Young adults are waiting in line to worship at this fast-growing Atlanta church

ATLANTA (AP) — After Atlanta pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell stopped dwelling on growing his congregation about three years ago, its attendance surged. Now, lines packed with young adults snake outside 2819 Church, some arriving as early as 5:30 a.m. to secure a spot for Sunday worship.

Christian rap and contemporary music blast like a block party as volunteers cheer into megaphones for around 6,000 weekly churchgoers — up from less than 200 in 2023, the church reports. Inside the sanctuary, the atmosphere turns serious. Many drawn to 2819's riveting worship are hungry for Mitchell’s animated intensity and signature preaching: No sugarcoating the Bible.

After spirited prayers and songs leave many crying, Mitchell ambles onstage in his all-black uniform, sometimes in quiet contemplation or tears, before launching into a fiery sermon. His messages, unpolished and laden with challenges to revere God and live better, often spread quickly online. A recent prayer event drew far more people than State Farm Arena could handle, with many flying in.

Crying, shouting, storming across the platform and punching the air, Mitchell preaches with his whole body — and an urgency to bring people to faith before they die or what he calls Jesus’ impending return to Earth.

“It is life or death for me,” Mitchell told The Associated Press, comparing preaching to the front lines of war. “There are souls that are hanging in the balance. … I think about the fact that in that room somebody might hear the Gospel, and that might be their last opportunity.”

The church — whose name references Matthew 28:19, a Bible verse commanding believers to go “make disciples of all the nations" — is nondenominational and theologically conservative, with beliefs opposing abortion and in support of marriage only between a man and a woman.

The congregation’s growth has attracted people of many races and ages, but it’s predominantly young Black adults. Their youth is notable since Americans ages 18 to 24 are less likely than older adults to identify as Christian or attend religious services regularly, according to Pew Research Center.

Warren Bird, an expert on fast-growing churches, believes the right leader is key to a church's growth — along with God's help — and described Mitchell as “speaking a language” that connects with young people who other pastors haven’t reached.

Churchgoers say Mitchell’s message resonates because he carefully walks them through scripture and talks candidly about his spiritual transformation, including his past dealing drugs, paying for abortions and attempting suicide.

“I’m still a little rough around the edges, right? I still got a little hood in me,” said Mitchell, who still speaks with a regional New York accent.

Many at 2819 want more than motivational speeches and say Mitchell’s sermons are counterweights to the feel-good American preaching he criticizes.

“I’m preaching without watering that down, without filtering out things that we think might be too controversial,” said Mitchell, who wants people to mature spiritually and insists they can’t deal with sin and its consequences without Jesus.

“I think that there is a generation that is gravitating towards that authenticity and truth,” he said. “As a result of that, we are seeing lives being radically transformed.”

Christian podcaster Megan Ashley said she brought a friend to 2819 who had stepped away from her faith, and Mitchell had an impact. The friend told Ashley, “When he speaks, I believe him.”

The tougher messages might hurt some people’s feelings, said Donovan Logan, 23.

“But that’s what it’s supposed to do. If you don’t come to church and want to change, then that’s not the church you’re supposed to be going to,” Logan said.

Elijah McCord, 22, said Mitchell’s sermons about sin touch on what’s happening around him in Atlanta, and Mitchell's story shows that “there’s life in what God has commanded.” He also values Mitchell’s pleadings to wait until marriage to have sex.

“He biblically talks about sin and repentance and how there’s actually hope in the Gospel,” McCord said.

Churchgoers say 2819’s draw goes beyond Mitchell. It’s the entire worship experience.

Passing the dancing greeters, the Sunday crowd enters the dark auditorium. It's permeated with prayer and bold instrumental music before the service, which 2819 calls a gathering, officially begins, with hands already lifted amid shouts of praise. Tissue boxes sit at the end of aisles, ready to aid those moved to tears.

“The worship is crazy. The Holy Spirit is just there. Like, tangible presence. You feel it!” said Desirae Dominguez, 24.

Mitchell spent 10 years preaching, racking up unfruitful notes from church growth conferences, and eventually started struggling with depression. During that time, he took a transformative trip to Israel where he said encounters with God and other Christians changed him. Then, in 2023, he changed the church’s name to 2819.

Mitchell, who has spent three years preaching just from the Book of Matthew alone, said God told him to preach without bringing prepared notes onstage. Although he attended Bible college, he sometimes doubts himself because of his past.

“I shed a lot of tears because I feel often ill-equipped, undeserving,” said Mitchell. “I would not have called me if I was God to steward something like this, and sometimes I don’t know why my preaching is reaching (people). … I’m still shocked myself.”

When preparing to preach, “I’m thinking about the brokenness of the people in the room, the troubled marriages, the one who is suicidal. I’m thinking about the young lady who’s battling crippling insecurities and don’t know that she has a father up there that loves her more than any man she’s going to find down here.”

When not preaching, Mitchell’s demeanor is quieter. He and his staff are “here to serve,” he often says.

His large online platform exposes him and sometimes his family to public critique, pushback, and even threats. Some accuse him of self-righteousness or say he’s too harsh. He also issued a public apology earlier this year for comments in a sermon about obeying authority that were seen as dismissive of police brutality.

At times, he says he is deeply affected by criticism and said he repents for some of what critics decried. But Mitchell also finds solace in better understanding Jesus by enduring it.

The church recently moved into its own building, having outgrown the charter school where they held the services, and added a third one. On the first two Sundays at the new location, they added an impromptu fourth gathering because so many people came.

The staff faced similar conundrums at Access, the church’s October prayer event that drew an estimated 40,000 people. State Farm Arena was filled to capacity, as was an overflow space in a nearby convention center, leaving thousands outside, the church reported.

“We’re constantly tinkering. We’re constantly fixing things,” said Tatjuana Phillips, 2819’s ministries director.

Logistical challenges, such as packed parking lots and swamped staff, are common at fast-growing churches, said Bird, the church growth expert.

Despite its size, the church encourages community through its small groups, called “squads,” that give about 1,700 people a place to discuss sermons and support each other’s personal growth. Staff also engage with about 75,000 people weekly who watch gatherings online.

The long lines also yield friendships. Ashley Grimes, 35, said that’s where she’s “met so many brothers and sisters in Christ that I now get to do life with.”

Many of those new friends can be found shuffling into the church's auditorium on Sundays while volunteers, called servant leaders, pray over each seat before Mitchell preaches.

On a recent Sunday, Mitchell told the crowd that they can turn to Jesus regardless of what they’ve done. It worked for him. God, he said, “used failure to transform my life.”

This story corrects that the school where gatherings were held was a charter school.

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Churchgoers worship at 2819 Church on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Members of the 2819 welcome team wave streamers and shake tambourines while singing popular Christian worship songs as guests enter 2819 Church on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Nyriyah Hullman, center, and Brooklyn Marshall, right, hold hands to pray with fellow members of 2819 Church on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

People wait in line before the 8:30 am church service at 2819 Church on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

A churchgoer lifts her arm in worship at 2819 Church on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Brandi Porter, left, and Kennedy Onley, right, engage in a call and response with churchgoers as they wait in line on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell preaches at 2819 Church on Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

As the war in the Middle East intensifies, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. has “the capability to go far longer" than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for its military operations against Iran.

Across Tehran, the sound of explosions rang out through the night and into the early morning hours Tuesday, as the U.S. and Israel have continued to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.

The intensity of the attacks and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Israel and the U.S. have given conflicting answers about what exactly the war’s objectives are or what the endgame might be.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Monday defended the decision to go to war, contending in an interview on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity" that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” that would make “their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months,” without providing evidence.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war, with analysts saying it was likely Tehran was trying to assess damage from American strikes in June and possibly salvage what remained there.

Here is the latest:

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site sustained “some recent damage” during a U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign, though it said there was “no radiological consequence expected” from it.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the damage was focused on “entrance buildings” to the underground portion of the atomic site.

Natanz earlier came under attack by the U.S. in the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.

The IAEA said it saw “no additional impact” detected at Natanz’s fuel enrichment plant, which is buried underground.

Nuclear material is still believed to be buried at the plant alongside damaged and destroyed centrifuges. However, the IAEA has not been allowed to visit any of the attacked sites by Iran since that war.

Airstrikes by the United States and Israel have killed at least 787 people in Iran since the start of the war, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said Tuesday.

The organization offered the toll in a message on X.

Israel’s military said Iran launched missiles at the country and it was working to intercept them.

The Israeli military struck a building in a southern suburb of Beirut housing Hebzollah’s TV and radio station, causing heavy damage.

The strike after midnight Monday came after a warning by the Israeli military to evacuate the building. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV was interrupted for about an hour before the station resumed its programs.

During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Al-Manar TV and al-Nour Radio station were both struck but continued broadcasts from secret locations.

Cypriot officials say France will dispatch a warship to Cyprus to help bolster the country’s anti-drone defenses after a Rashed drone struck a British military base on the east Mediterranean island.

France also will send additional land-based, anti-drone and anti-missile systems to the country, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Germany also responded positively to a request to send a warship, according to three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to provide details publicly.

The equipment will arrive in Cyprus as soon as possible, they said

The French military did not respond immediately to a request for information from The Associated Press.

The drone struck the British base, RAF Akrotiri, shortly after midnight Monday and caused only minor material damage to an aircraft hangar. Another two drones were intercepted by British warplanes around midday Monday after they were scrambled from the air base, officials said.

Greece has sent four F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus while two of its state-of-the-art frigates are on their way.

A fire broke out in an oil industrial facility Fujairah, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, as forces intercepted a drone attack, authorities said.

No casualties were reported.

The government media office in Fujairah said the drone was intercepted and that shrapnel landed in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.

The office said the fire was put down and operations resumed.

At least five people were killed or wounded in airstrikes in Iran’s western city of Hamadan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Strikes also were reported across other cities, including Isfahan and Shiraz.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army is evacuating some of its positions along the border with Israel.

The agency said the troops are redeploying to other posts.

The report comes after Israel’s military said it is conducting operations inside Lebanon along the border with Israel.

Israel’s army said Tuesday that Iran’s firepower has been weakened.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran have “limited significantly” Iran’s ability to fire.

Shoshani said Israel has been going after Iran’s missile launchers and have taken out dozens of them.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles but it’s hard to tally the total amount with Iran also striking other countries, he said.

The pace of missiles being launched at Israel has slowed since the first two days of the war.

Shoshani said the slowdown also could be partly attributed to Iran understanding the war could go on for longer than they had thought and they are trying to pace themselves.

Iran has started the process of returning Iranian pilgrims from the shrine cities of Mecca and Medina, state media said Tuesday.

Alireza Enayati, Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said the process of returning 9,000 Iranians currently in the cities of Mecca and Medina began Monday.

In a report carried by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, Enayati said the departure is taking place in the same manner as during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in 2025. Iranian pilgrims will leave Saudi Arabia through Saudi–Iraqi border crossings and return to Iran from Iraq.

The announcement came during the Muslim holy month of Ramada and a widening that has seen Iran target sites in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. ambassador in Israel told Americans there that the best way to leave is through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Mike Huckabee said in a social media post early Tuesday that the embassy was receiving lots of evacuations requests as embassy staff “are sheltering in place.”

“There are VERY LIMITED options,” he wrote. “Not sure when Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv will reopen.”

He advised Americans to take buses to Egypt’s resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba in southern Sinai, describing that route as “best.”

The U.S. State Department evacuations of non-emergency personnel and family reached six nations on Tuesday with the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and long considered a safe corner of the Middle East, has been dragged into the Iran war with interceptions and attacks.

The other countries include Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan. Kuwait and Qatar.

The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi also warned there could be militant attacks in the UAE as well.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning and may target tourist locations, transportation hubs, shopping areas, government facilities, places of worship, and in particular locations associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities,” it added.

A camp for Iranian Kurdish opposition in the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq was attacked Tuesday morning, an official said.

A missile and drone hit the Azadi camp in Irbil and slightly injured one person, according to Kareem Parwizi, a senior official with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.

Oman said a drone hit a fuel tank at its port in Duqm on Tuesday.

The state-run Oman News Agency said no one was hurt in the attack.

Duqm has been a key resupply route for the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which is operating in the Arabian Sea.

The Israeli military says one of its divisions is operating inside southern Lebnaon and took positions on several strategic points close to the border.

The Arabic language spokesperson of the Israeli military posted on X that the troops’ move inside Lebanon is part of its efforts to bolster the forward defense system and create an addition layer of security.

The military said that at the same time the air force is conducting strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in the area to thwart threats and prevent infiltration attempts into Israel.

The Israeli operations inside Lebanon came after a long night of airstrikes on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The Israeli military says there are no immediate plans to deploy ground troops in Iran.

Asked about the possibility of sending in ground forces, spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters it is “not very likely.”

Thailand is intensifying security around the U.S., Israeli and Iranian embassies as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies.

Public broadcaster Thai PBS quoted the head of the National Security Council, Chatchai Bangchua, describing the additional measures as he said authorities would also monitor sites linked to the countries.

Thailand depends heavily on tourism and is one of Asia’s most-visited countries, attracting more than 32 million foreigners last year. It is a popular destination for Americans, Israelis and citizens of Gulf countries and before recent airspace closures received dozens of direct flights from the Middle East each week.

The Israeli military says soldiers are “operating in southern Lebanon’ as it continues strikes against Hezbollah.

In a statement, it said the troops are positioned at a several points near the border in what it described as a “forward defense posture” as it battles Hezbollah militants.

It says the deployment is part of a broader effort to increase security for residents in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. It has also beefed up troops and air defenses in the area.

The army says there are no plans to evacuate Israeli residents of border areas.

Israel has been occupying five positions in southern Lebanon since a November 2024 ceasefire ended more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani says the new deployment is in addition to those five positions, with the aim of preventing attacks on Israeli border towns.

The U.S. State Department added Kuwait and Qatar to the evacuation list from its Mideast diplomatic outposts.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is shutting down as the Middle East is grabbed in a widening war.

The embassy said in a social media post Tuesday that it is closing “until further notice” due to the war.

Iran on Tuesday held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 people killed in what it described as an attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.

Iranian state television showed thousands of people filling a public square. Men waved the Islamic Republic flag while largely standing apart from women draped in black chadors.

From the stage, a women who said she was the mother of “Atena” held up a printed image of portraits that she called “a document of American crimes.” She added, “They died in the way of God.”

The crowd erupted into chants of “Death to America,” “Death to Israel” and “No surrender.”

U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was aware of reports that a girls’ school was struck and officials were looking into them.

An Israeli military spokesperson said Sunday he was not aware of any Israeli or U.S. strikes in the area.

Qatar Airways said it would remain grounded Tuesday over the war.

Amazon said Monday that two of its data centers in United Arab Emirates were hit by drones, while a drone strike near one of its facilities in Bahrain “caused physical impacts to our infrastructure.”

The tech giant said on its website that the strikes have caused structural damage and gotten in the way of power getting to infrastructure. The company did not say who was responsible for the strikes.

“We are working to restore full service availability as quickly as possible, though we expect recovery to be prolonged given the nature of the physical damage involved,” Amazon said.

Iran is continuing to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Perisan Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, issued the threat on Iranian state television on Monday.

“The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Anyone who wants to pass, our devotee heroes in the IRGC navy and the army will set those ships on fire,” he said. “Don’t come to this region.”

The Israeli military said Tuesday it was conducting “simultaneous targeted strikes against military targets in Tehran and Beirut,” without elaborating.

The U.S. State Department said it added Iraq to the evacuation list from its Mideast diplomatic outposts.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan.

The State Department announcement online said the decision came “due to safety risks.” The department has urged Americans across the Mideast to leave over the ongoing war with Iran.

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia acknowledged coming under attack from Iranian drones Tuesday and urged Americans to avoid the diplomatic post for the time being.

The Saudi Defense Ministry earlier Tuesday said the embassy was attacked by two drones.

Across Iran’s capital, the sound of explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning hours.

Witnesses described hearing aircraft overhead as well.

It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit.

Iranian state television early Tuesday read a statement from the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, saying that it launched a missile and drone attack targeting an air base in Bahrain.

Israeli airstrikes hit the Lebanese capital Tuesday morning.

The Israeli military said it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in Beirut.”

Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base.

The Israeli military said it downed two drones.

Tokyo has told Japanese shipowners to have their ships stay away from the Persian Gulf to ensure the safety of their crew members.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that the Transport Ministry has notified the Japanese Shipowners’ Association to do the utmost to protect crews on board the ships in the region.

Kihara said those already in the Gulf are urged to lie at anchor where it is safe to do so.

On Monday, Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with Iranian ambassador to Japan Peiman Seadat and conveyed Japan’s consistent stance that Iran must stop attacks on neighboring countries and other actions destabilizing the region.

Motegi also noted the importance of ensuring safety in the Strait of Hormuz, which is key to Japan’s energy security.

Iran’s top diplomat early Tuesday sought to turn the tables on the United States, describing it as entering “a war of choice on behalf of Israel.”

After Trump urged Iranians to take over their government, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the same call to Americans.

“Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters,” Araghchi wrote on X. “American people deserve better and should take back their country.”

This partially redacted image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows a complex of structures in Iran being struck by missiles fired by U.S. forces on Sunday, March 1, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via AP)

President Donald Trump walks past Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he exist the East Room of the White House following the Medal of Honor ceremony, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Rescue workers carry a dead body in a plastic bag from a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Jnah neighborhood, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A poster of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, and the late Iranian Revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, right, lays on a motorcycle amid debris left by a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)