Brookside Baptist Church
The Start
The year was 1954, and Rev. Fred Potter was pastoring Chinquapin Grove Baptist Church in Bluff City, TN. The Lord laid it upon Rev. Potter to start a mission church in Bristol, Tennessee. At this point he only knew that the Lord wanted him to build it near the Sperry Plant. The fact was, he didn’t even know where the factory was. So he and a member of his church traveled to Bristol to look at some land. He did in fact know a couple that lived in that vicinity. As he knocked on the door, a woman opened it. He began to tell her how the Lord had burdened him to start a church in the community. As he spoke to her, she began to cry. With tears running down her face she said, “That is an answer to prayer. We have been praying for a church for two years.”
At that time, Rev. Potter found his way to a little brier patch full of weeds. It was just a small lot sitting by the road. When he seen it the Lord said, “There.” It was at this location that the Brookside Baptist Church was built. It got it’s name because there was a small brook that flowed behind the church. That same brook still flows today. At the present, Rev. Fred Potter is still the pastor after 48 years. This is truly “The Start” to it all. The Children’s Homes, the Mission Board, the Bible Society, everything was started out of this church. Bro. Potter feels that each ministry should birthed through the local church. So as you have read, when you add it all up and you look at what the Lord has done, you certainly have to say that Brookside Baptist Church was where it all began with one man’s faith and a willingness to surrender and obey God.