible Study group.  Joe Fowler led these folks who were driving to Powder Springs, Georgia to attend Midway Presbyterian Church, and wanted to have a PCA church in their own town.  That dream became a reality on October 5, 1980, when 13 people attended the first service at the Douglas Federal Bank community room.  The preacher that Sunday was Wilson Smith, the pastor of Midway Church, and he led the services for 9 months.  A year later the fledgling church moved to the basement of a building on James Street, and called Don Mountan to be the first pastor.

In 1984, the Lord brought CHPC a great opportunity to buy 5 acres for $35,000 and the seller would donate $25,000 of that back - imagine! - 5 acres for $10,000 cash.  We now occupy those 5 acres and along the way that was expanded to 6.5 acres.  In 2002 the Lord again brought us a great gift when Genstar donated half of the 4.5 acre woods next door and we bought the other half.

In 1985 the men and women of CHPC built our first building - most of the work done by the members - and the whole building was completed for $100,000 cash.  There was initially no air-conditioning, and it was added later.  Today that building is called the 'A' Building and it contains the church and school offices.

In 1986 Harvester Christian Academy was born. There were 13 children the first year, and the next year the school expanded to 4 classes covering K4-4th grade. The desire was to provide quality Christian Education for the children of Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church. The school continued to grow and in 1990 the next building was begun to provide adequate space for the burgeoning academy. That same year Dan Steere was hired as the Headmaster - Pastor Don Mountan had filled those shoes until then. In 1992 Don moved to Clermont, Florida plant a new PCA church. He is now working with Equipping Pastors International and is a CHPC supported missionary.

In 1993 a new era began with a new pastor, Tom Irby. That same year the school added the 7th and 8th grades and plans began to add the gymnasium. Those plans came to fruition in 1995 - the school and church were growing quickly. The church outgrew the old sanctuary and moved to the gym for worship. The school added 9th-11th grade in 1996 and the Middle School and High School soon had to move into trailers because the elementary school was bursting at the seams.

In 1998 HCA had its first graduation class with 5 seniors. That same year Dan Steere moved to Summerville, Georgia to become the pastor of First Presbyterian Church. In 1999 Jack North became our Headmaster and the school continued to grow. We have grown to over 420 students and our graduation class in 2008 will have over 20 students for the first time. Our Middle/High School is ACSI & GAC accredited.

In 2001, Jim Whittle became CHPC's third pastor. Over the last 7 years the Lord has blessed us greatly. We built a permanent MS/HS building, bought 4.5 additional acres for our future; and after 10 years of worshipping in the gym, we moved into our new Sanctuary in May 2006. The gospel is changing people's lives and God is revealing His glory - it's very good.