Temple Baptist Church sits along West Beaver Creek Drive in Powell, Tennessee, just north of Knoxville in Knox County. Its motto, "Speaking the Truth in Love," sets the tone for a congregation that is serious about Bible preaching, warm about fellowship, and intentional about reaching both its neighborhood and the wider world. Pastor Derrick Morlan and his family lead the church alongside a body that has grown to host over a hundred ministries, a fully graded Sunday school program, a year-round conference calendar, and a livestream that carries the services far beyond Powell.
A Weekly Rhythm of Three Sundays and a Wednesday
The clearest window into Temple Baptist Church is its weekly schedule. Three gatherings take place on Sunday, and a fourth meeting falls in the middle of the week.
Sunday School begins at 9:30 AM and offers Bible classes for every age group, from newborns through senior adults. The morning worship service follows at 10:45 AM in the Main Auditorium. After a break for the noon meal, the Sunday Evening Service gathers at 6:00 PM. Wednesday brings the Midweek Service at 7:00 PM, described by the church as "a great midweek reset" built around worship, prayer, and teaching. A nursery is available for every service, and every service is translated into Spanish.
Visitors are encouraged to come a few minutes early to get settled. The church sits on a campus that includes the Main Auditorium, a Student Activity Center, a Lower School Gym, and an Upper School Gym, with classrooms organized into a nursery wing, a preschool wing, an elementary wing, and a chapel area.
A Home for Every Stage of Life
Temple's Sunday school is the heart of the church's family ministry. The Little Lambs preschool classes establish a loving foundation for newborns through K5, with trained nursery workers and a pager system that alerts parents if their child needs attention. Nursery care is provided for all children from birth through age four during every church service.
The Children's Department covers grades one through five, with classes led by husband-and-wife teacher teams. Each grade has its own room: 1st grade in AU201 with Greg and Lori Cook, 2nd grade in AU203 with Gregory and Christina Suraci, 3rd grade in AU205 with Doug and Tanya Rodriguez, 4th grade in AU207 with Kaleb and Natalie Bodwell, and 5th grade in AU10 with Larry and Tracey Nicely. Lessons are geared to the child's age and comprehension, building a foundation for a relationship with Christ through Bible training and simple Christian principles.
Youth and young adult classes continue the same pattern of discipleship. Middle school and high school students meet in the Lower School Gym and Upper School Gym under dedicated married couples and teachers, with separate classes for 6th grade, 7th grade boys and girls, 8th grade boys and girls, and 9th - 12th grade boys and girls. The Young Adults class meets in the Student Activity Center with Tim and Tori Orr.
Couples classes teach the Bible as the blueprint for successful marriages and healthy homes, with five classes for different life stages: Young Married Couples, 20s Couples, 30s Couples, 40s Couples, and 50s Couples. Adult classes include the Temple Bible Class in the Church Auditorium with James Zenker, the Knoxville Ladies Class with Corie Williams, the Knoxville Men's Class with Darren Williams, a Deaf Class with Daryl and Lisa Johnson, the CC Students Class with Mike and Lucille Cole, and a Spanish Class with Daniel and Emily Goodman.
Pastor Morlan and the Church Family
Derrick Morlan serves as pastor, alongside his wife Julianna and their children Micah, Hadley, Titus, Eliana, Harper, Paxson, and Samson. In his own words, "God's Word is the only sure foundation on which to build your life. Our heartfelt prayer is for people to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and become actively involved in a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church that cares for them."
Mrs. Julianna Morlan hosts the annual Ladies' Christmas Gathering, and the women of the church serve as table captains for the evening. Lisa Snow coordinates event details, and Steven Scoggins leads the youth ministry, organizing events like the Teen Harvest Rally and the Teens for Christ Bible clubs. The Kings of the church body are broad, ranging from senior adults to nursery workers, and the church is open to anyone at any stage of their spiritual journey.
A Philosophy of Mutual Faith, Love, Respect, and Submission
Temple articulates its relational life through four pillars, each anchored in a single Scripture passage.
Mutual Faith comes from Romans 1:11-12. "As believers, we share common ground concerning our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, we should not seek to cause division by amplifying our differences, but rather we should seek to build upon the foundation of our mutual faith in Christ."
Mutual Love is drawn from 1 John 4:7-8. "Our love for God is a response to the love that God showed to us on Calvary. It is His love that enables us to love one another and leads us to act in selfless ways that we would not otherwise."
Mutual Respect, from Romans 12:10, reads: "Respect promotes respect, and we believe that Christians ought to be the best example of what a kind and mannerly person is. Our desire is to seek the well-being of our fellow believers before our own."
Mutual Submission comes from Ephesians 5:21. "Submission is not weakness but strength under God's control. Submitting to one another means that we do not just give a portion of ourselves but we give ourselves totally for the benefit of others knowing that is only possible because of our submission to God and his Word."
What the Church Believes
The Statement of Faith begins with a high view of Scripture. Temple believes the Old and New Testaments are the verbally, plenarily inspired Word of God, inerrant and infallible, preserved by God to every generation. The church uses the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Received Text (Textus Receptus) of the New Testament in the original languages, and the Authorized King James Version in English. The Bible is the sole and final authority for faith and practice.
The Godhead is one Triune God, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal in power and glory. God created the universe in six literal twenty-four-hour days. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, was born of the virgin Mary, died on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, was raised bodily, ascended to Heaven, and now serves as High Priest, Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate at the right hand of God.
The Holy Spirit is the supernatural agent in regeneration, indwelling all believers and sealing them unto the day of redemption. The church teaches that sign gifts such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing were temporary, and that ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the resurrection. Satan is a real, created being in rebellion against God, limited in power, and destined for the Lake of Fire.
Man was created in the image of God, but through Adam's sin the race fell and is totally depraved. Marriage is defined as the joining of one man and one woman, and the church teaches that any sexual activity outside of that marriage, along with any attempt to alter one's God-given gender identity, is contrary to Scripture.
Salvation is "by grace plus nothing minus nothing." Men are justified by faith alone through the merit of Christ, and once saved are kept by God's power, secure in Christ forever. The church recognizes baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper as the two ordinances of the New Testament church. The return of Christ is taught as literal, personal, visible, imminent, premillennial, and pretribulational, with believers caught up before the seven years of tribulation, followed by a literal thousand-year reign.
The church holds to the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to everlasting, conscious punishment in the Lake of Fire.
Reaching the City Through Conferences
Temple Baptist has built a reputation for hosting conferences that draw believers from across the country. The Crown Bible Conference, established in 1991 by Pastor Clarence Sexton, gathers pastors, missionaries, Christian workers, students, and believers each spring for preaching, fellowship, revival services, and an emphasis on church planting and evangelism. The church has longstanding ties to The Crown College of the Bible, located just down West Beaver Creek Drive at 2307 West Beaver Creek Drive, and many of the events take place on the college campus.
The Knoxville Gospel Crusade brings the gospel to the heart of the city, held at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium with preaching centered on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. A Hispanic Gospel Crusade, the Campaña Evangelística Hispana, serves the Spanish-speaking community of Knoxville with two nights of preaching, testimonies, evangelistic music, and a children's program, held at Victor Ashe Park under a tabernacle.
The Faithful Men's Conference opens with a Saturday night Sportsman's Banquet that includes a complimentary meal, sports exhibits, and a gospel message. The conference continues through the following Wednesday with Bible preaching in the mornings and evenings and a 150-voice men's choir each evening.
The Smoky Mountain Couples' Retreat, hosted annually in Gatlinburg, begins Thursday evening and concludes at noon on Saturday. Couples from Temple Baptist Church and many other churches attend, with the church providing a list of partner hotels in Gatlinburg and a registration form for the weekend. The Ladies' Christmas Gathering, hosted by Mrs. Julianna Morlan in the Great Hall of The Crown College, brings the women of the church together each December for an evening of fellowship and encouragement.
Each year the World Mission Conference, with the theme "Strengthening and Starting," renews the church's vision for global evangelism. Missionaries and ministry leaders share testimonies and reports from their fields, with music, missionary history, and practical opportunities for involvement. The Stewardship Banquet is an evening set aside to celebrate God's faithfulness and to consider each member's role in the work of the church for the coming year.
Youth, Teens, and the Next Generation
Teens for Christ supports nearly 50 Bible clubs meeting in schools across Knoxville, reaching students with the gospel and strengthening young believers in their faith. The Teens for Christ Youth Rally gathers these students in the Main Auditorium for an evening of preaching and encouragement.
Mount Moriah Christian Camp, located at 200 Cruze Road in Powell, hosts the Teen Harvest Rally, a day of fellowship, fun, games, and preaching for teens ages 13 to 19, with guest speakers from across the region. The same camp site also hosts Extreme Camp Night as a pre-Congress event during the summer.
America's Christian Youth Congress, held every other year on the campus of Temple Baptist Church and The Crown College, draws young people from across America and around the world for a week of preaching, delegate sessions, fellowship, and the Youth Congress Choir. The week includes pre-Congress activities throughout East Tennessee, with events at Mount Moriah Christian Camp, Dollywood, and Topgolf, and ends with a Grand Finale Fireworks Show.
Spanish-Language Ministry and Outreach
Every weekly service at Temple Baptist Church is translated into Spanish, and the Sunday school includes a Spanish-language adult class. The Hispanic Gospel Crusade extends that ministry into the broader Knoxville community, inviting Spanish-speaking families to a two-night outdoor evangelistic meeting with a full program for children.
Worship, Music, and the Livestream
Worship at Temple centers on Bible preaching and Christ-honoring singing. Archived services are available on the church's YouTube channel, including weekly Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening meetings, along with occasional memorial services and special messages. The livestream can be accessed online, with a tech support form available for troubleshooting.
Services are also available on Facebook, and the church maintains an active presence on Facebook and Instagram in addition to YouTube.
Getting Involved and Giving
The church describes its ministries as numbering over one hundred, spanning every age group and stage of life. Visitors can become a member online, and giving is available online through Pushpay. The church office can be reached at 865-938-8182 or info@templebaptistchurch.com, and directions are available from the church office.
Roots in the Crown College of the Bible
Temple Baptist Church shares its campus and much of its ministry life with The Crown College of the Bible, an independent Baptist Bible college founded by Pastor Clarence Sexton in 1991. The Crown Bible Conference, the Ladies' Christmas Gathering in the Great Hall, the Faithful Men's Meeting's banquet nights, the Youth Congress, and the church's own services all draw on the resources of the college and its faculty. The arrangement gives Temple a deep bench of pastoral training, a steady stream of ministry opportunities, and a place to send students who sense a call into full-time Christian service.
A Church for the Powell Community and Beyond
Temple Baptist Church describes itself as "a home for your family and a vision for the world." The church's desire is to honor God, share the truth of His Word, and encourage one another as believers grow in faith and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, while taking the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to the community and to the nations. From a Wednesday night prayer meeting to a citywide crusade, from a nursery pager to a youth choir, the life of the church in Powell is shaped by the conviction that the Word of God, faithfully preached and taught, is the steady foundation for everything the church is and does.