About Us

The church of Christ in Elizabethton, Tennessee was born as an effort to restore Christianity as outlined in the pages of the New Testament. Brother J. Edward Nowlin conducted a tent meeting in Elizabethton in the fall of 1942 with no visible results. Through his radio broadcast from Johnson City, the Gospel seed was spread throughout the region, and in 1944 he returned with brother Willard Conchin and established the church at 137 East C Street.

Brother Conchin stayed to preach for this infant group. They were able to secure a meeting place at the city hall. Later, they met at the Junior High School on Tyson Avenue. After three years, Conchin moved on and brother Burt Grubbs took the work. He stayed for only one year.

In 1948 brother Robert O. Wilson became the local minister. He had recently left the Christian church. At the time brother Wilson began his work the congregation numbered forty-one members. Within four years, some sixty-four new members were added while more than forty had moved away. A weekly thirty minute radio broadcast was conducted over the local station each Saturday evening.

In 1949 the brethren built and occupied their meeting house at 137 East C Street. It was valued at $24,000. No outside help was solicited in erecting it. This was the first meeting house of the recovery period that was not largely financed from outside the area.

By 1974 the congregation had outgrown their building and a new auditorium was built and the older remodeled as classrooms. Adjoining lots were purchased for future growth. In 2000, the church built the current auditorium and continues to worship there to date.

The church has been the overseeing congregation for the “Biblical Viewpoints” television program since 1982. The program is now produced in their on-sight studio and shared with markets outside the state.

The first recorded members of the church were: Mr. and Mrs. George Crumley, Mrs. Ida Crumley, Mrs. Hildred Bissinger, Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Fair, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Feathers, Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Parlier, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Holsclaw, and sister Delmer Irick.

The ministers who have served the congregation are as follows: Willard Conchin, Burl Grubbs, Robert O. Wilson, Bill Williams, Luther Fair, Charles Williamson, Howard Sawyer, Wayne Smith, Lewis Savage, Kenneth Haas, Benny Burns, Marlin Rohrbaugh, George Vinson, J.R. Pugh, Terry Liles, Joe Van Dyke, Charles Sennett, Eddy Craft, Ed Devault, Robert Ellis, Dennis Pierce, Todd Houston, and Bud Morefield.