A Neighborhood Church on Hendricks Avenue
San Marco Presbyterian Church stands on the edge of San Marco Square in Jacksonville, Florida, just south of the St. Johns River. The building at 2137 Hendricks Avenue has been home to the same congregation for more than a century, and the people who fill the pews each Sunday still see themselves as a neighborhood church first.
Members describe the church with three words: sincere, supportive, and inclusive. Those words show up in the welcome on Sunday mornings, in the way the pastors preach, and in the way the church has reached outward into the city through food, housing, and justice work for decades. A membership of about 325 means newcomers can take their time, sit quietly, and still find room to be known.
A New Name, a New Building, the Same Congregation
San Marco Presbyterian was, until recently, South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church - the name it has carried since 1913. Clerk of Session Greg McMillan has written about the change as part of a season of what the church calls resurrection and renaissance, alongside the completion of The Point, a new community building on the Hendricks Avenue campus.
The Point is more than an addition. It is a flexible gathering space designed for the San Marco neighborhood, a place where the community can come together and spend time well. Programming already meeting in and around the building includes weekly yoga, networking groups, and other events that are meant to draw neighbors in, not just members. The building, along with a new sign and a refreshed online presence, marks what the church calls a new chapter after a complete reorientation of its campus that opened the property to the San Marco square for the first time.
Sincere, Supportive, Inclusive
Senior Pastor Adam Anderson has preached an entire series around the three words the church lives by. The posts on the church's blog expand each one in his own voice.
Sincere is about honesty about what is, and openness to where God leads. Pastor Adam has told the story of arriving for his first visit, when a church member picked him up at the airport and the two of them rooted through the car for fifteen minutes looking for a parking garage ticket. They ended up tailgating out behind another car. That moment of unpolished honesty, he says, was the first thing that made San Marco feel like home.
Supportive is about showing up, dropping everything, and carrying one another. Pastor Adam has shared a story of a Sunday when one of the church's most faithful members was missing from her usual spot. Several people in the pews used their phones to track her down during the service, others coached her family from the sidewalk afterward, and still others went to her home to make sure she was safe. The pastors were not even needed. Someone in the congregation turned to Parish Associate Jessica Means and said, "That is the kingdom of God right there."
Inclusive is the welcome that runs underneath everything else. The church describes itself as "an open and affirming PCUSA church that is both a More Light Church and a member of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians." The wedding page makes the same point plainly: sexual orientation is not a determining factor in whether a couple may be married at San Marco Presbyterian. The congregation extends a "come as you are" invitation and explicitly welcomes everyone - regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, class, or any other distinction that has too often been used to divide.
More Than a Century in Jacksonville
San Marco Presbyterian was established in 1913 as a small Sunday School, an outreach of First Presbyterian Church downtown. Its first meetings were in a rented building not far from the river ferry that joined South Jacksonville with Jacksonville, and a small church was eventually built on the corner of LaSalle Street and Hendricks Avenue. The town of South Jacksonville was a separate municipality in those years; the first vehicular bridge over the St. Johns opened in 1921, and South Jacksonville was absorbed into Jacksonville shortly after.
Much of the surrounding San Marco neighborhood was built up during the 1920s and 1930s, creating the residential streets and town square that the church still calls home. The post-war years brought dramatic growth. In 1949, the current sanctuary was built to hold the expanding congregation. Within a few years, San Marco Presbyterian became one of the first churches in the country to televise its services, broadcasting on Jacksonville's Channel 4.
Through the second half of the twentieth century the campus grew to include apartment buildings, offices, a music building, a prayer chapel, and a family life center with a gym. In recent years the church has pared back and reoriented, removing older buildings and opening the property up to San Marco Square. The Point is the most visible result of that work, and the church is also a founding partner of several Jacksonville nonprofits, including UCOM and HabiJax.
Sunday Worship at 10:30 a.m.
Sunday morning worship begins at 10:30 a.m. and runs about an hour, in person and online. Most people arrive between 10:00 and 10:15 to grab coffee and say hello.
Worship at San Marco is grounded in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. The service includes an organ, spoken prayers, congregational responses, scripture, and a sermon. Visitors are handed a bulletin with announcements and the order of service at the door, and the screens at the front of the sanctuary follow the same path. Communion is typically celebrated monthly and on special Sundays such as Easter and Pentecost, and visitors are welcome to take it. The church calls the table "a sign of God's grace, and a place where you don't have to earn your way in."
Preaching is shared by Pastors Adam and Jessica. Both take scripture seriously and preach from the text, and both connect the Bible to the world the congregation actually lives in. The sermons draw on close readings of the text and on cultural touchpoints ranging from the Simpsons to the language of Gen Z, inviting the congregation to think deeply and live generously.
Children in Worship
Children are part of how San Marco worships. Director of Children's Ministry Tabitha Galbreath, who was originally a teacher at the church's former preschool, leads Sunday morning Bible lessons, Wednesday evening fellowship, and the children's message during worship. Children join the whole congregation for the children's message and on special Sundays like the Christmas pageant and World Communion Sunday.
For the youngest children through elementary school, Sunday School is offered during worship and is led by the children's ministry team. Children are also welcome to stay in the sanctuary with their families. The church has built a prayground in the sanctuary - a space that helps children engage in worship with their whole selves, and there are simple instruments like shakers and maracas to help kids take part.
Youth Group
The youth group is a stated priority of the Session and the pastors. The aim, in the church's own words, is "to help them establish a religious rhythm of life that they can carry with them as they grow and mature." Activities meet on Wednesday evenings and include fellowship, service projects, recreation, and Bible studies in and around San Marco.
Adults: Discipleship, Bible Study, and Conversation
Adult discipleship at San Marco is built around what the church calls the head, heart, and hands. Classes and discussions are designed to help members grow physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally, as well as spiritually. Recurring offerings include studies on what it means to be a Presbyterian, in-depth Bible book studies, and world and community event discussions.
The church also partners with groups beyond the building to bring in speakers for informed discussions on race, social justice, and the global community. Named partners include 904WARD, the University of North Florida, and iCARE.
Adult Sunday School is offered at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. The Wired Word Study, a regular adult Sunday school class, meets from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. in the church building.
Music at SMPC
Music is a long-standing strength of the congregation. Director of Music and Organist Michael G. Dell is a Jacksonville native, a graduate of Stetson University and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the co-founder and conductor of The Heritage Singers of Jacksonville, a community choral group that rehearses at San Marco Presbyterian. The Chancel Choir rehearses on Tuesday evenings and sings regularly in Sunday worship. The Heritage Singers of Jacksonville also rehearse at the church on Monday evenings.
Worship services reflect Dell's wide range: classical organ, congregational song, and collaborations across the city. The church has hosted Dell's work with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and the music program at SMPC is described as a place where the arts are intentionally being expanded in the years ahead.
Member Care
Member Care is the church's ministry of presence. The team welcomes visitors, sends birthday and other notes, makes visits to homebound members, and helps newcomers find a way to connect. Its work is described as being "for all times - celebrating the good and navigating through the difficult." After a first visit, a member of the team reaches out once early in the following week to say thank you and answer questions, unless the visitor asks not to be contacted.
Mission in Jacksonville and Beyond
The Mission and Outreach committee frames the church's work as stewardship of "head, heart, and hands" - engaging intellectually, emotionally, and actively with the needs of the community, the region, and the world. San Marco Presbyterian has played a founding role in several of Jacksonville's most enduring ministries:
- United Community Outreach Ministry (UCOM) - grocery assistance, daily meals, mobile pantries, and case management to help people move out of crisis.
- Downtown Ecumenical Services Council (DESC) - food pantry, clothing center, emergency financial assistance, case management, and work boots, based in the basement of First Presbyterian downtown.
- Habitat for Humanity Jacksonville (HabiJax) - one of the most successful Habitat affiliates in the country.
- Sulzbacher - housing, health care, and economic opportunity for people experiencing homelessness in Jacksonville. SMPC has been providing and serving dinner at Sulzbacher for decades, and a regular monthly volunteer night at Sulzbacher is part of the church's calendar.
- Jacksonville Campus Ministry (JCM) - an ecumenical ministry serving the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University.
- iCARE - the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment, a network of 38 congregations working on citywide justice issues.
- 904WARD - racial healing and equity through conversation, relationship, and collective action.
The church's life is also shaped by the Matthew 25 call to serve neighbors who are hungry, excluded, or pushed to the margins. Locally and globally, the Mission committee reads the call as a clear one.
Weddings and Funerals
The traditionally styled sanctuary seats 275 to 300 and is available for both daytime and evening weddings. Couples who are willing to approach marriage as an act of Christian discipleship and to undergo a discernment process with the pastor are welcome to apply; both members and non-members of San Marco Presbyterian may marry in the sanctuary. The Wedding Coordinator, Greg McMillan, handles details around decorating, photography, and the rehearsal, and Director of Music Michael Dell helps with musical accompaniment and soloists.
Funerals and memorial services are hosted in the sanctuary, and the Member Care Ministry coordinates the reception. The aim, in the church's own words, is to provide a "caring, Christian setting where attendees may fellowship with and offer support to family members and friends."
The Pastoral Team
Rev. Adam W. Anderson is the Senior Pastor. He grew up the grandson of a preacher in a small town south of Youngstown, Ohio, studied marketing at Grove City College, spent five years in campus ministry, then earned a master's in city and regional planning and public administration from Ohio State, where he focused on affordable housing, Medicaid, and mental health. He later attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and served as head pastor of Old Stone Presbyterian Church in Delaware, Ohio, before accepting the call to San Marco Presbyterian. He is known in the pulpit for close attention to the text and a willingness to draw on everything from Greek word studies to pop culture.
Rev. Jessica Andes Means is the Parish Associate. A graduate of the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, she first came to San Marco Presbyterian as a pastoral intern in the winter of 2024 and joined the staff shortly after. Her ministry passions are connecting congregations with their neighborhood and helping people find themselves in the stories of scripture.
Michael G. Dell is the Director of Music and Organist.
Tabitha Galbreath is the Director of Children's Ministry.
Alice Mickles is the Office Manager and a certified church administrator who has served on the staff since 2003.
What to Expect on a First Visit
Parking is available in a parking garage and on surrounding streets, including Mitchell Avenue and Mango Place, as well as in San Marco Square. Handicapped parking is available on Mitchell Avenue just outside the church entry door. The sanctuary is handicap accessible, and the Mitchell Avenue side entrance includes a ramp.
Visitors are greeted at the door and handed a bulletin. There is no dress code - members wear everything from business attire to golf shorts, and from high heels to flip flops. The offering is collected during the service, but contributions are voluntary; no one is expected to give.
Children are welcome in worship, and there is also a nursery-style option through the far door at the back of the sanctuary for those who prefer it. Adult Sunday School is offered at 9:00 a.m., and most regular adult programming is open to newcomers.
For those who would rather get to know the church before showing up, An Honest Introduction is a three-part podcast series emailed by Pastors Adam and Jessica. The three episodes cover sincere, supportive, and inclusive, and the sign-up is short.
For those who want to take the next step, New Member Sundays are offered a few times each year, and the pastors are happy to walk anyone through what membership looks like at San Marco Presbyterian.
Worship with the Congregation
San Marco Presbyterian is a church that has chosen to be defined less by what it is against and more by what it is for: honest presence, real care, and a wide welcome. In a neighborhood already shaped by the same river, the same bridge, and the same square for a hundred years, the congregation at 2137 Hendricks Avenue is still doing what it set out to do in 1913 - worshiping God, serving neighbors, and staying rooted in the San Marco community that has grown up around it.