The Reverend Dr. Bobby Johnson Scobey, 88, of Germantown, Tennessee, died January 5, 2025. He was born February 11, 1936, in Newbern, Tennessee, to grocer Robert A. Scobey and Vada Johnson Scobey. Scobey became a Christian in 1946 and joined the Palestine Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Obion Presbytery) in 1947. He was educated in the schools of Newbern and graduated from Newbern High School, where he was valedictorian in 1953.

Scobey then went to Bethel College in McKenzie, Tennessee, where he was a member of the a capella choir and Phi Delta Sigma fraternity. Scobey earned his undergraduate degree in 1956. Scobey then continued to the Cumberland Presbyterian Theological Seminary which was also in McKenzie. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1959 which was converted to a Master of Divinity degree by Memphis Theological Seminary in 1968, Scobey did graduate study at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, in the late-1960s. Finally, he completed a Doctorate in Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary in Anaheim, California in 1984.

Scobey came under the care of Obion Presbytery on March 11, 1953, at their spring meeting with Fulton Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was still in high school. He was licensed in a special service conducted by the Reverend Alfred Stone, pastor at Trimble Cumberland Presbyterian Church, as part of Obion Presbytery’s fall meeting at Newbern Cumberland Presbyterian Church, September 14, 1954. On June 10, 1956, shortly after he graduated from Bethel College, a commission of Obion Presbytery ordained Scobey, again at Newbern CPC. The Reverend E.C. Cross preached, Reverend Samuel L. Noel asked the questions pursuant to ordination, and the Reverend Frank Harmon delivered the charge.

While in seminary, Scobey served the Cloverdale, Morella, and Yorkville Cumberland Presbyterian Churches in Obion Presbytery. His first full-time ministry was at Yorkville Cumberland Presbyterian Church which he served for eight years. In 1960, he served on the General Assembly committee on the Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home. He was then called to Memphis, Tennessee, as the pastor of Eastside Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Memphis Presbytery). At the end of the meeting of Obion Presbytery on September 15, 1964, in granting a letter of dismissal and recommendation, gave Rev. Bobby J. Scobey (“who had spent all of the 28 years of his life in the presbytery”) a vote of commendation and appreciation for his service.

Scobey served as stated clerk of Memphis Presbytery until his resignation in 1972. He was involved in Denominational Cumberland Men’s Fellowship (DCMF) and served as piano player and music director at several meetings. He was on the board of Teen Challenge in Memphis. Scobey also joined with Christians, Inc., in their battle against liquor by the drink in Tennessee.

Prior to calling Scobey, East Side had called a new pastor just about once a year for the prior decade. By mid-1972, Scobey’s had been at the church for eight years but his relationship with the session grew strained. He became interested in the charismatic movement and, during Saturday night prayer services held in the church manse, practiced glossolalia or more commonly, “speaking in tongues.”

These prayer services primarily appealed to younger members of the congregation. The East Side session, all older men and primarily lifelong Cumberland Presbyterians some of whom had been on the session since the church was founded in 1926, took the position that the Bible indicates authentic speaking in tongues involves speaking a real, identifiable language. Therefore, the modern practice of glossolalia, which consists of uttering nonsensical or repetitive sounds, strongly suggests it is a human attempt to mimic divine work rather than a genuine expression of spiritual gifts.

Scobey insisted his glossolalia was sometimes in fluent German or Japanese. Witnesses, although generally supportive of Scobey, maintained it was gibberish. Scobey also claimed he had the gift to interpret glossolalia. After refusing to review his position, Bobby Scobey was fired by the session on August 2, 1972. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Scobey’s activities, glossolalia in particular, were not specifically prohibited by the Cumberland Presbyterian Denomination but they deeply divided the East Side congregation.

Scobey appealed to Memphis Presbytery to intercede on his behalf. In a called meeting at Park Avenue Cumberland Presbyterian Church on August 28, 1972, while upholding the session’s decision, Memphis Presbytery ordered East Side CPC to adopt a rotation model for their elders. The order was later overruled by West Tennessee Synod.

Although he told the Commercial Appeal he was entertaining calls from two Cumberland Presbyterian Churches, on September 1, 1972, Scobey founded a congregation, St. Andrew’s Community Church, from dissident members of the East Side CPC. Initially meeting at “the Lion’s Den,” the congregation soon acquired the property of the former Berclair Christian Church. By 1974, St. Andrew’s had 150 members. West Tennessee Synod insisted Memphis Presbytery take action against Scobey for violation of the General Assembly directive regarding the organization of a new church from disaffected members of a congregation.

Memphis Presbytery held a called meeting December 11, 1972, at Central Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Memphis, in order to discuss how to proceed with charges against Scobey and to appoint a prosecutor. On March 26, 1973, Scobey’s trial before Memphis Presbytery took place. After eight hours, presbytery voted to admonish Scobey. The moderator, the Reverend James Latimer, said Scobey’s admonishment for splitting East Side CPC was the least degree of censure which could have been brought against Scobey and did not effect his ecclesiastical standing.

Both the synod and presbytery insisted Scobey’s glossolalia played no role in their deliberations. For his part, Scobey insisted that 109 members of East Side joining St. Andrew’s was coincidental and not a response to anything he had done. Members of the East Side congregation interviewed by the Commercial Appeal told contrary stories and early in the controversy Scobey stated to the paper, “the new church is primarily made up of East Side members,” September 9, 1972.

After the trial in Memphis Presbytery, Scobey was censured for violation of the General Assembly’s directive but contrary to popular belief he was not defrocked nor put out of the presbytery. On April 21, 1973, Memphis Presbytery granted Scobey’s request to be dropped from the roll. He maintained he had, on September 11, 1972, secretly transferred his membership to the United Evangelical Church. A letter by Scobey printed in the Cumberland Presbyterian on March 1, 1978, made it clear that while he might have been dropped from the presbyterial roll, he still self-identified as a Cumberland Presbyterian.

“I did not run from the charges that were brought against me but faced them and accepted the punishment meted out by the presbytery. I was not defrocked either in person or in absentia,” Scobey wrote.

St. Andrew’s continued as a non-denominational church after moving to Whitten Road in Memphis. It was renamed Cornerstone Church. There Scobey served as senior pastor for 49 years until his retirement at the end of 2021. After retirement, Scobey is known to have visited and preached at several West Tennessee Cumberland Presbyterian Churches.

Material for this article was drawn from Bobby Scobey’s biographical file in the Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America, the Cumberland Presbyterian magazine, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Memphis Press-Scimitar, and the minutes of Memphis and Obion Presbyteries.