34 Churches Featured In Historic Presbyterian Churches Of Tennessee

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Thirty-four churches organized before 1850, including First Presbyterian of Cleveland, are featured in a book published by the Evergreen Foundation called Historic Presbyterian Churches of Tennessee.

Tom Stanford, chief photographer of the Nashville Tennessean, took the photos and Mary Ann Van Osdell edited the copy. Jovanna Emerson was co-author.

Launch parties for the book will be held in January. They are free and open to the public.

Copies are $30 (plus $2.75 tax) and only 3,000 are available.

The idea for this book came from a similar project of New Orleans Catholic churches, a book Van Osdell was glad to have purchased prior to Hurricane Katrina as a keepsake for her parents who were married in one of the churches.

Many of the New Orleans churches sustained damage, and seeing members of the congregations worship outside the Sunday after the hurricane hit was reminiscent of what some of the Tennessee pioneers did in the late 1700s and early 1800s, said Ms. Van Osdell. “We found that the Tennessee churches endured fires, transformed into hospitals during the Civil War and faced financial hardships. We became impressed by their dedication, faithfulness, courage and fortitude.”

“The influence from Tennessee’s historical churches has spread through the years not only to the immediate communities, but other states and countries,” said Ms. Emerson, who has made contact with all 34 pastors to foster relationships between Evergreen and the churches. “May God continue to bless these churches and grant continued prosperity for His purposes,” said Ms. Emerson.

The churches have been the sites of receptions for such family memories as baptisms, weddings, golden anniversaries and funerals, appointments of commissioners to Presbytery meetings and individuals to committees, approvals of budgets, new members, elections, installations, ordinations, social activities, mission projects that serve others and outreach. These churches have nurtured and shaped religious lives of legislators, ministers, physicians, businessmen, educators and others.

A ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Evergreen is a not-for-profit, premier provider of services to nearly 1,100 people with disabilities in five states. It is headquartered in Bossier City, La., and has offices in Memphis, Dickson, Nashville, Greeneville and Knoxville.

For more information on purchasing the book or Evergreen, contact Emerson, regional director of development, Evergreen Presbyterian Ministries, 466 Metroplex Drive, Suite A-224, Nashville, TN 37211, 615-833-9500 or jemerson@epmi.org.

About the Authors and Photographer

Jovanna Emerson

Jovanna Emerson started working for Evergreen in September 2000 as the supervisor of grant development.

She became regional director of development for Tennessee in May 2002. Duties include church relations and donor building and relations for the whole state as well as grant writing for the five states Evergreen serves.

She has a B. S. degree in Psychology from Northwestern State University and is working on her M.S. in Psychology at Tennessee State University. Prior to employment at Evergreen, she worked for a year at the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities in Lafayette, La., as a social services counselor.

Ms. Emerson is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a trained Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. She is married to Robert Emerson. They have two children, Cameron, 7, and Asher, 2.

Mary Ann Van Osdell

An award-winning journalist with 14 years of reporting and editing experience at The Times in Shreveport, La., Mary Ann Van Osdell joined Evergreen in March 2003 as director of communications. She is responsible for the Evergreen Exclamations! newsletter, news releases, brochures and the website. She has a B.A. in Journalism from LSU in Baton Rouge and continues to write columns for The Forum News. She is the author of an inspirational book, Hands Pointed UP.

Ms. Van Osdell is on the board of directors of Friends of the Municipal Auditorium and Reach Out and Read. She was voted a Rising Young Community Leader by the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, reigned as queen of the Mardi Gras Krewe of Aesclepius and is involved in the Norton Art Gallery World War II Oral History Project because of her interest in memoir writing. She is married to David Thomas.

Tom Stanford

Tom Stanford, photo editor for The Tennessean in Nashville for the past 10 years, supervises a staff of 16. His career highlights include Super Bowl XXIV, the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and a four-month stint as a photographer for USA Today in 1986.

He graduated from Texas A&M/Commerce in May 1983 and worked in Carthage, Tex., then at The Times in Shreveport as a staff photographer, becoming photo editor in 1990.

He and his wife, Ann, have two children, Ian, 16, and Stephanie, 11.

Churches Included

1780

Salem Presbyterian Church

Limestone, TN

1780

First Presbyterian Church

Greeneville, TN

1785

First Presbyterian Church

Nashville, TN

1785