10.28.2026

Back in March of 2014, I got a call from a friend of mine who somehow knew Andrew Hamblin, one of two snake handling preachers on National Geographic’s show, “Snake Salvation.” One of the other preachers featured on the show,  Jamie Coots, died the previous month after being bitten by a rattlesnake during one of their services in February of that year. 
 
So, of course, when she asked me,  “Do you want to go to a snake-handling service for your birthday?” I wasn’t about to say no! 

To find the church, we drove north of Knoxville into the middle of nowhere and took a left.  The little, white cinderblock church of the Tabernacle Church of God (NO connection to my Church of God background) was up on a hill at the end of a gravel road. 

My friend asked Andrew if she could take pictures, and he encouraged her to do so. After the TV show, they were used to cameras being all over the place. “Just don’t go beyond the wooden barrier at the front,” he told her. 

No problem with that . . . it was where they kept the snakes!  

And they finally broke out a snake after we had been there a few hours. It didn’t do much beyond what you see in the picture.  My theory is that the music and drums were so loud that the poor thing was hypnotized. Andrew told us that there was no expectation for us to take up snakes, and that they could fellowship with us whether we took up snakes or drank strychnine (they did that as well) or not.  

The two-hour music part of the service gave us a chance to look over at the folks who made up the congregation.  I want to be sensitive writing this and don’t want to come off as judgmental . . . but they were mostly people with the sorts of disabilities and challenges that would probably not be welcomed just anywhere.  

But at the Tabernacle Church of God in a holler in East Tennessee, they found a home.

And not only that, but they believed the practice of handling snakes was a special calling just for them. The world outside might look down on them as being poor or uneducated, but here was a practice they believed God entrusted to them that set them apart from everyone else. Not everyone was called to take up snakes but they were. They saw themselves – no, let me reword that – they were people of extraordinary faith who handled snakes and drank poison without batting an eye because they believed God told them to do so. 

Now, if that sounds like I’m advocating it or admiring the practice, I am not! But, don’t forget Dennis Covington, a New York Times reporter covering a trial in Scottsboro, was not only attracted to the faith of the snakehandlers, he also actually handled snakes in some of their services! 

There’s something attractive about simple faith, even when it is misguided, even with people who are flawed, like we all are, but who are searching for meaning and willing to risk everything because of a belief. 

I’m not sure what I was expecting to get from that evening, other than the opportunity of actually witnessing a snake handling service, but I can tell you what I wasn’t expecting to get out of it. The feeling I took home that was stronger than any of the other possible feelings (and believe me, there were lots of possible feelings to choose from) was how gentle and sweet these folks were. 

Yes, they were disadvantaged in many ways, and yes, they misunderstood several verses from the gospel of Mark, but it was obvious that they loved the Lord, and they loved one another.

Which is what you want to have in a church. 

Snakes are optional.

Blessings,
Pastor Terry