The Church congregation that is now Hope
United Methodist Church was begun in
1927, about two years after the founding
of Henderson Settlement. It was first
known as The Tabernacle. Later on a new
church building was built and the name of
the church was Kynett Memorial
Methodist Church. That building was
destroyed by fire in February 1972. The present building was built during 1973-74. The congregation wanted to have a new name along with the new building. Of all the names suggested, the people of the church felt that Hope best expressed the attitude and spirit of the church and community, so Hope became the new name for the church.
Percy and his family started attending the Hope UMC in August of 2006. Our church reached out and embraced them. Henderson Settlement also reached out to help in ways they could. On Christmas Eve Percy sang in church for the first time in his life. He sang a song that was his deceased father's favorite: "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem."
After the service Percy said, "Six months ago I was so down. Nothing seemed to be going right. I was out of work and living with my mother-in-law. We weren't able to have children. I prayed that God would just bring one good thing to my life. Two months later all the details worked out so that we could adopt a child. Leon was born and came to live with us. Then I came to church. God saved me that Sunday and I was baptized a few weeks later. Later we were able to move into some emergency housing provided by the Settlement. Leon got real sick. He was in the hospital in Knoxville, but God healed him. A few weeks ago, God opened the right door for me to get a job working at a coal mine with some good Christian men. And now today I had the chance to sing in church this favorite song of my dad's. God didn't answer my prayer. (Percy smiled.) God didn't send me one good thing. I got a BUSHEL OF BLESSINGS this year."
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