Downtown Johnson City at Main and Boone
First Presbyterian Church stands at the corner of West Main Street and South Boone Street in the heart of Johnson City, Tennessee. The brick building is handicap accessible, with an elevator reaching all levels. Inside, the congregation lives by a simple motto: "At First Presbyterian we Love First." The church is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country and part of the Reformed tradition, and it sits within the bounds of Holston Presbytery. The church's own description is short and direct: all are welcome. All are accepted.
First Pres has a deep well of mission work behind it, with more than 150 years of partnerships that reach from the streets of Johnson City to Central Appalachia, Haiti, Kenya, Mexico, and beyond. The congregation is known for its two distinct Sunday services, an active music program, a downtown preschool, and a ministry for women in need called The River that has welcomed more than 1,000 women and children since it opened in 2004.
Two Sunday Morning Services
Sunday mornings at First Pres offer two worship services that share one faith but speak in different voices. Contemporary worship begins at 9:00 a.m. in the Worship Center on the upper level of the church, and the service features a live band, a come-as-you-are atmosphere, and Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month. Traditional worship follows at 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. With organ, choir, and a more formal, liturgical shape, this service also celebrates Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month and follows the liturgical traditions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Sunday School meets between the two services at 10:00 a.m., and classes are offered for every age. Both services are livestreamed, and recordings of past services are available on YouTube and Vimeo so members and friends can watch at any time.
Music for Every Voice and Hand
Music is woven through the life of First Pres, and the program offers a place for almost every age and skill level. Opportunities include a Praise Team for the contemporary service, a Chancel Choir, an auditioned Chancel Ensemble and Chamber Singers, a Summer Choir, and three handbell groups.
The Chancel Ensemble is made up of auditioned singers and the section leaders from the Chancel Choir, and together with the Chamber Singers it provides musical leadership for the 11:00 a.m. service throughout the church year. The Chancel Choir rehearses on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. The Celebration Ringers, a three-octave handbell choir, rehearses on Mondays at 6:00 p.m., and the auditioned Chamber Ringers follow at 7:00 p.m. The Tower Ringers, who ring change-ringing-style patterns, meet at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays. A Summer Choir leads the 11:00 a.m. service during the summer months. The Praise Team, which leads the contemporary service, rehearses on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. Music reading skills are helpful in some groups but not required for every ensemble, and directors welcome new participants throughout the year.
The River: A Door at 125 West Main
Across the street from the church, at 125 West Main Street, the congregation operates The River, a ministry for women in need. The River is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and has welcomed more than 1,000 women and children since opening its doors on October 4, 2004. It offers core services that meet basic needs and support services that help women move toward self-sufficiency, and guests are met with a compassionate and respectful welcome. Many of the women served are without strong support networks and are at serious risk of falling further into poverty or homelessness. Stacy Larsen, who has served as The River's executive director since it opened, leads the work.
Children and Students at First Pres
First Pres runs a full slate of ministries for the next generation, organized by age and stage.
1st Street Kids serves children from age 3 through 5th grade. After the children's message in the contemporary service, kids are dismissed to the 1st STREET area, where they learn the Bible through creative activities, music, games, and stories. The program centers on three truths: God loves them, they can trust Him no matter what, and they should love others like Jesus loves them.
UpStreet is the ministry for students in 6th through 8th grade, and Nine 12 is the ministry for students in 9th through 12th grade. Both groups gather for worship, discipleship, fellowship, service, and play, and both invite friends to come along. A monthly outreach called UpStreet Serves and Nine 12 Serves partners with the OneGenAway mobile food pantry on the third Saturday of each month at the old Citi location in Gray. Sunday evening Bible studies give middle and high schoolers another weekly touchpoint. Jennifer Jacobs, the Director of Children's and Middle School Ministries, oversees this work along with her team.
Adults Learning Around Tables
Adult formation is built around Sunday morning classes, midweek Bible studies, and small groups that meet in homes around a shared table. A Henri Nouwen quote sets the tone for the small group ministry: "A meal together is one of the most intimate and sacred human events."
Sunday School classes meet at 10:00 a.m. and include a book-of-the-Bible study led by Gary Arner in the Myers Conference Room, a discussion-based class led by Priscilla Dollard in Room 206, and a conversation on spiritual formation and daily life in the Library led by John Golden and Brian Johnston. A weekly men's Bible study meets on Thursdays at noon in Room 211, and a women's Bible and book study gathers on the second and third Thursdays at 9:15 a.m. in Room 204. A Bible study and prayer group meets on the first and third Fridays at the Spears' House.
Small groups meet in homes on different nights of the week, sharing a meal, praying, reading scripture, and getting to know one another. The groups are intergenerational rather than age-based, and one Monday-night group offers childcare. Groups meet during the school year, with breaks set by the group itself.
Mission Near and Far
Mission at First Pres is described as an extension of worship, a way of being sent out to love God and neighbor. The church supports a wide network of local and global partners.
Local Partners
Locally, the church helps prepare lunch one Monday a month at the Melting Pot ministry in the basement of Munsey Church, helps stock the ETSU campus food pantry, supports Family Promise of Johnson City in its work with low-income and unhoused families, and provides a warm indoor place for unhoused neighbors during dangerously cold weather. The church also supports Isaiah 117 House, a safe and loving home for children in foster care awaiting placement. Through UpStreet and Nine 12 Serves, students and adults partner with the OneGenAway mobile food pantry each month.
Global Partners
On the wider mission field, First Pres has longstanding partnerships with Appalachia Service Project for home repair in Central Appalachia, InterVarsity on college campuses, Heifer International, the Northeast Tennessee Food Bank, Trinity Hope (which feeds children in Haitian Christian schools), Haiti Education Foundation, the Cents-Ability hunger program, and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. The Global Missions Team also supports missionaries and organizations in Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, and Brazil, including Mission Aviation Fellowship, the Antioch Partners, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Partners in Community International, Rock Bridge Ministries, and Campus Outreach.
A Preschool in the Heart of the Church
First Presbyterian Preschool, located inside the church building, provides a weekday educational program for young children in a Christian atmosphere. Hours run from 8:45 a.m. to noon, with optional extended care from 8:00 to 8:45 a.m. and noon to 2:30 p.m. The preschool offers 2-day Pre-K 2, 2-day and 3-day Pre-K 3, and 3-day and 5-day Pre-K 4 classes, and is licensed by the State of Tennessee. The school is led by Director Jill Lewis, who joined the preschool in 2010 and took over as director in 2023. All three of her own children have attended the program.
Pastors and Staff
First Pres is pastored by a team of two. Paul Helphinstine, originally from Plainfield, Indiana, has called Northeast Tennessee home since 1995. A graduate of Milligan University and Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, he served as Director of Student Ministries at First Pres for nearly seven years before going to Covenant Presbyterian Church and returning as Senior Pastor and Head of Staff in 2019. He has served on the Holston Presbytery Committee on Ministry and on the General Assembly's Special Committee for Per Capita Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability.
Laura Hicks Hardy grew up in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and came to First Pres after supply preaching at several PC(USA) congregations. A graduate of King University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, she was ordained in 2022 and is passionate about spiritual formation, preaching, and liturgy. She is the author of an essay that won Dappled Things' Jacques Maritain Prize in Nonfiction in 2024.
The staff also includes Jennifer Jacobs (Director of Children's and Middle School Ministries), Stacy Larsen (Executive Director of The River), Jill Lewis (Preschool Director), and a team of music directors who lead the choirs, handbells, and contemporary band. The church offers a Church Center app for the digital directory, calendar, and sign-ups, and welcomes prayer requests that can be shared with the ministry staff and prayer team. Online giving is available, in-service giving is the primary way of tithing, and gifts can also be made by texting FirstPresJC to 73256.