First Presbyterian Church Franklin traces its life as a congregation to June 8, 1811, when the Reverend Gideon Blackburn organized the Presbyterian Church of Franklin with 46 members. Worship today takes place in a sanctuary that was dedicated in 1994 at the corner of Franklin Road and Legends Club Lane, but the congregation's roots run back to a meeting house on Fourth Avenue in the early nineteenth century, then through three sanctuaries built at Fifth Avenue and Main Street, the second of which was dismantled by the Federal Army for use as a hospital after the Battle of Franklin in November 1864. The Franklin congregation belongs to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and sits within the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee in the Synod of Living Waters.
Worship at 10:15 on Sunday Morning
Sunday worship begins at 10:15 AM in the Sanctuary, with music led by Director of Music and Organist Michael P. Snoddy. The service is grounded in Scripture, shaped by prayer, and centered on Jesus Christ. Hymns and worship music are led by organ and piano, with other instruments including bagpipes, guitar, woodwinds, brass, and timpani woven into special occasions. Congregational singing is treated as a way of responding to God's grace in praise. Each Sunday prior to the sermon there is a Time with the Young Church in which all children are invited to participate. Worship is also offered online through a livestream, and bulletins are posted in advance.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month and on special days such as World Communion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Christmas Eve, and during midweek Lenten services. The congregation describes the Lord's Supper as the sign and seal of communion with the crucified and risen Lord, an invitation to an everlasting covenant that also feeds others and offers a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. Baptism, the other PC(USA) sacrament, is celebrated for people of any age who desire it, and is understood as God's gift and call to repentance, faithfulness, and discipleship.
Music and Arts
The Music and Arts program is one of the defining ministries of the congregation. Michael P. Snoddy holds the Master of Music Degree in organ performance from the University of North Texas, was an undergraduate winner in the William C. (Bill) Hall pipe organ competition, has performed at Hull City Hall in England and First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, and was featured on American Public Media's Pipedreams for his recording Immortal, Invisible. He also holds the Presbyterian Association of Musicians Certified Church Musician credential and previously worked as a professional pipe organ builder with the Canadian firm Casavant Frères Limitée, with whom he continues to consult.
The Chapel/Chancel Choir provides music for the 10:15 service and sings literature from many periods, with additional programming during Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. The Carillon Handbell Choir provides music on selected Sundays. The Children's Sunday School hour opens each week with a gathering time of song and a Bible story introduction led by Mr. Michael. Recurring and one-off offerings across the year have included Music Commissioning Sunday, the Annual Service of Lessons and Carols, a Spring Hymn Festival, and recitals by guest musicians.
A Congregation in Pastoral Transition
First Presbyterian is currently being served by an interim pastor as the congregation searches for its next Head of Staff and Senior Pastor. Edward "Eddie" Bellis IV, the present Interim Pastor, was raised in a U.S. Army family and found his way into ministry through a summer as a youth leader at Montreat while a student at NC State. He holds an M.A. in Christian Education from PSCE and an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, was ordained in 1996 as an Associate Pastor focused on education, and has served seven congregations in interim ministry since 2012. Anne Keener serves as Commissioned Pastor, having completed her Certificate in Ministry through Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2018 and been installed by the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee in 2019. She is a member of First Presbyterian since 1997 and joined the staff in 2013. Sam Belcher directs youth ministry; he is a Franklin and Nashville native, a graduate of Lipscomb University, and a 2022 graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary's Center for Youth Ministry.
The Pastor Nominating Committee began meeting weekly in May 2026. The committee has followed the PC(USA) process, including approval of the Ministry Discernment Profile by the Session and by the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee's Commission on Ministry, and has reviewed more than 100 candidates through the Church Leadership Connection and other referrals.
Children, Youth, and Adults
The Children's Ministry is designed for newborns through up five, with the promise of baptism taken as the starting point for partnering with parents. Pre-K through fifth graders begin the Sunday School hour with music time with Mr. Michael, then move to age-group classes for a Bible story and activities. A nursery for infants through Pre-K is available in Room 111 with dedicated nursery attendants. Children's Worship is offered for fours, fives, and kindergartners, who are met in the Narthex after the Time with the Young Church and taken to Room 101 in the Children's Wing, returning to the Sanctuary after the sermon. Children are welcomed at all points; the Narthex is set up with the sanctuary audio for parents who step out with an unhappy child. Nursery Coordinators Kate Lasseter and Kelly Oldham lead this work, along with Linda Cairatti and other nursery staff.
Youth ministry gathers preteens through high schoolers. Sunday mornings begin at 9:00 AM with hot chocolate, smoothies, cookies, and announcements. Middle schoolers study Feasting on the Word and the Big God Big Questions curriculum in Room 119/120. High schoolers study the lectionary-based Feasting on the Word curriculum in Room 117/118. The Confirmation program begins in sixth grade, runs through the school year, and assigns each Confirmand a Covenant Partner to walk beside them; Confirmands and Covenant Partners read the Gospel of Luke together and meet at least monthly. Sunday Night Summit, the main youth fellowship session of the week, runs from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM in the Youth Wing from September through May, with a shared meal, large group time, and age-specific small groups. Throughout the year, the youth take part in fall and spring retreats at NaCoMe, summer mission and learning trips, and the Montreat Youth Conference.
Adult ministries include Sunday School classes for every stage of life, two women's retreats each year (the Montreat Women's Connection in August and the FPC Women's Retreat), a Wednesday Night Live schedule, and Growth Groups that meet weekly for seven weeks around a shared book. Men's Bible Study meets in the Fellowship Parlor on Saturday mornings from 9:45 to 10:45 AM during the school year. Sisters in Spirit, a women's fellowship, support, study, and prayer group, meets Fridays from 10:00 to 11:15 AM in the FPC Parlor. The Presbyterian Women's group meets on the second Tuesday of the month from September through May, using the Horizons Bible study.
Wednesday Night Live
Wednesday Night Live is the midweek gathering of the whole church. After Labor Day each fall, the Carillon Handbell Choir rehearses from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, dinner catered by Seasoned Smoke is served from 6:00 to 6:45 PM, and adult, youth, and children programs run from 6:45 to 7:30 PM. The Chancel Choir rehearses from 6:45 to 8:15 PM. WNL programming typically includes guest speakers on topics that matter spiritually and in everyday life. Recent and upcoming evenings have featured the TN Holocaust Commission, the Refuge Center, Age Well on scam prevention, a Racial Justice evening, Hard Bargain Association, the 4:04 Foundation, a Veterans Day speaker, and a three-week teaching series with Amy-Jill Levine. Meal signups are due by Sunday, with a suggested cost of $10 per adult or youth, $5 per child, and a family maximum of $25.
Mission: Local, Domestic, Global
The congregation's local mission work centers on practical, ongoing relationships. The Basic Essentials cart in the Narthex collects food and everyday necessities for GraceWorks Ministries and other local partners. The Meals on Wheels ministry delivers meals and visits to homebound neighbors. Regular American Red Cross blood drives are held in Wilson Hall with appointments made through redcrossblood.org using the code FPCF19. Each winter, the church building serves as an emergency shelter on Saturdays for the Williamson County Homeless Alliance.
On the domestic side, members travel to Coalmont, Tennessee each fall to support Mountain T.O.P. with home repairs such as roofing, flooring, siding, windows, and bathroom renovations, as well as the community-wide Fall Festival. Each fall and spring, the church travels to Dixon Springs, Tennessee, for a Community Work Day with Crossroads Mission Care, a retreat and place of restoration for first responders, pastors, missionaries, and military families. Each January, members of all ages take part in a Martin Luther King Intergenerational Service Learning Trip, with past destinations including Birmingham and Montgomery, Memphis, Nashville, and Atlanta.
Global mission traces back to member Lena Reynolds, who served as a missionary in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) for 32 years, from 1932 to 1959, and whose story the congregation preserves through an endowment and the Lena Reynolds School of Mission. Today the church financially supports Living Waters of the World, the Outreach Foundation, and the Guatemala-Peten Partnership Task Force of the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee, and plans trips as appropriate. The most recent global trip was to Cuba in 2024, with previous trips to Mozambique, Lebanon, Greece, and Mexico.
FISH and Caring Ministries
FISH (FPC Intergenerational Service in Hope) is the church's series of mission opportunities designed to bring all ages and abilities together in service. Some events are held at the church with no pre-signup required, while others happen off site.
The Caring Ministries walk alongside members through the changing seasons of life. The Visitation Ministry organizes one-on-one visits with members who cannot attend worship. The Meal Ministry provides meals for those facing hospitalization, illness, a death in the family, or the joyful occasion of a new birth or adoption. The Prayer Shawl group meets on the second Monday of each month from 1:00 to 2:30 PM in the Parlor, knitting and crocheting prayer shawls for those in difficult times, scarves and hats distributed through Mountain T.O.P., and baby blankets for newborns in the congregation. Each week, the Worship Flowers Ministry rearranges the Sunday flowers into smaller vases and delivers them on Mondays to homebound members.
The Building, the Grounds, and the Memorial Garden
The current church building was dedicated on September 18, 1994, on twelve acres purchased at the intersection of Franklin Road and Mack Hatcher Parkway to accommodate the congregation's growth during the 1980s and early 1990s. Approximately 500 members moved to the new location that summer; seventy-five members remained at Fifth Avenue and Main and formed Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church, with the two churches still sharing several worship events each year after re-engaging in 2011.
The 2015 capital campaign All Things Possible eliminated the building's mortgage debt in November of that year, with the congregation ultimately pledging more than $2 million and contributing over $1 million by the campaign's final Sunday. The 2022 Glory to Glory campaign then funded $1,044,000 in capital needs, including a $900,000 EIFS exterior project, and $1,990,000 in annual giving. The Memorial Garden on the church grounds is available to members and friends who wish to be laid to rest at the church, and weddings and funerals are part of the life of the congregation. Battle Ground Academy's Early Learning Center, an early childhood program, is housed in the building's lower level.
What Presbyterians Believe Here
First Presbyterian Franklin ascribes to the Reformed Tradition as expressed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The guiding documents are the Bible, the Book of Confessions, and the Book of Order. The congregation worships and orders its life around the Brief Statement of Faith in the Book of Confessions, beginning: "In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve." Sixteen elected ruling elders in three classes, joined with the pastors, make up the governing Session that the court oversees the church's mission and ministries.
Joining In
Visitors are welcome to worship at 10:30 AM on Sunday, the morning before, at 9:00 AM, with Sunday School for children, youth, and adults, and Common Grounds in Wilson Hall at 9:45 AM. There is ample parking, with handicap accessible spaces near the sanctuary, and the entrance is the first one off Legends Club Lane. The nursery is open during worship, Sunday School, and special events. Giving, pledging, and the directory are available through the church office at 101 Legends Club Lane, Franklin, Tennessee 37069, by phone at (615) 794-5114, or by email at office@fpcfranklin.org.