Meet Keith! Keith Norman has been pastoring for twenty years and has been a youth pastor, associate pastor, and worship leader. Keith is currently the Lead Pastor at The Factory, a multi-racial church in Woodstock that seeks to make disciples and serve others, the other six days of the week. Keith enjoys sharing the gospel and loving people. It has been said that Keith has a unique voice that reaches both youth and adults and transcends all cultures. Keith’s passions are discipleship, worship, and doing community with the poor and it is his desire to spread the love of Jesus to hurting people. Keith graduated from Trinity International University and lives in Woodstock with his wife of 25 years, Lucille and his two children, Jala and Blake. Keith’s honesty, integrity, and dedication to serving others made our time together deep and very much life-giving.

Thank you so much, Keith, for sharing your time, story, and passion with us- you are truly a force for good in our community as you work hard to build bridges between people and to speak truth in love!

Question: What inspired you or led you to your current career?
Answer: When I tell the Factory Story, I have to start with me as a kid. God’s sovereignty in my life even at 5 or 6 years old was evident- I grew up poor, so I shared a bed with my two brothers, but I would be awake at night and God would really just speak to me. So that’s where it all started, though I really didn’t know what it meant! Eventually, I moved from Georgia to Chicago to forge a path away from my family and attend a college up there for music. Really, I wanted freedom from my family, and from my mom specifically, so I could party. But three days after I moved to Chicago, I got saved, and saved radically. I knew that I wanted to tell people about what I was experiencing. So, after my first year at school, when I was getting ready to start my sophomore year, I told my family that I wasn’t going to go back to school but that I wanted to find a way to be a preacher to share with people about Jesus. I started calling Christian colleges in Chicago knowing that all I wanted to do was be able to tell my friends about Jesus, and Trinity College proposed Youth Ministry, which I didn’t even know what that was. But I drove up, got accepted, and started school a week and a half later.

After I graduated, I worked with various ministries in Chicago, but always felt like I was running from my calling to be a preacher. Finally, an opportunity opened here in Atlanta to preach, and I had always wanted to live in Atlanta, so we came down this way. It was a bumpy transition, and I was only at that church for 6 months, but then BridgePointe opened up and we got involved and I was there for years. I was the last founding pastor there. Then I had the idea to open a church in Atlanta, but in a variety of ways was led to find that the need was greater here a little more north. I didn’t love Towne Lake at first; I felt like an invisible man. I would sit on a park bench and no one would even look at me. But now I can’t read a book in my driveway without people coming up to talk. And originally, I really didn’t want to plant here, but really, it’s a perfect location for a racially diverse church because you’re not supposed to be able to do it here.

Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Woodstock, and what do you love there?
A: Century House Tavern has a great vibe and we’ve made a lot of connections there; in fact, two of the servers have become members at Factory Church and that has meant so much to me! I always get the grilled chicken sandwich, and I love their apple cobbler.

Q: How long have you lived or worked in Woodstock?
A: We’ve been here 16 years this September.

Q: Who would you like to see nominated as a Face of Woodstock?
A: The Towne Lake Parkway Chick-fil-a owner, Scott. I love the way they do business. They are so welcoming, and they always know me. Whether Scott knows it or not, he has created a culture there.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?
A: Paris because it’s romantic and I really love my wife. South Africa would be a close second.

Q: What is your favorite movie OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theatre?
A: I hate admitting this, but I can only be truthful- ‘Mo’ Better Blues’ with Spike Lee and Denzel Washington from when I was in college. My lifelong ambition until God changed me was music, and it’s not a movie I would recommend seeing because some of the scenes, but the life portrayed in that movie was how I lived my life chasing music. I’m not proud of that, but I loved that Spike told a story that I could relate to.

Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: I don’t give advice these days as much as I used to. Instead, I say see what Jesus says- it’s there in His word. You can choose to do it, or not, but it’s there.

Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: I feel different when I’m serving others and I love to serve the poor, so I think I have a dream of someday, as a profession or a career, digging wells where they’re needed in Africa.

Q: What is your favorite music/3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?
A: Earth, Wind & Fire, the group Commission, Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway, Marvin Gaye… I love soul music. In terms of modern entertainers, I don’t think anybody in any genre touches Jay-Z. I don’t agree with all of his lyrics, but I think he is an artist, especially with his latest album where he is just being a grown-up and a truth-teller.

Q: Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative: with whom would you love to have lunch? Why?
A: Maybe Dave Chapelle because I love his art. I don’t even view him as a comedian, I really feel like he’s more of an artist. He doesn’t run from telling the truth, but the problem is he is not grounded in the kingdom culture, so his truth I don’t always agree with. I would love to share the gospel with him.

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about Woodstock?
A: The church that I pastor- I’ve got family now. People know me wherever I go, and I love those connections.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
A: I feel like I’ve changed, and I’ve reached a point where I really don’t want anything anymore. It’s funny how when you stop striving, things really start growing.

Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A: I love country music- if it’s good, it’s good! I’d also love to own a farm, as a place to get away.

Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?
A: That’s gotta be Denzel Washington- he can really act. I would jokingly say Halle Berry but that would definitely get me in trouble!

Q: If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose?
Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, or Nanny?
A: A physical trainer! I love working out and my health is really important to me.