On the corner of Belmont Boulevard and Graybar Lane, set back from the street in Nashville's residential Green Hills neighborhood, Second Presbyterian Church has been a steady Presbyterian presence for more than 180 years. The white-painted brick sanctuary with dark green shutters and a tall steeple looks at home on a leafy block of houses, but the congregation that gathers inside has spent decades making a name for itself far beyond the neighborhood. Second is a More Light congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), a signatory of the Matthew 25 movement, and an Earth Care Congregation, and the people of the church are just as direct about the work of racial reconciliation, LGBTQ+ welcome, and care for creation as they are about music, formation, and fellowship.
Sunday Worship at 10:30
Most Sundays at Second follow the same rhythm, and visitors can drop in almost any week of the year and find their bearings quickly. The doors are open early. From 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning, children, youth, and adults gather for Spiritual Formation classes in the Activity Center. The nursery is staffed and open from 9:00 to 11:45 for infants through two-year-olds, with an adjoining crib room, a rocking chair for nursing mothers, and pagers so parents can worship without worry. Coffee begins at 9:00 in the Café, and the morning moves from there into the sanctuary for worship at 10:30.
The liturgy is rooted in ancient Christian practice but shaped for the present. The order of worship moves in three movements - gathering as God's people, listening for God's word, and responding to God's word - with time set aside for confession and forgiveness, scripture and sermon, prayer, music, and affirmation of faith. The congregation follows the Common Lectionary, the three-year cycle of readings shared by many churches worldwide, and uses both the Common English Bible and the New Revised Standard Version in worship. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month and on other significant days of the church year, and the table, the congregation emphasizes, is open to all.
Children are a visible part of Sunday worship at Second. A children's message is offered each week, after which potty-trained children through kindergarten can leave for Bible Buddies in the education wing, where there are snacks, prayer, and play for the remainder of the service. Young acolytes light the Christ Candle, and youth serve as communion servers as part of the church's participation in the Child of Blessing initiative through the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
Worship is livestreamed, and recent services are archived with their bulletins and sermons. Visitors who cannot come in person can join online.
The Sanctuary That Rose From a 2003 Fire
The building people walk into today is the fourth sanctuary in the congregation's long history. The previous building on the same lot was destroyed by fire on September 17, 2003. For more than three years, worship and most other activities moved into the Activity Center while the church was rebuilt. The new sanctuary was dedicated on June 3, 2007, an exact replica of the former steeple standing once again on its original site.
The design was deliberately Reformed in feel: clean, simple lines, and a clear progression from the outside world through a gathering hall and a narthex before entering the nave. Natural light pours into the nave as a symbol of the pure light of God's reason, and the central pulpit draws the eye forward while the choir and a custom Juget-Sinclair pipe organ sit in the rear balcony. Organist Douglas Murray, who first played the Juget-Sinclair for its 2007 dedication, considers the hymn text carefully when preparing accompaniments and works hard to support congregational singing.
The rebuilt building also added a Peaceable Kingdom area and children's worship space, two large youth rooms, a Café for meals and coffee hour, an enhanced music wing, a Gathering Space, and a Prayer Room. Two gardens on the campus - a rain garden along Belmont Boulevard and a pollinator garden just outside the choir room - are quiet reminders of the church's Earth Care commitments and are tended by the Environmental Stewardship Team.
A Nashville Walk of More Than 180 Years
Second Presbyterian's story began in 1842, when a group of young and enthusiastic members of the Nashville Presbyterian Church started a Mission Sabbath School in the basement of a salt warehouse on Market Street, on what is now Second Avenue. On November 12, 1843, with thirty-two charter members, the group was formally organized as a congregation of Nashville Presbytery. A sanctuary was built on a lot at Gay and College donated by hardware merchant James Erwin, and the cornerstone was laid on April 25, 1844, with the building dedicated on September 6, 1846.
The Civil War nearly tore the young church apart. At the time of Tennessee's secession in 1861, Second's pastor, J. S. Hays, was a northern-born minister who, while not an opponent of slavery himself, was nonetheless reluctant to pray for Confederate victory from the pulpit. A Session dominated by slaveholders demanded he step down. The congregation split, and when Union troops occupied Nashville in February 1862, Unionist members convinced the occupation authorities to seize the church's books, records, communion silver, and building. The sanctuary was used as a chapel for Union soldiers, and Second was aligned with the northern (Old School) Presbyterian church.
After the war, the church rebuilt. The Greek revival sanctuary was rededicated and the congregation was taken back under the care of Nashville Presbytery on October 18, 1871. By the early 1900s, downtown Nashville had changed around it, and in 1902 Second sold its property and moved to North Nashville, uniting with Edgar Presbyterian Church and building a new sanctuary at 9th Avenue North and Monroe Street that was dedicated on September 25, 1904.
The move north did not last. By the late 1930s, North Nashville was changing again, and the Presbytery was looking for a local church to serve Monroe Harding Children's Home, which had relocated to Glendale Lane. In 1939, Second voted to build a new church in that area, and ground was broken on August 4, 1940. The third Second, at 3511 Belmont Boulevard, was dedicated on June 29, 1941. A Sunday School annex was begun on the day the mortgage was burned in 1951, and further additions followed in 1961 and 1990. The Activity Center was completed in 2002, the year before the fire.
Music That Carries the Congregation
Music is central to the life of Second Presbyterian, and the program is built to draw in singers of every age. Jeanette MacCallum directs the music ministry and sees the choir as a living metaphor for the Christian life. Each individual voice is unique and complete in itself, she often says, but none of us can make harmony alone. The Adult Choir, made up primarily of volunteers from college age through older adults, rehearses on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. each week from mid-August through May and sings at the 10:30 service throughout the school year, in addition to special services during Advent, Christmas, and Holy Week. No audition is required, though basic music-reading skills are helpful.
Three children's choirs carry the same spirit forward. Jubilation Singers is for kindergarteners and first graders, and Young Singers is for second through sixth graders. They rehearse immediately after worship on Sundays from 11:40 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., sharing lunch together, and sing in worship several times each semester. Festival Singers, for seventh through twelfth graders, rehearses on Sundays from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. just before Youth Fellowship, and sometimes joins with the Adult Choir for special music. None of the choirs require an audition.
The choices the church makes about music are intentional. Music conveys theology, and offerings are selected to be theologically sound and liturgically suitable, grounded in the readings and themes of the day. Hymns and musical settings for the congregation, choir, and musicians are chosen to amplify the scripture of each service.
A Fellowship of Families
Children are treated as full members of the community at Second. The nursery welcomes infants through age two year-round from 8:45 to 11:30 a.m., with paid staff and a warm, loving approach designed to make a child's first church experience a good one. From three years old through high school, children and youth have a place in Sunday morning Spiritual Formation: Preschool and Kindergarten (ages three to five), Younger Elementary (grades one to three), Intermediate (grades four to eight), and High School (grades nine to twelve). A year-round Bible Buddies class meets during the latter part of worship for children through kindergarten.
Throughout the year, families mark the seasons together. Trunk or Treat in the fall, the Christmas Pageant, monthly Sunday night gatherings for youth, and the Blessing of the Animals worship inspired by Francis of Assisi - where young choirs sing and pets receive a blessing - are all part of the rhythm. The church's calendar of children and youth activities is published in an easy-to-read printable format and updated regularly.
A Safe Church Policy guides the congregation's work with children, youth, and members of vulnerable populations, designed to protect workers, volunteers, and the whole church family.
Adults Learning Together
Sunday morning is also a time for adults to dig deeper. From 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. between September and May, the Activity Center fills with adults in Spiritual Formation classes that range from book studies to short topical series. The pastor and other teachers lead conversations on spiritual practices, scripture, and the life of faith, and past series have included classes built around Corinne Ware's book Discover Your Spiritual Type.
Outside the Sunday classroom, fellowship has its own shape. There is coffee before worship each week, monthly Second Sunday Soup and Salad lunches, a Women's Book Group, a Creativity Group, and Summer Socials, and the Christmas and Easter seasons bring their own gatherings. Members of all ages move in and out of these small communities, and the rhythms of the church year set the pace.
A Church That Looks Outward
Second describes its work in the wider community in three ways: volunteers give their time, the church gives financial support, and the building is shared with outside groups. The building alone is used by more than fifty organizations each year, and seventy-five percent of building usage involves activities beyond the church itself. A long-standing relationship with Monroe Harding Group Home and Room In The Inn anchors that outreach.
The list of community partners reads like a map of Nashville's social fabric. Room In The Inn, Conexion Americas, Habitat for Humanity, Martha O'Bryan Center, Mary Parrish Center, Nashville CARES, Siloam Family Health Clinic, Preston Taylor Ministry, Nations Ministry, and NOAH (Nashville Organized for Action and Hope) are among the local organizations supported. The church also partners with Nueva Vida Presbyterian Church, hosts joint bilingual worship with Eastminster Presbyterian, and supports UKirk Presbyterian Campus Ministries. Internationally, the church has ties to 174 Trust in Ireland, Empower Through Health in Uganda, and a wide circle of organizations responding to the war in Ukraine, including World Central Kitchen, Ukraine Volya, the Azov Brigade, Unbroken Hospital, and Superhumans Hospital.
Inside the building, the Congregational Care Committee does the quieter work: meals for members recovering from medical procedures or welcoming new babies, rides to doctor's appointments, delivered groceries, cards and visits, and prayer. A grocery cart in the Gathering Space collects breakfast cereal, rice, beans, diapers, and other staples for immigrant neighbors, and the church participates in NOAH events such as pro-democracy boot camps, voter engagement, and days of action. The Environmental Stewardship Team tends the rain garden and pollinator garden and leads the church's Earth Care work.
Anyone who walks through the lobby on a given Sunday will find opportunities to serve - and a list of ministries and teams where members can plug in: Adult Education, Children and Youth Ministry, Congregational Care, Fellowship, Membership and Hospitality, Outreach, Property, Stewardship and Finance, and Environmental Care.
Faith, Stated Plainly
The people of Second Presbyterian describe their faith simply. They believe in God, who loves and creates all human beings as equal and calls every race and gender to live together as one. They believe in Jesus Christ, who calls them to follow his teachings, respond with love, and act to correct injustices. They believe in the Holy Spirit that inspires them to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. They believe in the grace that comes when they work continually toward fulfilling God's vision of a just and right world.
That faith has a particular shape. Second is a More Light congregation, working within the Presbyterian Church (USA) to center and celebrate the lives, gifts, and leadership of LGBTQ+ people. Pronoun buttons are available in the welcoming area on Sunday mornings as a small but meaningful sign that everyone is invited to share their full selves. The church is an Earth Care Congregation, committed to the Earth Care Pledge. It is a signatory of the Matthew 25 movement, which prioritizes affordable housing, equitable opportunities in employment and education, healing from addiction and mental illness, and enacting policy change.
A Racial Justice Statement, written by a writing team in November 2021 and updated in 2024, lays out the congregation's history and commitments in plain language. The statement acknowledges that Second was founded by slaveholders, that its first minister and many early members enslaved other human beings, that a 1926 restrictive covenant on the land forbade anyone of African descent from owning or living on the property except in the capacity of servants, and that the church benefited from white privilege for generations. It commits the congregation to self-education, to alliances with Black-run community organizations, to supporting Black-owned businesses, to opening the church's property to community groups of color, to peaceful public demonstration, and to strategic financial contributions in the Black community as a form of atonement. The statement is treated as a living document, expected to change and grow with the congregation.
Pastor, Staff, and the People Who Keep the Doors Open
The Rev. Courtnay Veazey has served as Pastor and Head of Staff since September 2025, having been called by the congregation on June 29, 2025. Veazey came to Second from Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, where she served as Designated Associate Pastor for Outreach, Fellowship, and Recreation. She holds a Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where she attended as a Vannie E. Cook Jr. Fellow, and earlier earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health from Mississippi State University. She and her husband, Kyle Veazey, are dog parents to Lily, a sixty-pound mixed breed.
Jeanette MacCallum directs the music ministry. A lifelong Presbyterian, she holds a Master of Church Music from Belmont University and has taught choral music at Westminster Presbyterian Church and Blair School of Music, as well as at Saint Cecilia Academy, Pope John Paul II High School, Belmont University, and Lipscomb University. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of Vox Grata Women's Choir, an auditioned community choir dedicated to benefiting the needs of women in the Nashville community, and the author of scholarly work on the sacred choral music of the Venetian Ospedali.
Douglas Murray, the organist, came to Second from McKendree United Methodist Church, where he had served as organist since 2012, and before that from twelve years at First Presbyterian Church, Nashville. He was a finalist and second-place prizewinner in the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation in Boston and recently retired from the English department at Belmont University. Terry Quillen, a Nashville native and Vanderbilt graduate who spent more than thirty years as a journalist at The Tennessean, handles digital and print communications and the office's administrative responsibilities. Mara Echterling serves as the church's audio/visual technician and runs an art program called Art Salon outside the church, plays music under the name Chaelle, and explores the outdoors with friends.
Visiting, Giving, and Staying Connected
Sunday morning is the easiest on-ramp. Worship is at 10:30 a.m., with Spiritual Formation classes and coffee at 9:00 a.m. and nursery care available throughout. The church is at 3511 Belmont Boulevard, in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, and the office can be reached at 615-292-3343 or admin@secondpresbyterian.net during office hours from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. A weekly e-newsletter keeps members and friends connected to what is happening, and the church is active on Facebook and Instagram, with a YouTube channel where recent services are archived.
Giving is offered online, by text message to 615-606-7473, by pledge during the annual stewardship campaign, and through gifts of stock or real estate. The rebuilding loan from the 2003 fire was paid off in 2025, and the church's current capital campaign is funding a solar panel project on the campus as a tangible expression of its Earth Care commitments.
From its beginnings in a salt warehouse basement in 1842 to its present life in a Green Hills sanctuary rebuilt from the ashes of a 2003 fire, Second Presbyterian Church has kept a single thread running through more than 180 years: a stubborn belief that the radically inclusive call of Jesus is meant to be lived, in worship, in music, in service, and in the long, patient work of justice.