Woodland Hills Baptist Church has been a presence in Atlanta since 1929. Like so many other churches in the city, Woodland Hills was once a thriving church. Time and repeated changes in our surrounding community led to a steep decline. However, the people of Woodland Hills are committed to seeing this church impact our community, so in August of 2008 Rusty Couch was hired as pastor to help restart this struggling church.

We are excited at what God has already done in restoring the church to a viable work in the community as we have been able to renovate the facilities, making them more useful for ministry, and have formed a strong, committed core group of believers. There is still much work to be done as we aim toward becoming financially viable, developing a holistic family ministry, and continuing to reestablish a positive reputation in our community. We also have a future goal of planting another church to reach the “young cosmopolitan” demographic of our community, which has been most difficult for us to connect with.

Like most church plants, Woodland Hills faces the challenge of a lack of finances and manpower to accomplish the ministry we feel called to do in this community. We have discovered in our community a great deal of skepticism of the church and, in particular, the Baptist church. As we are reaching out to the people here, some have shared their pleasant surprise as they have discovered that much of what they have been told and have heard about the church is not true.

Our prayer is that we would remain focused on the Great Commission and would be able to break out of a survival mindset, looking to the future with hope for a thriving body of believers. We are also praying that God would send more workers to come alongside us and help to reach this community for Christ. We hope to continue to refurbish our campus with the help of mission teams and also to engage the community in ways that will give us opportunities to share the gospel.

Rusty Couch was in his eighth year as a youth pastor and enjoying his work with a growing group of teenagers at a large church in the suburbs. Shortly after, it became clear that the Lord was about to do something different, and he received a phone call that would radically change his direction. An old church in Atlanta that was struggling to survive was looking for a pastor who would help restart it. Rusty was quick to point out that he had never planted a church or even pastored, but that only made him more appealing to this church, which was ready to try some new ideas. Prior to this phone call, God had been burdening Rusty’s heart for churches in Atlanta as he found out how many were dying in the midst of a rapidly growing population. Rusty accepted the call and became pastor of Woodland Hills Baptist Church in August of 2008.

Rusty attended the University of Georgia and Lexington Baptist College before eventually graduating from Mid-Continent University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Church Leadership in 2000. Prior to his work at Woodland Hills, he served churches in Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia in music, missions, outreach, and student ministry capacities. Rusty grew up in Athens, Georgia, where much of his family still resides.

Contact Info:

Rusty Couch, Woodland Hills Baptist Church

Address: 1084 Woodland Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Website: www.whbcatl.com