Interview With Dan Garrett | Deep Cut

·1 hr 1 min·5 clips

Inside the former strip club, they found lockers covered with family photos of the dancers, including Santa pictures.

The episode features an interview with Dan Garrett, the planter of Atlanta Christian Church, hosted by Derek, who was once in Garrett's youth ministry. They discuss Garrett's book 'From Polls to Pews', which details the church's origin in the Gold Club, a famous strip club in Buckhead, Atlanta, in 2004. Garrett explains he wrote the book based on notes kept over 20 years, prompted by the 20th anniversary. He recounts how his wife, Carol, seriously suggested renting the club, leading to a meeting with property owners Kim King and Wayne Mason. Walking through the dark, unused building with contractor Wayne Leslie, Garrett felt compelled to proceed despite practical challenges. During renovations, volunteers found the dressing room with lockers covered in personal photos of dancers, including family and Santa pictures, which humanized them and shifted the team's perspective. Opening day saw 450 attendees, with former dancers from Victoria's Friends ministry in the front rows, and media coverage from outlets like the Associated Press and Paul Harvey. The church stayed at the Gold Club for about six months before moving due to safety and maintenance issues, then to a theater and later a traditional church building. Garrett reflects on how the space shaped the church's welcoming DNA, with diversity emerging organically from his childhood experiences. He resigned after nearly three years, citing family pressures and spiritual assault, and Derek took over leadership in 2007. The conversation covers themes of transformation, grace, and community building.

As heard by us

A church's history comes into focus through one renovation, a long friendship, and a refusal to reduce people to appearances.

Dan Garrett's visit to Atlanta Christian Church opens into a thoughtful conversation about memory, ministry, and the assumptions people bring into unfamiliar rooms.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a church origin story where a former strip club dressing room becomes a lesson in seeing people whole.

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