Using Our Facilities

The Church exists for the glory of God and for service to humankind.

Planning a Memorial Service?

The Session of New Providence Presbyterian Church is responsible continually to lead the church in spiritual guidance, worship and comfort for all who need and seek it. Since the event of death is one of the more spiritually stressful occasions of life, it is the privilege and the duty of the church to offer a ministry of love and hope to all who grieve. Because it is difficult to plan wisely under the emotional stress of death, the Session continues to encourage members to discuss and plan in advance for Christian options and arrangements that are necessary at the time of death. These plans should be simple and meaningful, provide spiritual comfort, bear witness to our resurrection hope, and be such that the Christian community and its support may be central.

Planning an Event?

As a part of our effort to reach out to our members and to the larger community in Christian love, our facilities are available to both members and non-members for worship, teaching, and witnessing to the Gospel and for activities that are in keeping with the mission of the church.

Planning a Wedding?

A church wedding is a service of worship in which a Christian commitment is made.  We believe that “marriage is given by God, blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ, and sustained by the Holy Spirit, and therefore is to be held in honor among all.” The marriage service is an extension of the worshiping life of the congregation, therefore New Providence facilities are not “rented” for services.  Weddings will ordinarily be performed for church members only.

Our Staff

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Teresa

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Rev. Dr. Emily Anderson

Pastor and Head of Staff

Rev. Dr. Emily J. Anderson has served as our Pastor/Head of Staff since June 1999. Emily (as she prefers to be called) grew up in Houston TX, graduated from Vanderbilt University and from Princeton Theological Seminary. She received her Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary. Prior to her call to New Providence Emily served as Associate Pastor at the Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church in Tampa, Florida and as Director of the Princeton Institute of Youth Ministry in Princeton NJ. Among Emily’s many gifts, we are grateful for her outstanding sermons and her ability to juggle so many different tasks with grace and common sense.

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Rev. Gloria Mencer

Interim Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care and Outreach

Gloria is a minister member of the Presbytery of East Tennessee. Following a 26-year career at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Gloria responded to God’s call to vocational ministry. Upon graduating from Johnson C. Smith Seminary, one of our Presbyterian institutions, she was first ordained as a hospice chaplain with the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and has most recently served as the interim pastor at Graystone Presbyterian Church in Knoxville. Prior to her ordination, Gloria also served as commissioned lay pastor at Shiloh Presbyterian Church and as chaplain resident at UT Medical Center.

Gloria is a graduate of Knoxville College with a major in chemistry, and in addition to her M.Div. from Johnson C. Smith, she holds Masters degrees from Bristol and Tuskegee universities.

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Rev. Louden Young

Associate Pastor of Emerging Generations and Mission

Rev. Louden Young came to New Providence as the Associate Pastor of Emerging Generations and Mission in August of 2019. He is a graduate of Maryville College (Class of ‘12, BLA in Philosophy) and Columbia Theological Seminary (Class of ‘19, M.Div. and M.A.P.T. in Christian Education). New Providence is his first ordained call as a pastor; previously, he served in various capacities at Decatur Presbyterian Church (as a general intern and adult adviser for the youth program) and First Presbyterian Church Asheville (as an adult advisor for the youth program). Most recently, he served as the chaplain at the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center in Downtown Atlanta, an organization dedicated to eliminating the experience of homelessness in Atlanta. While he was at Maryville College, Louden met his wife Elizabeth (’13). She will be graduating from Mercer University in December 2019 with a Master degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Louden enjoys cooking, games, talking sports, and any outdoor activity you can think of.

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Rev. Dr. Stan Rushing

Parish Associate for Visitation

Stan has been a member of the staff since April 2008. He serves part-time, working closely with Gloria Mencer, visiting members who are hospitalized, in retirement communities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, or rehabilitation facilities. He also visits senior members who still live at home. Stan is a native of Mississippi. He is a graduate of Mississippi College (B.A and M.S.) and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. and Ph.D.). He was a Baptist pastor for eighteen years, serving churches in Mississippi and Tennessee. Later he became certified as a marriage and family therapist and as a hospital chaplain. The last twelve years before his retirement, he served in these capacities in Jackson, Mississippi.

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Rob Britt

Director of Music

Rob has been serving as Director of Music at New Providence Presbyterian Church since August 1987. Prior to accepting the position at NPPC, he served two years at Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Hagerstown, Maryland and three years at Bearden United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Rob’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Music Education from Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Education in Administration and Supervision from Lincoln Memorial University. Rob’s major college conducting teachers include Dr. David Stutzenberger, Dr. James H. Laster and Mr. Robert Shaffer. Post graduate studies were completed at the Choral Institute at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England where he studied with John Rutter, Sir David Willcocks, Barry Rose, Joshua Rifken, and Steven Cleobury. As a professional educator, Rob has been serving the Blount County Schools since August 1986 and has held positions as a choral music teacher and assistant principal at William Blount High School, and founding principal at Carpenters Middle School. Presently, Rob serves the Blount County School’s Superintendent of Schools. Rob is married to Liz Britt, who teaches music at the Webb School of Knoxville and they have three wonderful children, Robbie, Rachel and Reece.

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Peggy Rogers

Organist and Director of Youth and Adult Handbells

Peggy Rogers has been at New Providence for 26 years! Currently Peggy serves our organist and director of youth and adult handbells. Peggy grew up in Alcoa and graduated from Maryville College with a major in Organ Performance In addition to accompanying and directing handbells at New Providence, Peggy teaches private piano and organ lessons and is the choral accompainist for William Blount High School and for MAACO. Peggy is an extraordinarily gifted organist and pianist whose beautiful music enhances our worship services week after week. All who know Peggy appreciate her ability to remain unruffled, her willingness to accompany musicians of all kinds and abilities, and her dry sense of humor. We are truly fortunate to have someone with Peggy’s extensive experience and keen understanding of music at New Providence.

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Trish Badgett, R.N.

Parish Nurse

Trish was born in Ft. Worth, Texas and raised in Maryville. She has a BS in Nursing from East Tennessee State University and a certificate in Parish Nursing from Vanderbilt University. She has experience in hospital nursing, home health and legal nurse consulting prior to coming to New Providence as Parish Nurse and Director of Bartlett Adult Day Out Program. Trish and her husband, Tim, have two sons, Clark and Thomas.

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Coco Everett

Manager of Office Operations

The Chancel Window, Sunday bulletins, website, and many printed and electronic materials are Coco’s responsibility as is the daily running of the church office. Coco’s work area is beside the choir room and her work hours are Monday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Being an Air Force brat, Coco traveled and lived all over the world, but once she settled in East Tennessee she put down deep roots. Married to her college sweetheart, they have two sons and three grandsons.

Coco began working in engineering, first at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant and then for a small firm in Knoxville doing Hazard and Operability Studies. Leaving her career to have a family, she began working outside the home again here at New Providence in December 2000.

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Penny Bever

Business Adminstrator

Penny joined New Providence Presbyterian Church on October 13, 2014 as the Business Administrator. She has spent more than 15 years of progressively responsible experience in Office Management to include Human Resource and Finance.

Office Manager for a local Knoxville church she was responsible for all day to day administration and assistance in business and office management decisions. Penny was also Manager of Finance and Human Resource for a non-profit in Knoxville for almost 13 years. She helped to lead the company through start-up, survival, turnaround and growth modes.

Prior to this, Penny worked with the DOD U.S. Army, Europe Headquarters in Frankfurt and then Heidelberg, Germany which encompassed more than 30,000 soldiers and civilians. There she spent 7 years as the Executive Office Supervisor for G3 at Headquarters V Corps. During that time, she worked closely with the integral network of soldiers and civilians maintaining many diversified responsibilities that required knowledge of varied military functions, policies and procedures. Brion is now a retired Army veteran.

Penny loves photography, nature and along with her husband, Brion pamper their 6 fur babies – 4 Pugs and 2 Boston Terriers who love to go camping with them or just a nice long car ride. SCUBA diving is a hobby for both Penny and Brion when they have the time.

She studied at Southwestern Community College with a focus in environmental science.

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Ray Bryant

Facility Manager

Ray joined New Providence in 2000 as a night custodian and after years of learning, gaining certifications and hard work is the Facility Manager. Ray maintains the buildings and grounds while directing staff and overseeing the upkeep of equipment and supplies. He makes sure the buildings and grounds are maintained, which entails daily and weekly cleaning schedules as well as determining and scheduling repairs, renovation projects, waste reduction improvements and safety inspections. Ray also negotiates with outside vendors for supplies, repairs and other measures. E-mail Ray at ray@newprovidencepres.org.

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Shirley Glenn

Facility Technician
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Sheryl Birdsall

Facility Technician
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Jay Buchanan

Facility Technician

Have questions or concerns? Want to talk to a pastor or staff member?