About

Worship Team

Rev. Josh Potter

Pastor

Pastor Josh has been our appointed pastor since 2025. He has a lovely wife, Mary, and four children. Josh brings a passion for biblical education and preaching of the power of Christ over sin and death.

Rev. Rick Spell

Pastor Emiritus

Rev. Rick served as the appointed pastor of Glendale Global Methodist for twelve years before retiring in 2025. He and his wife, Gail, remain a vibrant part of our congregation. Rev. Rick always has a sermon at the ready should the need arise. Their compassion, love, and wisdom are treasured by all.

Pam Holt

Lay Speaker

Pam guides us into our worship service through heartfelt song and prayer. As an Operation Christmas Child Church Relations team member, she organizes drives and volunteers to pack and send gifts. She and her husband, Buddy, are longtime members who faithfully serve the community.

Kathy Sawyer

Praise and Worship

Kathy leads our praise and worship through her gifted piano playing and voice. Each week she selects a collection of traditional and contemporary music by which our little congregation make a joyful noise to the Lord. Kathy is an audiobook narrator, seamstress, and unashamed Calvinist who keeps us Arminians in line.

Our Story

Prior to the year 1915, the people of the Glendale community had no church building in which to worship. They worshiped at the Briar Thicket and Jones’ one-room school buildings. There were large families of Sawyers living here, so they, along with other families, decided they needed a church in their community. They sought the help of Rev. Billy Senter, who had been preaching at the Jones ’schoolhouse, to help in the organization of the church. On May 23, 1915, the church was organized.

People of the community and surrounding communities offered their nicest trees for the lumber to build this church. Joe A. Sawyer and Joe H. Sawyer cut the first log George W. Holdway gave the land for the church site. The lumber for the church was 25,781 feet at $.35 per hundred, which amounted to $90.23. The belfry posts were given by Joe Holdway and sawed by a Dr. Fox in Greene County. The saw bill was $.53. Thomas Holt gave lumber for the overhead ceiling and the Jones and Dawson families gave some of the inside lumber. Looney Cline of Newport was the contractor for the building and he was paid $600.00. He also designed and named the church. The pulpit chairs and Bible were donated by Frank Parrott of Newport. Many years later another pulpit Bible was donated by Kate Hogan of Hamblen County.

On June 11, 1916, the church was dedicated with people coming from far and near. The women of the church cooked for days preparing food for the huge crowd expected. They stored the food in lard cans, trunks, tubs, etc. for dinner on the ground. The food was spread on table cloths on the ground.

On May 29, 1948, new church pews were bought to replace the old and uncomfortable slatted benches. The new pews were bought from Wolf Bros., Inc. in Piney Flats, Tennessee. Pews and book tacks totaled $1, 468.20.

On June 12, 1962, the church observed Membership Recognition Day honoring three remaining living Charter Members: Eunice Sawyer, Julia Jones, and Joe A. Sawyer. The small stage was remodeled in October 1965, with a new stairway leading to the basement and a new roof installed. A new piano was bought to replace the old one in October of 1967.

Prior to 1968, the Methodist Episcopal and the Southern Methodist merged creating “The Methodist Church” denomination. Then on April 23 1968, in Dallas, Texas, the United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church denomination.

In 1955, our church was moved from the Parrottsville Parish to the Riverview Circuit. Then in April 1968, Glendale was changed from the Riverview Circuit to the High Point Circuit which consisted of Bybee, Glendale, Fowler’s Grove, Beth Carr, and Watkins Chapel. The High Point Circuit later only included Bybee, Glendale, and Fowler’s Grove. At present, our pastor serves both Glendale and Liberty Hill Methodist Church in Morristown, TN.

The bell originally mounted on the roof developed a crack. After several years, some employees of the Fleet Department of Stokley-Van Camp donated their time to restore the bell. With the help of the Newport Electric Company, the bell was mounted on a foundation on the church lawn. In 1976, the bell was dedicated in honor of Eunice Sawyer, who at that time was the only living Charter Member.

A memorial stand was built in 1980, and dedicated in memory of Rev. J. E. Harris, who passed away while in service to the church. A memorial book was dedicated to William Denton, a Sunday School teacher for many years.

Remodeling again at the church included adding new bathrooms, digging a well, pouring a concrete walk, insulating the church, and installing a new furnace.

Various families donated new windows in memory or honor of loved ones. The P. A. system was installed in 1981, through a donation by Mr. and Mrs. Tinsley Davis and Tinsley, Jr.

In 1983, the basement was remodeled: the kitchen was remodeled with paneling added throughout the basement and divisions made for the Sunday School rooms. A new stove, refrigerator, sink, cabinets, and carpet were installed.

Other additions to the church over the years have included new hymnals, building of a register, paving the parking lot, padding the pews, adding carpet, placing iron railings near the kitchen entrance of the church, placing flags and a baptismal font at the altar, adding land to the cemetery, replacing the furnace with an electric heating/air conditioning unit, and adding more insulation.

The last improvement to the building included a new entrance, an addition to the upstairs of a large fellowship hall, new bathrooms, a new kitchen, a new entrance to

the enlarged basement, and four additional rooms for Sunday School rooms, a nursery, etc. The new addition has been the location of many Lord’s Acre sales, Halloween Trunk or Treats, Sunday Dinners, meetings, Shoebox assembly, and general fellowship get-togethers.

Members, former members, and relatives of former members have always supported Glendale through Lord’s Acre sales and donations. Glendale has a special spirit that one can feel when they enter the building and attend services taking away blessings each time.

Congregants visit before and after church services and sometimes, those leading the service struggle to gain attention to start worship.