Dan Dehaan's Metro Bible Study

In the late 1970s, I attended an interdenominational Bible Study called “the Metro Bible Study” in Metro Atlanta, which began as a Small Group in “Dad” Charles Ellis’ basement.

It was taught by Dan Dehaan, and eventually outgrew Dad Ellis’ basement by moving to the Griffin Middle School. 

When I first started attending, it had grown to 300 teenagers who meet ever Tuesday night and featured Contemporary Christian Music played by “The Pat Terry Group”. 

As the Metro Bible Study continued rapid growth, they eventually moved to the First Baptist Church of Smyrna, Georgia where it peaked around 1200 attendees. 

In the summer of 1982, Dan Dehaan died in a plane crash and teacher John Riley took over.

Under John Riley, the Bible Study grew to about 1,500 after eventually moving to Mt. Paran Church of God.

When I was first invited to the “Metro Bible Study”, I didn’t go to hear Dan Dehaan teach because I didn’t know who he was. 

What I went to hear was “the Pat Terry Group” sing Contemporary Christian Music. 

At the time, Contemporary Christian Music wasn’t being sung in Churches, and people from every denomination came to hear Pat Terry play and Dan Dehaan teach. 

One of the teenagers who occasional came was Andy Stanley who was (and is) Dr. Charles Stanley’s son of the First Baptist of Atlanta. 

Andy now pastors one of the largest Churches in American, Northpoint Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. 

I think that the Metro Bible Study's style and Dan Dehaan teaching remains a catalyst even today through preachers like Andy.

In the early 80s, I was asked to lead an interdenominational Bible Study in a house with just 8 people. 

However, one of those 8 people played a guitar. We would meet on Tuesday nights, and we would worship with contemporary music for 30 minutes to an hour before I began to teach. 

To my surprise, the group took off, and within a few weeks we had grown into the 40s. 

That house was a little small, and the crowd overflowed into the adjacent rooms. Sadly, the size of that house contained the size of our Bible Study if I’d been smart I’d gotten a larger room. 

In addition to not moving to a larger house, I struggled to move from a discussion format to more of a lecture format. 

I believe that if I had learned how to transition better the group would have continued to grow.

If I wanted to plant a Church, I would pull my active Church attendees by Zip Codes to see where we should plant a Church. 

Second, I would determine from the Zip Codes if any geographically located areas would support a Small Group. 

Next, I would find out if anyone located in the Zip Code would be a good fit as a Small Group leader. 

Next, I would determine if anyone located in the Zip Code could successfully play the guitar and lead the music. 

Then, I would train the Small Group leader as both a Discussion Type Leader and a Lecture Style Leader. 

Then, I would have a plan for either subdividing the Small Group or finding larger space for the Small Group to eventually meet.

 Then, I would make sure that the Child Care was properly managed to prevent mishaps.

 Finally, I would invite Church members within that Zip Code to attend.