Who We Are and What We Believe

New Providence CP Church may be a young church in the Clarksville area (founded in 1962), but we have a great history. This page on our website is specifically dedicated to sharing some of the special things that make us who we are. It is the people who worship and fellowship here.

Here are some of their stories.

Dorothy Darnell was a founding member of New Providence CP Church. She was an active and generous member of our church. If the Youth Group needed a host for a meeting, Dorothy volunteered. If the church needed something for a potluck or other event, Dorothy volunteered. She is what we call a Pillar of the Church.

One of Dorothy’s last requests was for “a cover to keep folks from getting wet going back and forth between the buildings.”  Her daughters, Patricia Clemments and Susan Donegan, made this a priority after Dorothy’s death. This cover and garden spot is located in the back of the main building, covering and connecting the entrance to the gym facility. Susan remembers, “Mother always said she ‘couldn't carry a tune in a bucket,’ loved the church and was there ‘every time the doors were open.’ She was an active member in the CP Women’s Ministry for as long as I can remember. When ‘meetings’ were held in each other's homes, Mother was a frequent hostess, with much prep work and planning each time! Mother, too, was known to love to laugh, both as an instigator and recipient of ~”

In the front of the church, to the left of the entrance, sits Mary's Garden. This serene memorial for Mary Drugmand hosts a two-seat iron bench and a statue of an angel, with comforting plants and flowers surrounding it all. Mary Drugmand had a wonderful sense of humor and faithfully sang in the choir. Toni Morgan, Jeanne Morgan's daughter-in-law, constructed Mary's Garden in a loving and lasting memorial to Mary Drugmand.

Mary has two sons, Lou and Dennis, and four daughters, Chere, Susan, Leslie, and Shannon Connor. (Shannon married David Connor, son of Charles and Doris Connor. Our gym, officially titled the Wilkens-Connor Activities Bldg, is named for David’s parents.)

The Bible on our altar is special and has been loved for many years before it came to adorn our altar.

Arthur and Hallie Welch, two of the founding members of the church and parents of Maybelle Carpenter (another founding member with her husband, Ernie), were loving parents and Christians. Arthur was a quiet man, kind and gracious to all he met. Hallie was a talented woman -- whether it was gardening, making clothes, or crafting. "She was always doing something," Maybelle recalls.

Arthur's Bible was loved by the Welch family. When Arthur died in 1965, Hallie gave the Bible to our church so that our altar could prominently  feature God's Word.  It has been on our altar ever since.

Ernie and Maybelle Carpenter are founding members of New Providence CP Church. In 1998, when Pastors BJ and Joyce Wright asked that a cross be added as the focal point of the Sanctuary, Ernie immediately volunteered.

Wood was purchased from a local lumber yard and Ernie cut and fashioned the wood -- outside on the front lawn -- into the beautiful cross we see in our Sanctuary.

Since our founding, Ernie has been an integral part of the development of our property.  Ernie's initiative and hands-on activity is evident throughout our church property.