ATLANTA (AP) — After Atlanta pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell stopped living to grow his congregation nearly three years ago, its attendance grew. Now, lines of young adults snake outside the 2819 church, some arriving as early as 5:30 a.m. to secure a spot for Sunday worship.
Christian rap and contemporary music, like a block party, volunteers blast megaphones to about 6,000 weekly churchgoers — down from 200 in 2023, the church reports. Inside the sanctuary, the atmosphere is grim. Many who are drawn to 2819’s fervent worship are hungry for Mitchell’s animated intensity and signature preaching: No sugarcoating the Bible.
After much weeping with rousing prayers and songs, Mitchell takes the stage in his black uniform, sometimes in quiet contemplation or tears, before launching into a fiery sermon. His messages, unpolished and filled with challenges to honor God and live well, often spread quickly online. A recent prayer event drew more people than State Farm Arena could handle, including several flights.
Weeping, shouting, storming the stage and punching the air, Mitchell preaches with his whole body – and exhorts people to come to faith before he dies or what he calls Jesus’ imminent return to earth.
“It’s life or death for me,” Mitchell told The Associated Press, comparing the act of preaching to being on the front lines of war. “There are souls that hang in the balance. … I think about the fact that someone in that room could hear the gospel, and that could be their last chance.”
The church — whose name refers to Matthew 28:19, the Bible verse commanding believers to “make disciples of all nations” — is non-denominational and theologically conservative, with beliefs that oppose abortion and support marriage only between men and women.
The growth of the congregation has attracted people of many races and ages, but it is primarily young black adults. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 are significantly younger than older adults who identify as Christian or regularly attend religious services.
Sharp preaching and moving worship
Warren Byrd, an expert on fast-growing churches, believes that the right leader is the key to church growth — with God’s help — and described Mitchell as “speaking in tongues” that connects with young people who other pastors don’t reach.
Churchgoers say Mitchell’s message resonates because he carefully walks them through the scriptures and talks openly about his spiritual transformation, including his past dealings in drugs, paying for abortions and trying to kill himself.
“I’m still a little rough around the edges, right? I’ve still got a little hood in me,” said Mitchell, who still speaks with a regional New York accent.
Many in 2819 want more than motivational speeches and say Mitchell’s sermons are a counterweight to the feel-good American propaganda he criticizes.
“I’m preaching without watering it down, without filtering out what we might find too controversial,” said Mitchell, who insists that people want to mature spiritually and face sin and its consequences without Jesus.
“I think there’s a generation that’s drawn to that authenticity and truth,” he said. “As a result, we’re seeing lives change radically.”
Christian podcaster Megan Ashley said she brought a friend who had fallen away from her faith to 2819, and Mitchell was impressed. “When he talks, I believe him,” the friend told Ashley.
Strong messages can hurt some people’s feelings, Donovan Logan, 23, said.
“But it has to be done. If you don’t come to church and you don’t want to change, that’s not the church you should go to,” Logan said.
Elijah McCord, 22, said Mitchell’s sermon touches on what’s happening in Atlanta about sin, and Mitchell’s story shows that “there is life in what God commands.” He also appreciates Mitchell’s plea to wait until marriage to have sex.
“He talks about sin and repentance in the Bible and how the gospel actually has hope,” McCord said.
Churchgoers say the draw of 2819 goes beyond Mitchell. This is the entire worship experience.
Dancing past greetings, the Sunday crowd enters the darkened auditorium. It is rife with prayer and bold instrumental music before the service, called 2819 a gathering, officially begins, already with raised hands amid shouts of praise. Tissue boxes sit along the aisles, ready to help those moved to tears.
“Worship is crazy. The Holy Spirit is there. Like, a physical presence. You feel it!” said Desirae Dominguez, 24.
Feeling ‘under-equipped’ to lead Mitchell 2819
Mitchell spent 10 years preaching, racking up fruitful notes from church development conferences, and eventually began to struggle with depression. During that time, he took a transformative trip to Israel where he said his encounters with God and other Christians changed him. Then, in 2023, he changed the name of the church to 2819.
Mitchell, who spent three years preaching only from the book of Matthew, said God told him to preach without taking prepared notes on stage. Even though he studied at a Bible college, he sometimes has doubts about his past.
“I shed a lot of tears because I often feel incompetent, unworthy,” Mitchell said. “If I were the steward of something like this I wouldn’t call me, and sometimes I don’t know why my preaching reaches (people). … I’m still shocked.”
As he prepares to preach, “I’m thinking about the broken people in the room, the troubled marriage, the suicidal person. I’m thinking about the young woman who’s struggling with the insecurities of being disabled and not knowing that there’s a father who loves her more than any man she’s going to meet here.”
When not preaching, Mitchell’s demeanor is calm. He and his staff are “here to serve,” he often says.
His massive online platform exposes him and sometimes his family to public criticism, pushback, and even threats. Some accuse him of self-righteousness or say he is too harsh. He also issued a public apology earlier this year for comments he made in a speech about upholding the right to abolish police brutality.
At times, he says he has been deeply affected by criticism and says he regrets criticizing critics. But Mitchell also finds comfort in understanding Jesus better by enduring this.
The staff adjusts for continuous growth
The church recently moved into its own building, outgrowing the charter school where they held services, and added a third. On the first two Sundays at the new location, they suddenly added a fourth gathering because more people came.
Staff faced similar problems with access, the church’s October prayer event that drew an estimated 40,000 people. State Farm Arena was filled to capacity, as was overflow space at a nearby convention center, leaving thousands outside, Church reported.
“We’re constantly tinkering. We’re constantly fixing things,” said Tatjuana Phillips, 2819’s director of ministries.
Logistical challenges, such as packed parking lots and swamped staff, are common in fast-growing churches, said Byrd, the church growth expert.
Despite its size, the church encourages community through its small groups, called “teams,” which give about 1,700 people a place to discuss sermons and support each other’s personal growth. Employees engage with approximately 75,000 people weekly who view online gatherings.
Long lines also give friendship. Ashley Grimes, 35, said there she “met so many brothers and sisters in Christ that I can now live with.”
Many of those new friends can be found in the church’s auditorium on Sundays while volunteers, called servant leaders, pray in each seat before Mitchell preaches.
On a recent Sunday, Mitchell told the crowd that no matter what they do, they can turn to Jesus. It worked for him. God, he said, “used failure to change my life.”
___
This story confirms that the school that was being attended was a charter school.
___
Kramon is a corps member for reporting at the Associated Press/U.S. Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that lets journalists report on issues hidden in local newsrooms.
___
Associated Press religion coverage is supported by funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc., AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US. AP is solely responsible for this content.
