Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818; in 2010, the population had been 57,551.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is the principal public transport operator in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting of 48 miles (77 km) of rail track with 38 subway stations. MARTA's rapid transit system is the eighth-largest rapid transit system in the United States by ridership.
Saddleback Church is an evangelical, non-denominational Christian multi-site megachurch based in Lake Forest, California. It is the largest church in California, and one of the largest in the United States of America. The church has several campuses in California and around the world, as well as a number of extensions. Weekly church attendance was 30,000 people in 2023. Its senior pastor is Andy Wood, and his wife, Stacie Wood, is a teaching pastor. Saddleback was formerly associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, until 2023.
There were several historic mills around the metro Atlanta area, for which many of its current-day roads are still named. Most of the mills date back to the 1820s and 1830s, and were built along the area's many streams. The locations of many of these mills are shown on a map of 1875 showing U. S. military operations around Atlanta in 1864. This map is now located in the U. S. Library of Congress but can be seen on the webpage linked here.
Historic ferries operated on rivers around Atlanta, Georgia area, and became namesakes for numerous current-day roads in north Georgia. Most of the ferries date to the early years of European-American settlement in the 1820s and 1830s, when parts of the region were still occupied by cherokee and other Native American communities.
The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, with jurisdiction over middle and north Georgia. It is in Province IV of the Episcopal Church and its cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Philip, is in Atlanta, as are the diocesan offices.
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the regional planning and intergovernmental coordination agency for the metro Atlanta, Georgia, USA region, defined as the 10-county area of Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties. The city of Atlanta is contained within this region. Forsyth County is also sometimes included but is not considered by the Georgia Department of Economic Development to be part of the area. It also serves as the metropolitan planning organization for those and nine more counties in the region: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Coweta, Hall, Newton, Paulding, Spalding, and Walton counties.
Seacoast is a non-denominational evangelical multi-site megachurch based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, a suburb of Charleston. It has thirteen different locations around South Carolina and North Carolina. It is a member of the Association of Related Churches, a church-planting organization. Its senior pastor is Josh Surratt.
Charles Andrew Stanley, known as Andy Stanley, is an American who is the founder and senior pastor of North Point Ministries, a nondenominational evangelical Christian church with several campuses across the north metro Atlanta areas. He is the founder and senior pastor of North Point Community Church.
Browns Bridge Church is a nondenominational Christian church located in Cumming, Georgia. It is one of eight locations of North Point Ministries. Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Ministries, and Adam Johnson is the lead pastor of Browns Bridge Church.
Buckhead Church is a nondenominational Christian church in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. Buckhead Church is one of eight locations of North Point Ministries. Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Ministries, and Joel Thomas is the lead pastor of Buckhead Church.
Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixth-largest in the United States, based on the July 1, 2023 metropolitan area population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Its economic, cultural, and demographic center is Atlanta, and its total population was 6,307,261 in the 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity, now involves many faiths as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. While Protestant Christianity still maintains a strong presence in the city, in recent decades Catholic Christians have gained a strong foothold due to migration patterns. Atlanta also has a considerable number of ethnic Christian congregations, such as Korean Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches, the Tamil Church Atlanta, Telugu Church, Hindi Church, Malayalam Church, Ethiopian, Chinese, and many more traditional ethnic religious groups. Large non-Christian faiths are present in the form of Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta.
Church of the Highlands is a non-denominational evangelical Christian multi-site megachurch based in Birmingham, Alabama. It is the largest congregation in Alabama with an average of 60,000 attendees every week as of 2023. The senior pastor is Chris Hodges.
Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
Peachtree Presbyterian Church is a megachurch located in Atlanta, Georgia, and a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Peachtree averages about 3200 in weekly worship in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, and is one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in the United States of America.
The arts in Atlanta are well-represented, with a prominent presence in music, fine art, and theater.
North Point Worship, formerly known as North Point InsideOut, is an American contemporary worship music band from Alpharetta, Georgia. Their group formed at North Point Community Church in 2012, a non-denominational congregation, a church established by Pastor Andy Stanley. The group released, No One Higher in 2012 and Hear in 2015 with North Point Music. Nothing Ordinary: Part 1 released in June 2017 and Nothing Ordinary: Part 2 released in October 2017 were recorded with Centricity Music. Two of those albums both charted on the Billboard magazine charts, with the Hear album placing on the Billboard 200 chart. The group is best known for their 2015 hit "Death Was Arrested" featuring Seth Condrey. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Christian Digital Song Sales for four consecutive weeks.
First Baptist Church of Glenarden International or FBCG is a Baptist Evangelical megachurch located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It is affiliated with Converge. Weekly church attendance was 12,000 people in 2022. The senior pastor is John K. Jenkins Sr.
