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Church Planting Blog


God’s Recent Sustaining and Growing of Lakeway Pres
As Lakeway Presbyterian Church in Morristown, TN, prepares to particularize next year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the...


Meet Rob Herron, Planting Pastor of Mercy Pres
It’s been several years since we’ve had the pleasure of announcing a new church plant in the Tennessee Valley Presbytery, but this fall,...


Partnering with Nashville Presbytery to Advance the Gospel
The Nashville Presbytery’s desire to plant churches has been growing for a while, and this year, that momentum began to be channeled...


Manifold Vision at Work in Fairfield, Alabama
Pastor Alton Hardy and Tristen Bryant of Urban Hope Community Church and Manifold Vision joined Tennessee Valley Presbytery’s church...


Preparing A Church Planting Site
Sometimes, the start of a plant comes after years of prayer and preparation, but other times, God brings the right pieces together much more quickly.


Retreat, Revival, and Rural Ministry Grant
July was a busy month for Rural Church Development, first hosting a tent revival and then the annual small town pastor’s retreat.


Reaching Our Counties That Don’t Have a PCA Church
There are more counties in the Tennessee Valley Presbytery that don’t have a PCA church than those that do. Seventeen of TVP’s counties...


Tethered to Christ in the Midst of Culture’s Changes
Our first Church Planting Network gathering of 2025 featured two guests who spoke on two aspects of preaching. The goal of the gathering...


Particularizing in Highland Park
Those of you who have followed our church planting efforts for a while will likely remember when Corby Shields moved from Rock Creek...


Reminded of Our Vision in the Gospel: Redeemer Athens Update
Curt and Suzi Stapleton have been in Athens, TN since 2021, planting Redeemer Athens. The church started in 2022, and in its second full...


A Closer Look At Our Five-Year Plan
As you may recall from an email this past December, the Tennessee Valley Presbytery created a five-year plan to carry us forward to 2030....


Building Expansion, Spiritual Growth, and Cultural Education Continues at Woodlands Gathering
As the Woodlands Gathering community grows, the church is improving their building and continues to offer cultural education...


Like Adopting a Teen: Erik McDaniel Talks Church Revitalization
Erik and Maggie McDaniel’s family of six children includes one they adopted as an infant, three siblings they adopted as kids, and...


Karen Ellis Talks Persecution, Trials, and Christian Endurance
Karen and Carl Ellis with students at the Edmiston Center Karen Ellis, a student and professor of Christian Endurance Studies, is the...


Tennessee Valley Presbytery Leaders Ponder "The Great Dechurching"
“For the first time in eight decades that Gallup has tracked American religious membership, more adults in the United States do not...


Retreat Offered Rest and Encouragement to Small Town/Rural Pastors
This July, Corey Pelton hosted Rural Church Development’s first Small Town Pastor’s Retreat for pastors who are ministering in small...


Coaching, MNA, and TVP
“A good coach is trained to come alongside rather than tell you how to do things. Ministry is demanding and exhausting, but a good coach..."


Evangelistically Fruitful Churches in the PCA
David Gentino visited the Tennessee Valley Presbytyery’s Church Planting Network gathering on April 30th to talk about evangelistically...


Rural Church Development News: Podcasting Adventures, Adopting Rural Towns, and More
Coinciding with his unconventional ministry setup, Corey Pelton, leader of Rural Church Development (RCD) in north Georgia, likes to...


TVP’s Mission to North America Committee Welcomes New Members
Each presbytery has a committee of local leaders who report to Mission to North America (MNA). The Tennessee Valley Presbytery designated...


One Water, Many Bowls: Tony Thomas Discusses Cross-Cultural Ministry with Church Planters
“We are offering Christianity in a Western cup and India rejects it. But when we offer the water of life in an Eastern bowl, then our...


Christ Covenant Knoxville’s Church Planting Residency
Seth Hammond, lead pastor at Christ Covenant PCA in Knoxville, is leading a group of men through NXTGEN Pastor’s cohort model as part of...


Parakaleo: Supporting the Women and Wives of Church Planting
par-ak-al-eh'-o para: beside/alongside kaleo: call In our December email series, we briefly touched on the Tennessee Valley Presbytery’s...


Manipulation vs. Ministry: Jim Coffield Speaks into Emotional Intelligence for Church Planters
At the end of January, Jim Coffield joined our presbytery’s Church Planting Network quarterly gathering to discuss emotional intelligence...


Support TVP's Church Planting Network
Because of faithful donors like you, our presbytery is able to support and equip our pastors for long-term health in ministry. Through...


Learning from the Locals
In his ministry to the rural areas and small towns of North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee, Corey Pelton has practiced learning about...


The PCA’s Church Planting Strategy
At our presbytery’s August Church Planting Network Gathering, Chris Vogel spoke about national trends in church openings and closings and...


New Members, Milestones, and Maturity at Redeemer Athens
I knew I needed to just preach the Bible, because people didn’t want to read and discuss other books about the Bible - they wanted...


Meet Tyler Majors: Pastoral Intern at Lakeway Presbyterian
This June, Tyler Majors became Lakeway Presbyterian’s first pastoral intern. The Morristown, TN church is led by planting pastor Chris...


The Story of Christ Church
This month marks two years that Christ Church Presbyterian has been meeting for Sunday morning worship. The plant was started by Covenant...


Moving from the Mountain to Mosaic
Until joining Mosaic, Corby served as associate pastor at Rock Creek Fellowship on Lookout Mountain, GA. Corby and his wife, Rachel, have...


Corby Shields Joins Mosaic Fellowship
As you may recall from our previous newsletter, Mosaic Fellowship in Chattanooga, TN has been going through a leadership transition. We...


Testimonies From Two Churches
“We’ve been in Athens for about 16 years and consider ourselves Baptists, but we had a difficult time finding a Bible-centered church...


Church Planting Network Seeks to Support Pastors
Now that Travis Vaughn has joined the Tennessee Valley Presbytery as the executive director of church planting, he is working to build...


Cartecay Gathering Forms in Ellijay, GA
Through Corey Pelton’s Rural Church Development work, he’s had the opportunity to help a gathering of believers form in Ellijay, GA....


Two Leadership Transitions
We'd like to let you know that two churches in the TVP church planting initiative - one that has particularized and one that is still in...


Only God Who Gives the Growth
According to an article published by Barna Group a little over a year ago, “Even amidst the pandemic, church planting remains a priority...


Woodlands Gathering Launches Worship & Preserves Native Culture
After several years of outreach, events, and Bible studies, Woodlands Gathering officially launched Sunday morning worship on November...


The Lord’s Provision Throughout 2022
We are thankful for God's provision and care in 2022 among TVP's church planters, elders, and core groups. He is faithful. We hope the...


“Every dawn brings a stronger recognition that I am new in Christ.”
“What a joy it has been to first visit and then become a member at Grace Presbyterian Church. I have become immersed in the Word of God...


Redeemer Athens Launches Sunday Morning Worship
In less than a year since Curt Stapleton and his family moved to Athens, TN, Redeemer Athens reached the point of holding Sunday morning...


Gospel Moves Forward in Ooltewah: Grace+Peace Particularizes
On August 21, 2022, Grace+Peace celebrated their particularization service. It was clear that God had raised up the right men at the...


The Story of Grace+Peace
The first time Benjie Slaton, pastor of Grace+Peace, visited Ooltewah in 2018, he wanted to figure out just what the community of...


Introducing Matthew Bryant: Fundraising for Church Planting
From Jason Coffey Friends, it is an exciting time for the TVP Church Planting Movement. As we continue to work toward planting twenty...


Rural Church Development: Growing Roots
In the last six months, Corey Pelton has been hard at work building connections in the rural areas of north Georgia, western North...


Will Davis: A Young Pastor’s Story
Part of Corey Pelton’s work is to come alongside the pastors who are already leading churches in rural areas, whether they are...


Equipped for Ministry: Brad and Beth McRee
One part of a pastor’s job is to equip the congregation to serve each other and to be salt and light in the community. Brad and Beth...


Planting Seeds in Athens, TN
Redeemer PCA Athens is continuing to build their foundation so they can join God’s work of reaching the lost in Athens and restoring the...


Welcome Travis Vaughn, New Executive Director
We are excited to introduce Travis Vaughn as the presbytery’s new Executive Director of Church Planting. Travis comes to us from Atlanta...


Revitalization in Action: Grace Presbyterian in Jasper, TN
Grace Presbyterian Church in Jasper, TN entered a new season of growth with help from the presbytery’s revitalization program. Erik...
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