Eusebia Presbyterian Church

06/04/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,

I hope your week is going well.
This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of June, which means that we will celebrate communion during worship (and sing Happy Birthday to all our June birthday folks!). Following worship, we will gather for our monthly fellowship meal in the Brown Memorial Hall. In case you didn’t get a chance to sign up to bring something last Sunday and want to bring something, reach out to Dawn for suggestions on what to bring.
Also, this week begins our June food item of cereal for CROSS Food Ministry.

I hope to see you Sunday!
Scott

05/21/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,
I hope your week is going well.
Wow! What a wonderful 240th anniversary that we celebrated last weekend. It was a great joy meeting so many people whose ancestry traces through Eusebia. Ever since the great folks at Blount County Historical Museum, especially Christy Martin and Cathy L’Altrelli, joined our 240th discussion, I have learned so much about Eusebia’s history. I have also enjoyed the congregation as Eusebia embraces this history with gratitude and pride.
And, boy, the food was so goooooddddd!!!
Before I share what some others shared with me about the 240th, I want to share with you about another food opportunity this Sunday. This coming Sunday is the Day of Pentecost, that day when the Holy Spirit comes upon the followers of Jesus and launches the community that we know as the Church. In other words, the Day of Pentecost is the Church’s birthday. While Eusebia is 240 years old, that’s nothing compared to the Church, with its 2000+ birthday this weekend.
A couple things special about Pentecost Sunday. First, I hope you will try to wear Red that day, as the color of the day is Red, to remind us of the “tongues as of fire” that come upon the followers of Jesus. Also, because it is the Church’s birthday, we will gather in the basement, I mean the Brown Memorial Hall, after worship for some birthday goodies. I hope you will join us for this celebration.
Also, we have two more Sundays in May, when you can bring cans of tuna for CROSS. Speaking of CROSS, Doug Daniel, who shared about the history of Eusebia and CROSS at the service, told me that he guesses that about 300 cans of food were donated last Sunday!!

Now, back to what a couple folks shared about the 240th. Rev. Dr. Wendy Neff, our General Presbyter who joined us for the occasion, wrote this in her article for this week’s Presbytery of East Tennessee newsletter (which, by the way, you can receive by email. Let me know and I will send you that link):
Yesterday I had the joy of being with the Eusebia congregation as they celebrated their 240 th year as a congregation. Several members of other Presbyterian congregations joined the celebration as did a great number of community folks. The worship service was a wonderful tribute to the history as well as a call to continue to witness to Jesus Christ into the future. Before the worship service the historical society shared history of the congregation as well as the cemetery where Revolutionary War veterans are buried. Eusebia, thank you for your faithful witness for 240 years and for your faithfulness today and into tomorrow.
And here is something that Christy Martin emailed me after our celebration:
I am honestly humbled by the history there but the love that comes from that church is also good for my soul. I am grateful for it. I left with a beautiful pot of begonias from Mr. Headrick that will bring me back all summer to that day. Thank you for asking us.

Of course, this does not include the many, many folks who shared their gratitude and joy at being at the 240th, and for the hospitality they received.
I will add last Sunday, and more specifically you the folks of Eusebia, to my long list of reasons of why I am grateful to serve with you in ministry!

Blessings!
Scott

05/18/2026

A wonderful 240th celebration at Eusebia on Sunday! Thanks to the many who made this day possible!!

05/14/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,
I hope your week is going well.
So the week is finally here, we are almost to the Sunday of our 240th anniversary celebration. First of all, I want to thank the many people who have done so many things, both seen and unseen, to help make our 240th a wonderful experience. I would name names but inevitably I would forget somebody, so to you who helped, thank you!
On Sunday, our time of sharing about Eusebia’s history will begin at 10am, followed by bagpipes at 11:00ish, followed by worship at 11:15ish, followed by lunch at 12:15ish.
Also, if you signed up for the lunch following worship, don’t forget to bring a food donation for CROSS Food Ministry.
Johnny shared with me about a Memorial Day event that will take place, on Monday, May 25, at the Eusebia cemetery. I was able to get in touch with Mark DeNicola, who is heading up the event. Below are the details that he sent me, in case you are interested.

The program will begin promptly at 11:30. It will include the reading of the names of known Revolutionary War Patriots (28) and Veterans (some 45) buried in the cemetery. It will include both a Color Guard Musket Salute and a rarely-performed Mourn Arms maneuver by the Stephen Holston Rifle Company in conjunction with the playing of Taps.

I hope to see you Sunday!
Blessings,

Scott

05/07/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,
I hope your week is going well.
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day, a day in which we show gratitude for our mothers. But did you know this about Mother’s Day:
Mother’s Day was officially established in the US in 1908, by Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia. She pushed for a Mother’s Day to honor her own mother, Ann Jarvis, and her mother’s legacy of social activism and maternal sacrifice. Before and during the Civil War, Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Following her mother’s death in 1905, Anna Jarvis campaigned for a national holiday, which President Woodrow Wilson signed into law in 1914.
However, even before Anna Jarvis’ campaign, the poet and author Julia Ward Howe had promoted a Mother’s Peace Day for decades. For Howe and others, the idea of Mother’s Day should spread unity across the globe, so that women would gather once a year in parlors, churches, and social halls, to sing and pray and present sermons and essays, all in the name of promoting peace.
Not long after Woodrow Wilson established Mother’s Day as a national holiday, commercial efforts, efforts seen by some as exploitative, grew to such a point that Anna Jarvis, who had led the cause for the national holiday in the first place, began to speak against the holiday because of its growing commercialization and argued for its repeal. As reported in one article, Anna Jarvis died penniless, as all her money was used to fight against the holiday she once promoted.
Despite the sad ending to this historical reflection, I hope that you have a blessed Mother’s Day celebration and remembrance.
And about remembrances: Eusebia’s 240th will take place a week from this Sunday, on May 17. Historical presentation at 10am, bagpiping from 11-11:15am, worship service at 11:15am. Catered lunch to follow in the fellowship hall. EVERYONE who wants to participate in the catered lunch MUST text Tim Crawford, at 865-824-8442, by THIS COMING MONDAY, May 11. Cost for the lunch is a food item for CROSS Food Ministry.
As for this coming Sunday, Maurice will continue to lead the adult study at 10:30am and we will worship at 11:15am. I hope you can join us!

Blessings,

Scott

05/05/2026

05/01/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,
I hope your week is going well.
Plans continue to be made for Eusebia’s 240th anniversary on May 17. Thanks to those who have already fixed up the fellowship hall for the celebration. This coming Sunday, Carson Hunt, who worshipped with us last week and has asked to do one of his “Footnotes” video episodes about Eusebia, will be with us again. He hopes to take pictures and hear stories from our church folks. I hope you can help him out with his kind endeavor.
This coming Sunday will also be the first Sunday of the month, which means that we will celebrate communion during worship. Also, our CROSS Food Ministry item for May is tuna. Please help out this important ministry as you can.

I hope to see you Sunday!

Blessings,

Scott

04/23/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,
I hope your week is going well.
This past Sunday, Beth Ragsdale preached for me during my time away. I am grateful for that opportunity to be away. I met up with 3 long-time minister buddies in Indianapolis for several days, , and we did a lot of nothing in our time together. And as grateful as I am for that time away, I look forward to our time together this coming Sunday.
As for this Sunday, Maurice will continue to lead the discussion on the video series, “Thinking Through the Christian Life”, at 10:30am. We will gather for worship at 11:15am.
Yesterday, some of us met with Christy Miller, from the Blount County Historical Museum, and other historians in our county, as we worked out final details about the 240th Anniversary celebration on Sunday, May 17. Christy has written up a long article for the Daily Times about the 240th; it will run a week prior to the 240th. She is sending me a finalized copy of the article soon, and I hope to have copies to hand out to everyone by Sunday, May 3. From what was being shared by the historical folks at our meeting, we are going to have a whole bunch of folks with us on May 17!
Also about the 240th, I have been in email conversation with Carson Hunt, who has been producing a web series called “Footnotes,” in which he tells stories about people and places in his home county of Blount. He reached out about his interest in doing an episode about Eusebia. This will be a wonderful opportunity for folks to learn more about the long history of our church. I encourage you to check out his web series on Youtube, at the link I will post below. (If that doesn’t work, just go to Youtube and type in “Footnotes by carsonhunt”. Hopefully that will get you there). I have watched a couple of his episodes and they are really well done!
This coming Sunday is the last Sunday of April, when our CROSS Food Ministry item is mac and cheese. Starting the next Sunday and for the month of May, the food item will be tuna.

I hope to see you Sunday!

Scott

The link to the Footnotes episodes on Youtube:

Our community. Our stories. Footnotes is a new web series about the people of Blount County, TN. Shot entirely on an iPhone.

04/23/2026

Looking ahead we are working with Eusebia Presbyterian Church on their 240th anniversary celebration to be held there on May 17. It will start about 10 and include some history. Eusebia Presbyterian Church on Sevierville Road is a special place. It is a major resting place of many of our Revolutionary War Patriots. Their families rest there. The community still knows its history. Eusebia holds a lot of our founding history. We are honored that the current pastor and the church members asked us to help them celebrate. More on this event closer to the date.

04/10/2026

Dear Eusebia Facebook Friend,
I hope your week is going well.
What a wonderful Easter Sunday we had this past Sunday! A wonderful breakfast (so I was told), beautiful lilies lining the windows in the sanctuary (thank you, Johnny!), and a great time to celebrate that Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed!
If you were with us on Sunday, you noticed that we had many guests with us in worship. I have talked with one of them this week, who told me that Eusebia was the friendliest church that they had attended in a long time. I was not at all surprised, but I wanted to let you know this. If we do have guests among us again, I hope that you will continue to welcome them.
On Sunday, Maurice will resume the study, “Thinking Through the Christian Life” at 10:30am. We will gather for worship at 11:15am. The session will meet immediately after the service.
The following Sunday, April 11, I will be away from the pulpit, as I take some rest time with a few minister buddies. Beth Ragsdale, who preached for me last summer when I was away, will be preaching that Sunday. I hope that you will welcome Beth with that Eusebia welcome!
As for the CROSS food item for April, we continue to collect mac and cheese.

I hope you can join us on Sunday!

Blessings,

Scott

PS: I hope you mark on your calendar to join us on May 17, as Eusebia celebrates its 240th anniversary!