By Francesca Infante PUBLISHED: 06:52 EST, 25 November 2013 | UPDATED: 07:10 EST, 25 November 2013 A snake handling preacher has vowed to continue worshipping with deadly rattlesnakes despite the threat of jail - and being bitten four times. Andrew Hamblin, 22, is a pastor at the Tabernacle Church of God in the Appalachian mountains outside La Follette, Tennessee. The church is part of century-old Pentecostal tradition in the region that takes literally an instruction in the Gospel of Mark that 'they shall take up serpents.' Risky business: Father-of-five Andre Hamblin has been badly bitten by snakes four times, one occasion has even left him permanently disfigured
@highlight
Andrew Hamblin, 22,  hopes to found a snake-handling mega-church
@highlight
Snake-handling is a century-old Pentecostal tradition that takes literally an instruction in the Gospel of Mark that 'they shall take up serpents'
Devoted: The defiant preacher faces up to a year in prison after being charged with illegally possessing 53 venomous snakes seized from his church by @placeholder wildlife agency officers earlier this month