Seeking Jesus in
the Heart of East Hill
For more than a century, one congregation has gathered under these oaks to worship the living God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
These words, placed on our pulpit in the 1930s and never removed, still name our single ambition. Every chapter of this church, from a Sunday School class on Stoddard Avenue to a congregation of families today, has been an answer to that one request.
Our Story, Decade by Decade
Members of First Presbyterian Church of Pensacola saw the need to establish a mission in the fast-growing East Hill community.
On January 4, four men from First Church began meeting at 12th Avenue and Cervantes Street. A memorial stone marking the spot was erected a century later, in 2003.
The growing class built a distinctively-styled meeting house at 13th Avenue and Blount Street.
Florida Presbytery commissioned the congregation as Knox Presbyterian Church, named for the reformer John Knox, with 59 members. Under first pastor Rev. K. L. McIver, membership doubled to 104 in a single year.
Rev. William McIlwain became pastor and began building a new sanctuary. His wife, Harriet Saunders McIlwain, funded a significant portion of the work.
As the new sanctuary opened, the congregation was renamed McIlwain Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Claude G. Partridge placed the words of on the pulpit, where they remain to this day.
Founded by Rev. Donald C. Graham, PTI became a regional bulwark of conservative, Bible-believing teaching for more than four decades.
Under Rev. Don Dunkerley, the church left the PCUS to become a founding congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Rev. Rob Looper served twenty years of faithful pastoral ministry, shepherding the congregation through growth and change.
The congregation launched a renewed commitment to world missions, sending support and prayer to gospel workers far beyond Pensacola.
In July, Rev. David L. McIntosh, Jr. was installed as pastor, continuing the same gospel witness begun more than a century before.
A Neighborhood Church, a Regional Witness
From this corner of Pensacola, McIlwain's influence has reached far beyond its walls.
For over forty years, PTI drew pastors and laypeople from across the region for teaching grounded in the authority of Scripture.
Pastors have come and gone; the neighborhood has changed around us. But the gospel we were founded to proclaim has not changed at all. We look to the same Christ our founders sought, and we invite you to seek him with us.
Step Into the Mission
Discover the ministries where your gifts and this community can grow together.