New Bethel Presbyterian Church (Piney Flats, Tennessee)
New Bethel Presbyterian Church in Piney Flats, in the Tennessee Tri-Cities area, is one of the oldest Presbyterian congregations in the state. It began in the late 1770s when Reverend Dr. Joseph Rhea, then pastor of a church in Maryland, joined a military campaign as a chaplain in 1776. He fell in love with Tennessee’s land and streams, returned to Maryland, and urged his congregation to move with him. Rhea died on the way, but his family and many parishioners settled in Tennessee. A visiting Presbyterian from Abingdon, Virginia named Charles Cummings encouraged them to build a church. Henry Massengale (Massengill) later described how they decided to worship together and provide space for enslaved people as part of the new church community. The Massengill House of Worship was completed by July 1777.
Soon after, Samuel Doak became the church’s leader. He is credited as Tennessee’s first Christian minister and went on to found about 25 churches and several schools, including Washington Academy and Tusculum College. Doak faced frontier dangers, such as a Cherokee attack while he was away for supplies; his wife Esther and their child survived by hiding in the woods. He also fought in the Revolutionary War and took part in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, a turning point for American independence in the South.
During Doak’s ministry, New Bethel formed its Session (the church’s governing body) in 1779. This makes the New Bethel Session the oldest Presbyterian session in Tennessee and the longest continuously operating governing body in the state. The first elder leaders were John Alison, James Gregg, and Francis Hodge.
New Bethel is the mother church of Soul Winners Chapel and Bertha King Memorial Presbyterian Church (Rocky Springs). In the 1990s, Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh wrote A People of Faith, a history of the congregation. The church was one of the first to have its own web page on the Internet. In 2024, the pastor was Scott Wise Cre III.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:30 (CET).