Henderson, Tennessee is a small town in West Tennessee, and the Estes Church of Christ sits about five minutes south of the town square on US Highway 45 South. The congregation is one of the larger Churches of Christ in the area, with roots going back many decades and a present-day focus that reaches far beyond Chester County. Between 35 and 45 percent of the church's annual budget flows outward to mission work in ten countries. Its location next door to Freed-Hardeman University has shaped its identity, with a dedicated college ministry and Sunday classes populated largely by students. The church's most public offerings, however, are woven through its broader family: children and youth programs that begin in the nursery, six support groups under the 6:2 banner for adults walking through hard things, and a long-running Disaster Response Team that can roll a mobile kitchen and shower trailer onto a disaster site within hours.
"We are farmers and factory workers, doctors and teachers," the church says of its people. "We are marathon runners and potato chip eaters. Despite our differences, we are all invited to be children of God." "We share one another's burdens and celebrate one another's victories," the church adds. "Please let us know how we can help you and your family."
What Estes Believes
The doctrinal core follows the same pattern as other Churches of Christ: the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, believers added to the church through faith, repentance, and immersion, the Lord's Supper observed each Sunday, and a cappella singing without instruments. What Estes puts on paper adds a few warm touches. "Church is more than a place or event. It is who we are."
Five short statements cover the basics. God is the Creator, a God of love and justice who continually reaches out to bring people close to Himself. Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect and sinless life, gave His life on the cross for our sins, rose again on the third day, and today reigns in heaven. The Bible is the only objective source from which God's will can be known; "all that we do and believe must be taught or implied in the Bible." Sin is the problem, and grace through Christ is the only solution; when trust in God's grace leads a person to accept salvation on His terms, sins are removed and that person is added to the family of God, the church. The church itself is the gathered body of God's people on earth, with no clergy-laity separation. "Each member plays a vital role in taking the gospel to the world, and in helping fellow Christians serve God faithfully."
Sunday and Wednesday Rhythms
The week centers on a few fixed gatherings. Sunday morning begins at 9:30 a.m. with Bible classes for every age. The morning worship assembly meets at 10:30 a.m., and the evening service begins at 5:00 p.m. A Spanish-language service also meets at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Wednesday evenings return to the auditorium at 7:00 p.m. for Bible study. Services are livestreamed on YouTube under the channel name Estes Church Live, so friends and family who cannot be present can still follow along, and recent services are archived there as well.
Worship itself is "simple but meaningful." A service includes singing, prayer, the Lord's Supper, and a Bible message from one of the church's ministers. The auditorium has no instruments; all singing is a cappella. Communion is shared every Sunday, and the church provides prepackaged communion kits for those who need them. Most people arrive ten to fifteen minutes before a service; a welcome center in the lobby helps newcomers find classrooms and seats without being singled out.
From the Nursery Through Sixth Grade
"Estes Church of Christ loves kids, and we are passionate about teaching them to love the Lord," the children's ministry says. The program runs from the nursery through sixth grade and partners with parents to lay a foundation that will lead to a life of service. Bible classes meet on Sunday morning and Wednesday night for infants through sixth graders. Storytelling, crafts, videos, memorization, and repetition bring the Bible stories to life at every age.
An attended nursery is available during both Sunday services and the Wednesday evening service for infants through 24 months. For parents who prefer to keep their little ones with them during assembly, a training room at the rear of the auditorium provides a quieter place to work and play without worrying about disturbing anyone. Periodic fellowship activities through the year bring children and their families together around the things of Jesus. Lads to Leaders and Leaderettes, a leadership training program used widely across the Churches of Christ, gives older children a way to develop skills in Bible knowledge, public speaking, and service.
Walking with God: Youth and the Freed-Hardeman Crowd
"Are you looking for acceptance? Peace? Happiness? The Estes Youth Group is a group of teenagers who are looking for the same things," the youth ministry writes. "We know that Jesus Christ died for us - and for you." Sunday-morning and Wednesday-night youth classes gather with the wider church; the group keeps an active presence on Facebook for day-to-day updates and meeting notices.
College is where Estes has built one of its most distinctive ministries. Freed-Hardeman University is a Christian university a short drive down the road, and the church has built its college programming around the students who pass through it. A Sunday morning college class meets at 9:30 in the basement fellowship room; a Wednesday evening college class meets at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium. Students are welcome in any of the adult classes as well. Jonathan Estes, who writes for the college ministry, frames the goal in the language of Genesis 5: "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Walking with God - through regular Bible study, prayer, and worship - is the verb the ministry is built around.
Beyond the classroom, students are folded into the life of the church. They teach in the children's ministry, lead or assist with worship services at local nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, volunteer with disaster relief, and serve alongside the Hispanic ministry. Periodic Sunday-night fellowships hosted at members' homes put students and longtime members around the same table. The college ministry, in the church's words, seeks to be a "home away from home" while students work on their education. The Connections class on Sunday mornings gathers students and senior members together for discussion and mutual encouragement.
Adult Classes and a Sunday at Heritage Towers
Sunday morning adult classes are organized by life stage: Young Singles, Young Families, and Empty Nesters, so members study with peers walking through the same season. Classes meet at 9:30, before the 10:30 worship assembly.
A separate ministry reaches an even older audience. For roughly forty years the church has hosted a 2:00 p.m. Sunday worship service in the first-floor meeting room at Heritage Towers, a five-story, seventy-five-unit independent living facility on the edge of the Freed-Hardeman campus. After a two-year pause during the pandemic, the services resumed in August 2022. Volunteers from Estes lead twenty-five to thirty minutes of a cappella singing and a short devotional, then linger to visit with residents in the lobby or outdoor seating area. Bobbie Bradley and Gene Starkey are regulars among the residents; Doug Burleson coordinates the rotation of men who lead the song service and devotional. The ministry keeps an eye out especially for residents who are not yet Christians, since door-to-door visiting is not allowed and the building can only be entered by key fob.
The 6:2 Ministry: Bearing One Another's Burdens
The 6:2 Ministry takes its name from Galatians 6:2: "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." "The people at the Estes Church of Christ beg you not to make your walk alone," the ministry writes. "The most difficult of journeys can be made easier with people who love and support you." The ministry is open to anyone battling current struggles as well as those who have overcome similar difficulties and want to lend an ear, give advice, or offer love and support just as Christ did. Seven programs make up the ministry, each aimed at a different difficulty ordinary church members face.
Recovery Through Christ is a Biblically based 12-step program for anyone wrestling with addictions or other life-controlling issues. Grief Support and Recovery runs for eight weeks and walks participants through any kind of loss. Incite Men's Ministry is a bi-weekly breakfast for men who want to grow as husbands, fathers, and leaders, meeting on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 6:30 a.m. The Marriage Support Group focuses on communication and conflict resolution. The Parenting Support Group meets for classes and discussion on challenges at every age. The Financial Support Group covers debt, stewardship, budgeting, and planning. The Connections Group hosts events and activities designed to help Estes members form genuine friendships with other Christians in the body.
Jim Jones and the Estes Elders oversee the work. Inquiries can go to 62ministry@esteschurch.com.
Disaster Relief and Local Assistance
Estes is a regular participant in the Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team, overseen by the Melbourne Church of Christ in Florida. When a hurricane, tornado, or flood hits a community, the team can roll in a mobile kitchen, a mobile shower trailer, trained coordinators, fully stocked tool trailers, and crates of clean-up kits, health kits, baby kits, and school kits. Volunteers from Estes have helped congregations across the South recruit local workers, walk families through the spiritual and emotional side of recovery, and assist in tear-out and rebuilding.
Closer to home, the Local Assistance program responds to neighbors facing sudden hardship. A committee reviews every request, and Estes has helped with food, temporary lodging, clothing, and other emergencies. A representative can be reached at (731) 608-5458. The work continues an ongoing prison ministry as well, with elders who have developed a written policy for welcoming believers who have been incarcerated while protecting the most vulnerable members of the congregation.
Forty Years of Mission Support Across Ten Countries
Estes frames its global work in plain words: "Evangelism is a part of the fabric of the Estes church. The congregation itself was the result of the evangelistic outreach efforts of others. For the first fifty years of its existence, its evangelistic energy was devoted primarily to local outreach, as it grew from a handful of members to more than 200." After the move into the current building in the 1960s, domestic mission campaigns to Independence, Virginia, St. Louis, Elkhart, Indiana, and Kittaning, Pennsylvania became regular features. Norman Hogan, who became the Estes preacher in 1980, stirred the congregation toward overseas work; campaigns reached Dunoon, Scotland, Ekaterinburg, Russia, and Wanganui, New Zealand. In September 1984 Patrick Boyns was commissioned to begin full-time work in Dunoon, beginning Estes's tradition of long-term missionary support.
Today the missions portfolio spans ten countries.
In Cusco, Peru, Elvis Chacón and Percy Ávalos Rojas serve as Estes's primary contacts. In Corby, England, Patrick Boyns serves as Principal of the British Bible School, which reaches students in person and at a distance around the world. The FHU Bible Program underwrites scholarships through the Graduate School of Theology at Freed-Hardeman; Mark Blackwelder directs it. In Haiti, Matial and Ketty Viciere run the Santo Nutrition Center in Port-au-Prince, where sponsored children receive two meals a day, five days a week, and attend school. A monthly gift of $40 feeds a child and another $40 covers tuition, books, and uniform. In Nazareth, Israel, Maurice Jadon and family have worked with the Arabic-speaking church for more than forty years, one of the only Churches of Christ within a thousand miles.
Frank Williams directs the Latin America portfolio from Forrest Park Church of Christ in Valdosta, Georgia, handling preacher training, medical missions, evangelism, benevolence, and Spanish-language printing. Russell and Allison Epperson and their three children, Caden, Brynlee, and Tessa, serve in Lewistown, Montana, with the Central Montana Church of Christ. In New Zealand, John and Erin (King) Jones - both Freed-Hardeman graduates - work with the congregations in Wellington and Porirua City, teach in the Bear Valley Bible Institute of New Zealand, and lead outreach campaigns. In Bangkok, Subin and Kim Panboon direct the Thailand Bible Literature Program, which has enrolled more than 1,191,000 people since 1971 and sees roughly 500 new students each month. Jonathan Crowell and family, recent members at Estes, coordinate World Bible Institute schools in Ghana and Togo. In Zimbabwe, Nkosi and Katie Mpofu serve as Estes's contacts.
Dr. Steve Johnson writes the missions summary, and the missions budget has held at 35 to 45 percent of the church's annual spending for the past decade. The conviction: "May God be glorified as people around the world are led to Christ."
A Building for the Next Generation
Growth has pressed against the existing facility, and Estes has set out an expansion plan. The proposal adds 21,788 square feet of new space, with three new classrooms, a new kitchen and food-prep area, a 600-seat activity center, additional storage, and stairs to a second-floor storage area. The layout will give the youth group two dedicated rooms, free up a large classroom for adult Bible study, add a smaller space for events, and put a working commercial kitchen within reach of both church-wide fellowship meals and benevolence meals prepared for the surrounding community. The activity center will double as a venue for community service in times of crisis, and the expansion is built around a stated goal of creating new opportunities to engage with neighbors throughout Chester County.
Construction is to begin once the financial goals have been met. The plan has been under prayer and planning for years, and the elders are inviting every family to take part - first through prayer, and then through giving. Generations before gave so the current building could serve the work; this generation has the chance to do the same for the next one.
What a First-Time Visitor Should Know
Estes makes a point of welcoming strangers. "An unfamiliar place can be intimidating and uncomfortable," the church acknowledges. Parking spaces are available on all sides of the building, and a welcome center in the lobby helps newcomers find classrooms and seats. Most people arrive ten to fifteen minutes before the service begins. Dress is whatever feels right: "expect to see people in jeans and t-shirts and people in suits and dresses." Children of every age are welcome in the service; the training room at the rear of the auditorium gives parents a place to take a fussy child, and the nursery handles infants through 24 months during any gathering.
The address is 3505 US Highway 45 South, Henderson, TN 38340 (mailing address P.O. Box 191, Henderson, TN 38340). The church office is at (731) 989-7990 and info@esteschurch.org handles general questions. Online giving runs through Breeze CHMS, and services are livestreamed on YouTube under the channel Estes Church Live.