1894 and a Pastor on Horseback
Central Baptist Church of Bearden began in 1894, when the first pastor rode a horse in from Carson-Newman College to plant a church in the Bearden neighborhood of Knoxville, Tennessee. More than 125 years later, the same gospel is still being proclaimed at 6300 Deane Hill Drive. The church marks its own long view with a simple tally: 125 years of consistent worship, 125 years of mission support, 125 years of growing disciples, 125 years of loving and educating children, 125 years of loving and serving the community, and 125 years of asking how to be a part of what God is doing in the world. That heritage is now wrapped in the phrase members use to describe themselves - Christ Centered, Community Focused.
Sundays at 6300 Deane Hill Drive
Each Sunday centers on two gatherings. Bible Study begins at 9:00 AM with classes for every stage of life, from nursery through Encore adults, organized by age and life stage. At 10:30 AM the churchwide worship service begins, a multi-generational gathering of music, scripture, art and prayer led by Senior Pastor JC Neely alongside the worship, music and arts team. The service typically runs about an hour. The congregation sings songs old and new with lyrics projected on screens, led by a vocal team, choir, band and instrumentalists. Art forms ranging from paintings and digital media to live dramatic vignettes and video presentations are part of the experience. Messages often follow a themed series or a focal book of the Bible, and notes alongside visual points appear on the screens so worshipers can follow along. The service follows the Christian year and is offered both in person and via livestream on YouTube and Facebook.
Guest parking is reserved right by the Welcome Center at the intersection of Deane Hill Drive, Chiles Road and Kingston Pike. Enter from Kingston Pike, pull onto Henry Chiles Street, and visitor parking is immediately on the right next to the sanctuary building. Look for the steeple and follow the signs once on campus. As for dress, the church says plainly that some wear business-casual attire or dress up, others wear anything from jeans and t-shirts to dresses and jackets, and visitors are encouraged to come as they feel comfortable.
A Sanctuary Filled with Music, Art and Voices
Worship at Central Bearden is shaped by a broad team of musicians and artists coordinated through the Worship Ministries office. The Central Bearden Choir, a non-auditioned group for high school students through adults, rehearses most Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 8:30 PM and leads weekly Sunday morning worship, with seasonal concerts at Christmas and in the spring. The Central Bearden Orchestra plays regularly in worship, and a select ensemble called Central Brass rehearses Sunday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. Central Bearden Ringers, the handbell choir, rehearses Sunday afternoons at 4:00 PM, and a string ensemble and string class meet Wednesdays at 5:00 PM for violinists, violists, cellists and bass players of various skill levels. The Sunday worship band and vocal teams rotate through the year, while the Student Ministry Midweek Band leads student worship on Wednesdays and on certain fifth Sundays.
For children, Preschool Music meets Wednesday nights at 6:00 PM for ages 3-5, and Kids Worship Arts gathers kindergartners through fifth graders on Wednesday nights for musical, visual and technical arts, with featured participation in Sunday worship and seasonal programs. Children in first through third grade step out of the churchwide worship service on the first three Sundays of each month for Kids Celebration, an age-appropriate worship gathering in the Kids Celebration room that they rejoin with their parents immediately after the service. Behind the scenes, an Audio/Visual Tech Team runs sound, lighting, screens, in-sanctuary cameras and the livestream, and is always looking for volunteers willing to learn.
From Preschoolers to College
Children's Ministry walks alongside parents from birth through fifth grade, using The Gospel Project curriculum with videos, praise and worship, crafts, games and activities. On Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM there are Bible study groups for preschoolers through fifth grade; at 10:30 AM preschoolers and younger children stay in Worship Care while elementary children are invited to Kids Celebration on the first three Sundays. Wednesday nights begin with a family dinner at 5:00 PM, with kids' check-in starting at 5:45, choir at 6:00 PM, and missions, crafts or games afterward until 7:15 or 7:30 depending on age. Vacation Bible School runs in early June for pre-K 3 through fifth grade, with a Jr. Chef Academy and Messy Camp later in the summer.
CBstudents, the 6th through 12th grade ministry, meets in the Journey Room on the top floor of the main building. Sunday Bible Study from 9:00 to 10:15 AM gathers students in co-ed groups by grade, with a monthly Breakfast Sunday featuring casseroles and Krispy Kreme donuts. Disciple Groups (DGroups) meet Sunday evenings from 4:30 to 6:00 PM for verse-by-verse study in separate high school girls, middle school girls and guys' groups. Mid/Week, the Wednesday night worship gathering, runs from 6:00 to 7:30 PM with dinner at 6:00 PM. The ministry also runs a winter retreat called the WKND, an annual beach camp called Sonburn at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat near Panama City Beach, a summer mission trip to Camp Echoing Hills, and an annual fall trip to Hearts on Fire in Pigeon Forge.
Young Adults are graduate students, twenty- and thirty-somethings, singles and married couples pursuing a relationship with Jesus together. They gather for Sunday Bible study at 9:00 AM in the CORE at 6310 Deane Hill Drive, on the west side of the campus, and meet in men's and women's groups on Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM. College students are also connected through The Cross, a Greek Christian Ministries partnership that reaches out to students at the University of Tennessee.
The BLOOM Center Greenhouse
One of Central Bearden's most distinctive ministries takes place in a 9,000-square-foot commercial greenhouse on Anderson Drive in Knoxville. The BLOOM Center, which stands for Building Lives through Outreach and Occupational Ministry, uses horticulture to improve the lives of individuals with special abilities and developmental challenges. Each year the greenhouse produces thousands of ornamental plants that are sold in annual plant sales to fund the programs.
During the school year, students from local high schools come most mornings to learn vocational skills related to greenhouse work. Adults with special abilities come two days a week with a caregiver to plant, water, transplant and care for plants, with field trips, parties and off-site events woven into the program. Cut flower beds are grown each summer and donated to Random Acts of Flowers, and the Floral Rescue Squad nurses donated unsellable plants back to health. Outside, the Knox County Master Gardeners have developed wheelchair-accessible gardens and a therapeutic maze that is open to the public from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. The program is 100 percent volunteer led, and participants do not have to be church members to join in.
Uniquely Growing in Christ
For adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, Central Bearden runs Uniquely Growing in Christ (UGC). The ministry meets Sundays from 9:00 to 10:15 AM in Room 218 for hands-on lessons adapted for different learning styles, with the goal of sharing the love of Jesus, nurturing spiritual growth and creating a welcoming community where every individual belongs. Participants build friendships, worship together, serve in a variety of roles, connect with other church groups, and join social and life-enrichment activities. Family support, prayer and respite nights help caregivers feel supported, and UGC adults also participate with a parent or support provider at the BLOOM Center greenhouse on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Anyone with special needs is invited to attend the class while remaining part of their own home church.
Encore and Wednesday Nights
Encore is the church's lay-led ministry for older adults, providing planned activities and trips, mission opportunities, informative programs, continuing education and encouragement to keep serving the Lord. The Adult Discipleship umbrella, called Faith Formations, uses Bible study curricula from a range of publishers to encourage faith development across the adult years. Adult Sunday Bible Study groups meet from 9:00 to 10:15 AM and are organized by life stage; a Connect Point table in the Welcome Center helps newcomers find a class.
Wednesday nights have become a centerpiece of church life. A family dinner is served at 5:00 PM in the fellowship hall, and afterward, choirs, discipleship groups and recreation fill the building. The choir and orchestra rehearse from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, students gather in the Journey Room for Mid/Week, and adults take part in Bible studies, prayer gatherings and the long-running DivorceCare group when it is in session. Stephen Ministry, a lay-caring program, walks alongside people through grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness or relocation; trained Stephen Ministers are available to meet one-on-one by calling the church office.
A Web of Local and Global Missions
Missions at Central Bearden are organized in four streams. Central Ministries are church-led efforts such as Angelic Ministry, which provides furniture, clothing, linens and household items at no cost to people who walk through its doors at 1218 N. Central Street; Care Cuts, a monthly grooming service that pairs haircuts, hair coloring, manicures and pedicures with lunch and clothing for neighbors experiencing homelessness; FISH Ministry, which delivers bags of prepackaged food staples to anyone who calls and requests them on the first Thursday of each month; the Central Bearden Card Ministry, which writes greeting cards to homebound members; and an Electrical Volunteers team that handles church-related electrical work. Cooking with a Mission gathers women who cook a shared meal and package portions for Ronald McDonald House and families in need. Central Women runs English as a Second Language classes, citizenship prep, a knitting ministry, a sewing ministry, weekday women's Bible studies, women's exercise groups and more.
Local Mission partners include A Hand Up for Women, BCM at UT, Bethany, Big East Tennessee, Bridge Refugee Services, Carson-Newman campus ministries, Compassion Coalition, Emerald Youth, Family Promise of Knoxville, FCA Knoxville, Knoxville Hope, KARM, Knox County Association of Baptists, KICKO, Operation Inasmuch, Remote Area Medical, The Cross (Greek Christian Ministries at UT), VMC and Western Heights Baptist Center. State and National Mission partners include Appalachian Ministries of the Smokies, Baptist Medical/Dental Fellowship, the Tennessee Baptist Adult Home and the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. Global Mission partnerships span the Baptist World Alliance, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Gideon's International, the International Mission Board and Local Global, alongside relationships such as Welcome House Knoxville, a ministry of hospitality and friendship that provides safe homes for individuals and families in transition to permanent housing.
The church is autonomous under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but has chosen to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Knox County Association of Baptists and Baptist World Alliance.
What Central Bearden Believes
Central Bearden holds to the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. Its stated commitments begin with the historic Baptist principles of Bible Freedom, Soul Freedom, Church Freedom and Religious Freedom. The church confesses one eternal God who reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct in person but without division of nature, essence or being. God the Son is confessed as Christ, the eternal Son who in His incarnation as Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, lived in perfect obedience, died on the cross for the redemption of sinners, was raised from the dead with a glorified body, ascended into heaven and now sits exalted at God's right hand as the one Mediator. God the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture, illumines truth, convicts of sin, calls sinners to repentance, regenerates, sanctifies, comforts, bestows spiritual gifts and seals believers unto final redemption.
Salvation is described as a work of God's grace: regeneration as the new birth, repentance and faith as inseparable experiences, justification as God's full acquittal of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ, sanctification as the lifelong process by which the believer progresses toward moral and spiritual perfection through the Holy Spirit, and glorification as the final blessed state of the redeemed. The congregation understands itself as an autonomous body operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, with pastors and deacons as its Scriptural officers.
Four verbs shape the church's mission and values: Encountering God through authentic worship; Empowering members to develop a deepening relationship with God; Engaging non-believers in everyday life; and Energizing a movement of the gospel that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice and cultural renewal to Knoxville, Tennessee and the world.
Preschool Weekday, Giving and Getting Connected
Preschool Weekday, the church's weekday early childhood program, serves children from 6 weeks to 5 years old, Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, with early care from 8:30 to 9:00 and late care until 3:45 PM. The DHS-licensed program follows the Knox County Schools calendar and includes enrichment in music, art, movement, Bible, chapel and story time.
Giving is available online, by text message to 865-259-7111, through Venmo at @CentralBaptistBearden, by check made payable to Central Bearden and mailed to the church address, by monthly automatic bank draft, by stock transfer, and through offering boxes at the back of the sanctuary. The CBB Connect app and online portal give members access to the church directory and calendar, along with text and email alerts. Sunday sermons are livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook at 10:30 AM, with a podcast available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Staff and Pastoral Care
Senior Pastor JC Neely leads a staff that includes Mark Groves as Associate Pastor for Worship and the Arts, Kelly Rose as Executive Pastor, Tim Earl as Minister of Missions and Engagement, Mark Moreland as Minister of Pastoral Care, Nick Campbell as Minister to Students and Families, and Kim Ponder as Minister of Children and Families. Nancy Reeves coordinates Uniquely Growing in Christ, Janna Waldrupe coordinates the Encore Senior Adult Ministry, and Jennifer McVeigh serves as Preschool Weekday Director alongside Assistant Director Emily Wright. Jonathan Rester directs production, Trey Lindsay directs instrumental music, Trey Ogle serves as Church Organist and Pam Robertson as Church Pianist. Laura Lindsay and Amy Tucker serve as Worship and Arts Associates.
The Deacon Ministry, currently chaired by Greg Bangert with James Willingham as Vice-Chair, divides its service into teams for Baptism, Congregational Care, the Lord's Supper, Newcomer, Prayer, Small Jobs and Visitation. Stephen Ministers provide one-to-one lay care during difficult seasons of life. Pastoral Care and Stephen Ministry can both be reached through the main church office at 865-588-0586.