Our History:

Our church was born in the spring of 1979 when 15 prospective members met, with the encouragement of the Presbytery and Eastminster Presbyterian Church, and decided to form a pastor search committee and start a church in Palm Bay.

In the late fall Rev. Bennett E. Cox, with his wife Gwen, accepted the call to become the founding pastor. The first worship service was in the Palm Bay Community Center in April 1980. In February 1981 the church was chartered with 94 members. In July 1982 a unique service broke ground for the new church building. The congregation, with the men dressed in overalls and the ladies in bonnets, pulled a farm plow, held by the pastor, to break the ground. The building was completed and dedicated a year later. The Christian Education Building was dedicated in 1989. Since our founding pastor, we have had Rev. Ken Holt and Rev. George Lashley before Rev. Debra Cox (no relation to Bennett Cox) became our pastor in 2008. The number of worship services grew and a contemporary service was added, with a Praise Band. Now we offer a blended service with a combination of traditional and contemporary features. Some of the ministries and missions began in these early years, such as the Shoe Fund, providing shoes for local school children; and membership in the Brevard Indian River Presbyterian group that focused on world missions. Others have evolved and developed over time as the needs of the community and of the world have changed. Local and global missions have played a prominent role in our church life since its beginning. It is a reputation of which we are proud. Here at First Presbyterian we are family. Our intention is to welcome warmly all visitors and expand to embrace new member’s interests, talents and ideas as we glorify God together and do the work of Christ. Meet our staff: Our dedicated, hard-working staff are one of the keys to our success. Scroll down to meet them.

We can't and don't do this alone.

We are part of a connectional church. Please use the links below to learn more about our denominational partners.