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The Lakeview Church's history is a journey of faith and friendship.  Finding another church with the rich history of people is rare, so travel with us as we introduce you to our journey and history.

Smyrna King Springs is very unique in that it is a merger of two existing churches. The Smyrna and Cascade Road Churches voted on April 17, 1985 to combine and create a new church, Smyrna King Springs.

» Smyrna Church

Before the merger, Smyrna held its first meeting on January 8, 1977 under the leadership of Ken McVay. He and his wife, Blanche, came from the Dunlap, Tennessee church to become the chaplain of the then nearby Smyrna SDA Hospital. Meetings were held in Griffin Middle School, Legion Heights Baptist Church, Lutheran Church, and then moved to Cascade Road Church while the Smyrna King Springs building was being completed.

February 18, 1978 was the charter date for the new Smyrna Church. On that day, 45 persons joined the excitement of signing the charter scroll. Seven more names were added the following week, bringing the total to fifty-two members.

Chaplain McVay, besides duties as chaplain, pastored for two years through the church's infancy. In January 1979 after honoring McVay for helping start the church, the Smyrna members welcomed John Hagan as the new pastor.

1983 Pastor Hagen decided to leave the Smyrna Church to pastor an independent church with several members following him. The frustration caused by these changes existed only a short time, as God solved the dilemma quickly. Pastor Steve Darmody arrived in March of 1983 bringing new leadership. His youth, musical talent, enthusiasm and dedication to serve Christ warmed the member's hearts and soothed the frustrations that had been caused by the split.

» Cascade SDA Church

The Cascade Road charter meeting was held at a rented Lutheran church on Lee Street in West End on July 16, 1955. There were 84 people who signed the charter scroll. Most of these members came from the Kirkwood and Beverly Road Churches and Elder G.O. Adams was the first pastor. While searching for property to build a church, the group decided to meet in the then Atlanta Union Academy building near Grant Park and later at the Family Center across the street from the academy. In 1957, Elder Adams accepted a call to become president of the Newfoundland Conference. Soon H.A. Welkin took the helm, and plans continued.

After a lengthy search for property, a 14 acre plot was located on a corner with boundaries on Cascade Road and Kimberly Road, about 15 miles west of Atlanta. Mr. Eugene A. Anderson, Sr., presented the church with a check to cover the full cost of the property. In 1959, Elder Welkin transferred to Washington State and Elder J.V. Stevens took over the duties of pastor, generating much enthusiasm. By August 1960, services were held in the beautiful new church building, which was named Cascade Road SDA Church. In 1962, for health reasons, Elder Stevens accepted a call to Arizona.  In September 1963, two rooms of the school complex were ready for school to open on time.

In October 1963, Elder J.J. Millet filled Elder Stevens place. He was an evangelist at heart and felt the call to pursue his love.  November 1964, he resigned to the Alabama-Mississippi Conference to become the conference evangelist.

On January 1, 1965 Elder W.J. Henson became the new pastor. The membership grew under his leadership to 314 in 1968. 1970 found Elder Henson going into conference work and Elder Curtis Morton filling the vacant pastoral position. The church and school continued to grow and the school became a 10-grade academy. Elder Al Klein came to pastor the church in 1977 after Elder Morton resigned to head the bible department at the Academy. In 1984, the school became a fully accredited 12-grade academy and was renamed Atlanta Adventist Academy. Another change found Elder Klein moving to a Church in Savannah, Georgia.  Elder John Swafford became the newest pastor of this rapidly changing and growing congregation.

Under the new leadership of Cascade's Pastor Swafford and Smyrna's Pastor Darmody, these two churches united and the name Smyrna King Springs SDA Church was adopted. The combined membership was now 396. At the time of the merger, the first phase of the building program in Smyrna was already underway. The open house of the new church building was gladly celebrated on February 22, 1986.

» Smyrna King Springs Church
 
During 1986, Pastor Darmody transferred to Burleson Texas and Pastor Swafford left to serve with the Georgia-Cumberland Conference. Pastor Dave Smith arrived in December of that year just as the church was finishing up the parking lot. He and his family brought new and great inspiration to all. At the end of 1990, Pastor Smith felt impressed to accept a call to the Greenville, Tennessee Church.

Pastor Paul Hoover arrived in July 1991 generating new enthusiasm. Under his leadership and enthusiasm, membership grew to almost 500 and over-crowding of the sanctuary soon became a problem in this new building.  This contagious, new enthusiasm, growth and passion enabled the church members to accelerate payment of the church mortgage by two years. On March 26, 1994, the sanctuary was dedicated to the Lord.  Pastor Hoover then accepted a call to the Calhoun SDA Church in Calhoun, Georgia on October 29, 1994.

Without a pastor the church was presented with the option of purchasing 29 acres of land in the Powder Springs city limits of Cobb County on January 7, 1995.  Sensing a need to accommodate the new growth, the church, under the leadership of the head elder, Ben Wheatley, went ahead and purchased the property.

January 14, 1995 brought a new pastor, Denver Cavins, with a strong evangelistic vision, a debt free church, and little room for new members. Pastor Cavins had a strong commitment for evangelism, and Smyrna became a sponsor for several mission trips. The Smyrna King Springs Church and Pastor Cavins hosted and baptized people in the countries of Estonia, Russia, Cuba, the Philippines, and Powder Springs.  In December 1998, sensing the need to accommodate its growth, the Smyrna King Springs Church sold the Smyrna property, and the congregation temporarily moved and met in the rented auditorium of Tapp Middle School next to the new church property in Powder Springs.  This move was to prepare the way for construction on the new property.  The church also changed its name to Lakeview Seventh-day Adventist Church to reflect its future location. Pastor Cavins after several decades of ministry retired from Lakeview Church in March 1999.

July 1999, Mike Larsen became the new pastor for the Lakeview Church.  Six months into the year, under the new leadership of Pastor Larsen, the church family needed a facility to meet in more than the once a week allotment at Tapp Middle School.  The church leadership looked for and rented the current facility we are meeting at on Fambrough Drive.  Spring 2001, Cascade Adventist Elementary (CAE) was temporarily suspended allowing the church to place sources and more focus on completing the new church and school (Anderson Adventist School of Excellence, AASE).

March 2002 brought the resignation and retirement of Pastor Larsen; the leadership continued planning for the development of the new church and searching for a new pastor. Peter Kulakov joined as the new Lakeview Pastor in August of 2002.  With Pastor Kulakov's leadership, several acres of the property (across the street) were sold as a fundraiser to aid in the construction.  On fire and looking for a home, the church family further raised $100,000 in less than 8 months, bringing us where we needed to be for ground breaking.

With the guidance and blessings of God, the church broke ground March 2, 2003.  This first phase of three, is the multipurpose building, which will be converted into the gymnasium for the school, Anderson Adventist School of Excellence (AASE).  The journey of this church family has been long, but blessed, and we anticipate the completion of phase one and plan for phases two and three, which is the School building and Sanctuary.

- By Daniel LaFlair

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