Brookside Baptist Church Bristol, TN

In 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 and 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. When he seen it the Lord said, “There.” It got it’s name because there was a small brook that flowed behind the church.