The History of
Westside Baptist Church

In 1976, a group of people, made up of mostly Cobb County residents, decided to meet in a home in Smyrna for a Bible study. To the surprise of many in that group, eighty folks showed up at that first meeting. Over the next few weeks, the group met regularly in that crowded basement, singing songs, praying, and studying the Bible.

In May of 1976, the group decided to move their meeting to the King Springs Elementary School cafeteria, so that members could have a little bit of breathing room. At the time, there was no pastor of the group; different speakers were invited to come and speak each week. Some of the early speakers included Dad Ellis of the Metro Bible Study, Dan DeHan, and Larry Ferguson, a young evangelist who also did a lot of work with Metro. On June 2, 1976, the fifty-five persons present at that week's meeting voted to move forward as God would lead them in forming a church. By the way, of those fifty-five, the Hendersons, the Warnocks, and the Smiths still attend Westside some twenty-four years later.

In August of 1976, the group voted to ask Larry Ferguson, a former Green Beret and Vietnam veteran, to become their first pastor. About a month later, Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta graciously agreed to become the sponsoring church, officially making this group their mission church and providing much-needed advice and assistance.

The first name of the church was actually "West Smyrna Baptist Church." But when members of the group became aware of some land available for sale in Mableton, they eventually changed its name to "Westside," and moved the meeting location to Floyd Middle School in July of 1977. By September of 1978, the group had raised enough money to purchase the twelve-acre site on Floyd Road and construction soon began on phase one of the complex.

Since those early days, Westside has seen only three pastoral changes: from Larry Ferguson to Scott Kirby; from Scott Kirby to David Edgar; and from David Edgar to the present pastor, A.T. Stewart. With those changes, God has changed the focus of ministry several times as well. For instance, the early church was made up of mostly single people, and its focus was local evangelism. In fact, 134 people were baptized in the first two years alone. Through the years, perhaps because many of those single people got married, Westside has become known as a family-oriented, mission-minded church. Today, the members of Westside minister in some way or another to over twenty countries around the globe, and at least fourteen members have been called into full-time mission service.