Appalachian Preaching Mission

Biography

The Appalachian Preaching Mission was a coordinated effort among the Tri-Cities churches to bring religious speakers to the East Tennessee area. The Mission was first conceived as the Bristol Preaching Mission in 1940 by J. N. Lake and continued to operate until 1954. In 1955 several denominations from Johnson City and Kingsport requested to be incorporated into the Bristol Mission. A cooperative Mission was agreed upon by the three cities and the Appalachian Preaching Mission was formed. Elizabethton churches gained admittance into the Mission in 1956.

Mission speakers are selected from Baptist, Christian, Church of Christ, Church of the Brethren, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian denominations through individual nominations. The area chairperson and committee then selected a number of speakers from the list of nominations. These selections were submitted to the mission chairperson and committee of each city, voted on, and the tallies returned to the area chairperson. The area committee then made a final selection and invited the chosen speakers to talk to the various constituencies of the Appalachian Preaching Mission. The Mission's plan was designed to rotate the speaker's engagements among the four cities.

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