Fifteen people gathered in the home of James and Leora Day on January 14, 1968, for the first service of what would become Southside Baptist Church. More than five decades later, the congregation still meets a few miles south of downtown Knoxville on West Governor John Sevier Highway, in the same South Knoxville neighborhood where it has put down roots since moving into its first building on Easter Sunday in 1972. The church describes its long journey with the phrase "a trail of faith and determination," and the work that began with those original fifteen continues today across ministries that reach from infants to senior adults and from Knoxville to South Africa.
Sundays at Southside
Sunday morning at Southside follows a familiar two-part rhythm. At 9:30 am, the hallways fill as people head to small group Bible studies for every age: adults meet in classes like Lighthouse, Ladies' Journey, Faith and Friends, and Truth Fellowship, while children gather for Sunday School and students head to their own Bible study. At 10:30 am, the whole church comes together in the main auditorium for worship.
The 10:30 am service includes a children's component. Young worshipers start in the main service with their families and are then dismissed mid-service to Children's Church, where they continue in age-appropriate teaching until parents pick them up afterward. For the youngest children, the nursery is open during both the Bible study hour and the morning service, staffed by a dedicated team under Nursery Director Debbie Rogers. Sunday evenings at 5 pm offer a rotating schedule that the bulletin describes each week, so visitors are encouraged to check the current listing.
Wednesday Nights Around the Auditorium
Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm are among the busiest hours of the week. In the main auditorium, Senior Pastor Luke Wilkerson leads a prayer service for adults and young adults. Down the hall, the Collide student ministry gathers 7th through 12th graders for a service built around games, snacks, music, and a Bible message. Across the building, AWANA clubs fill the children's wing, with kids ages three through twelve working through Bible verses, playing games, and earning AWANA bucks to spend at the AWANA store.
For children who have outgrown AWANA but are not yet teens, Wednesday nights during the summer shift into a Bible camp format. The choir also rehearses on Wednesdays, gathering in the choir room at 5:45 pm and again at 10:15 am on Sunday mornings to prepare music for the worship service and special events.
Kids, Collide, and Young Adults
Three generations of ministries keep families engaged at Southside. Children's Director Meredith Black oversees Sunday School for ages four through sixth grade, Children's Church during the morning service, the AWANA program on Wednesday nights, and a yearly slate of events that includes Vacation Bible School, an Easter egg hunt, a Fall Festival, and Christmas activities. Kid's Camp fills the summer Wednesday evenings once AWANA takes its seasonal break.
Collide, the student ministry led by Youth Pastor Zach Witt, walks with 7th through 12th graders through Sunday morning Bible study, the Sunday worship service, a Wednesday night gathering of their own, and a steady calendar of monthly outings and events. The Young Adult ministry, pastored by Jon and Meredith Black, meets for a Sunday morning Bible study at 9:30 am and adds two yearly retreats and monthly fellowship gatherings on top of its regular study.
For moms of newborns through kindergartners, Bridget Lewis leads the MOMCo group (formerly MOPS) on the last Thursday of each month. Meetings include breakfast, crafts, Bible study, and free childcare with lessons and activities for the children.
A Church Built on Missions
Missions work sits at the center of who Southside is. The church currently supports more than seventy missionaries worldwide, including sixty-four on the foreign field and eleven stateside, and it underwrites that work through a separate Faith Promise offering above the regular tithe. Members describe this as "a commitment to God to support His plan for world evangelism" rather than a pledge to the church itself. In recent years Southside has commissioned a twenty-four-member team to South Africa and sent out the Johnson family as career missionaries from among its own members, and more than a dozen young people have surrendered to full-time Christian ministry over the past six years.
What Southside Believes
Southside's teaching rests on a short, plainly stated confession. The church holds to the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death on the cross, and bodily resurrection, and to His imminent pre-millennial return. Members affirm the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the doctrine that all people are sinners saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, the reality of eternal heaven for the saved and eternal hell for the lost, and the responsibility of every Christian to tithe. Southside also practices believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two ordinances Christ gave His church, and it sees itself as a local assembly of baptized believers gathered to carry out the Great Commission.
Getting Connected
Visitors who want a place to start can join any of the Sunday morning Bible studies at 9:30 am or walk in for the 10:30 am worship service. The nursery is at the top of the stairs to the right when entering the building, and the Kids' Worship hall is where children are picked up after the service. Worship is livestreamed on the church's Facebook page for those unable to attend in person. Giving is available online, by mail, or during the Sunday service, and the church offices are open during the week for drop-offs and questions.