I am David Hambrick, the current pastor of the Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church. I have served the church as an Army Chaplain, a Marriage Counselor, and worked with Churches in Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Texas. I would like to welcome you some Sunday as a visitor with our church family. I would trust that you would leave the services feeling blessed and empowered for the coming week.
The Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church has a rich background and an exciting future. The church was organized in the Summer of 1820 and developed during the 19th century by drawing primarily on frontier settlers for membership. The majority of these families were farm or timber oriented. Kingsport grew slowly from a very small town base on a navigable river, but that base is still here today, with Eastman Chemical Company shipping all over the world.
If the Church could talk, there are many stories it would tell. It would talk about the day its logs became a bridge during the Civil War. It would talk about moving up the hill to avoid the noise of the railroad. The Church would lean back and talk about its guests and members from the past. To mention a few, there was Rev. James King, founder of King College in Bristol. He was the older brother of William King, for whom Kingsport is named. There was "Red" Ellis, who operated an underground railroad in Kingsport during the Civil War, allowing blacks and northern sympathizing whites to escape through the woods to more friendly territory.
The Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church has rich ties to singer Diana Ross, whose ancestors helped build and worshipped in the church more than a century ago. The church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, as well as for the State of Tennessee. The building still stands with its wooden walls and plaster walls that contain no nails. The outside was covered with siding several years ago to help with the maintenance and beauty.
Rev. David Hambrick