About Us
In 1961, an engineer and a nurse married and began a life journey of discipleship and servitude of others for God. Father Andrew Moore had graduated in 1960 from Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Khouria Dannie Moore graduated as an RN from Crawford W. Long School of Nursing. Soon after they were married, they heard a call from God to begin a life of ministry. In 1969, Fr Andrew graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA with a Master of Divinity degree.
Ordained in the Presbyterian Church in August of 1969, he and Khouria Dannie then began their ministry at Bethel Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, TN. From 1972 to 1975, they founded and served in an inner-city ministry known as The Way, in Kingsport. In 1979, after resigning the pastorate of Woodlawn Presbyterian Church in Mableton, GA, Father Andrew and Khouria Dannie, with a few families, founded St. Stephen Evangelical Orthodox in the inner-city neighborhood of Grant Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
Along with other Evangelical Orthodox Churches throughout the country, St. Stephen was received into the Antiochian Archdiocese in February of 1987. Father Andrew was ordained in the Orthodox Church by Metropolitan PHILIP on February 22, 1987 and was assigned as pastor of St. Stephen Orthodox Church. St. Stephen moved to Hiram, Georgia in 1988, where God has graciously granted them a peaceful and fruitful community resting on twenty-five beautiful acres of land.
Father Andrew and Khouria Dannie have been married for more than 60 years and have been blessed by God with six children, nineteen grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren. The Lord has further extended His kindness to them through many spiritual children and fellow-servants in this Christ-loving parish.
Early in their ministry, Fr Andrew and Kh Dannie took inspiration from Genesis 26, referencing the wells originally dug by Abraham. These wells, sources of life and refreshment were covered up and forgotten. Yet God called certain people to seek out those wells, and uncover them so they could once again provide life giving refreshment to others. According to Fr Andrew, “Somehow, this passage has always been quite special to me and has motivated our desire to share these ancient teachings with those whom God has brought into our (Kh. Dannie and me) life and ministry.”
Throughout their lives, teaching and preaching both the Old and New Testaments, early church fathers, saints, and Church history has remained at the heart of their ministry, proving to be their foundation and purpose.
As Fr Andrew and Kh Dannie begin their next phase of ministry, in retirement, you are invited to join them and be refreshed as they continue to uncover “old wells.”