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A Short History...
 In about 1950, a group of students from Berea College saw a need for a place of worship. The small group started a Sunday school class in a small room located in a chicken house belonging to George Adams.
Three years later, the group moved to the Dewey Rose residence. As attendance continued to grow, Rev. Jim Henry, who helped to conduct the cottage prayer meetings, encouraged the community to find a larger place to hold prayer meetings, Sunday school and Church services.
On Sunday afternoon, November 22, 1953, a small group met at the home of Bro. E.T. Cornett to discuss plans for organizing a church. Following are the minutes for this very special meeting:
 Know all men by this presents that we the Regular members of the following missionary Baptist Church to wit: Fairview Baptist Church; Liberty Avenue; First Baptist Church, Berea; White Oak Baptist Church, Morristown, Tennessee; Mt. Zion; and Gray Hawk Baptist Church met November 22, 1953 and by mutual agreement to organize a missionary Baptist church as into a body of Christ for the purpose of keeping house for the Lord and to further the work of His kingdom on earth and do hereby adopt the Articles of Faith set forth in Pennington’s Manual. This church shall be called by the name of Cornett Westside Baptist Church. The names who appear below shall constitute this church as charter members.
There were 21 charter members who signed their names to the very first minutes of our church.
Dewey C. Rose
Thelma Inabnit
Ethel Inabnit
Sarah B. Hurley
E.T. Cornett
Ellen Johnston
Ethel Hurley
Polly Cornett
Mrs. George R. Adams
Lillie Rose
Ruford Hill
R.T. McCracken
Louis Hubble
Mrs. Louis Hubble
Mrs. R.J. McCracken
Mrs. Bertha Hill
Mrs. Gertrude Shearer
Walter Brock
Jim Henry
Ronald A. Inabnit
Gary Wayne Inabnit
Ellen Johnston, who is still a vital part of our church today, was elected clerk and treasurer. The church continued to meet in the homes of these members until they saved up enough money to complete what was the basement of the WestSide church on Mary Street, where they had services on a gravel floor.
On another Sunday afternoon, June 27, 1954, the church was officially organized with Bro. O.B. Mylum acting as moderator. Bro. Charley Lunsford served as temporary pastor until Bro. Paul Allen was called in 1956. Bro. Howard Gallimore served from 1956 to 1958 and Bro. Paul Prather, in 1961. Bro. Kale Conner then served from 1964 until 1968 when Bro. George Waddle took his place as Westside’s pastor. Bro. George served for 32 years and was followed by an interim pastor, Bro. Fred Cummings who was with us for a short time in 2000 before Bro. Jimmy Garland came to serve.
In December of 2003, Bro. Allen Livingood became our pastor. In the spring of 2006 we broke ground on the property on Prince Royal Drive where we’ve been worshiping for just over a year.
WestSide has been blessed by more than a 40% growth in membership; a continuing emphasis on missions; and, most importantly, a renewed burden to reach the lost in our community and to impact our world. We pray for God’s presence in everything we do. We pray that each member be filled with a hunger to be God’s hands and feet. Who we are today as a church is perhaps summed up in the simple, but profound statement Bro. Allen often makes at the end of a service: “Love God. Love each other. Feed the sheep.”
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