
Members of the Community Pregnancy Center in Hartsville surround the new ultrasound machine dedicated on Jan. 17. Brent Leatherwood, president of ERLC; Mary Linville, APRN; Rachel Wiles, ERLC; Beth Moore, compassion ministry specialist; and Peg Shonebarger, director of Community Pregnancy Center.
HARTSVILLE — Hartsville is a small town in Middle Tennessee, located east of Gallatin in Trousdale County.
“It is a beautiful place, but it can feel a little isolated,” said Drew Byers, lead pastor at Creekside Fellowship. (The nearest Walmart is 30 minutes away, depending on whether or not you meet a tractor, he added).
Finding pregnancy care can be a challenge.
“And yet, a woman who needs compassion and help doesn’t need to drive to find it. We are right here to help,” he said.
Byers has been involved in the work of the Community Pregnancy Center for a few years and serves on its board of directors. He said the center “is a way to tangibly show mercy to those in need.”
“Having a pregnancy center in a town like Hartsville is a reminder that small places are not overlooked by the Lord Jesus,” he said.
Being “overlooked,” however, is common in small communities.
Peg Shonebarger, director of the Community Pregnancy Center, said she began checking into grants for an ultrasound machine almost as soon as the center opened. But everywhere she looked she learned their center would not qualify.
“Being a small community we have fewer people seeking help with an unplanned pregnancy,” Shonebarger explained. Donors often strategically direct their funding to areas with higher concentrations of abortion-minded women, such as urban areas, where more people seeking reproductive services can be reached.
Though small, that doesn’t mean communities like Hartsville lack a mission.
So, the center had something to celebrate during a dedication ceremony on Jan. 17 after they received a new ultrasound machine in 2024 that was fully funded by the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions (GOTM). The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee (ERLC) coordinated getting this ultrasound machine by allotting these GOTM funds to the Psalm 139 Project.
The center has already seen this new ultrasound machine save lives in the short time it’s been in operation.
“In the last several weeks, Community Pregnancy Center has done scans on four abortion-minded women, two of whom chose life because they could see the image of their baby on that screen,” she said. “Those two babies are alive and growing because we weren’t too small to qualify for a grant from Psalm 139 Project.”
Byers added, “This work is a reminder to us that our big God loves small places and in His eyes everyone is significant. Prayerfully, our center will stand for years to come as a testament to that fact.” B&R
See more B&R stories on ultrasound dedications in Fayetteville and McKenzie.


