During the fall of 1959, a group of ten people met with Basil Overton in the home of Robert Collier on Arcadia Park. They discussed the feasibility of meeting to worship together in Lexington, and in that meeting the decision was made to assemble and worship as the church known as the Southside Church of Christ. Meeting in the chapel on the campus of the old College of the Bible (currently the Lexington Theological Seminary), the church held its first worship service on January 3, 1960. Only four families constituted the church at Southside then, although thirty people were present at the first assembly. This small number grew rapidly, and soon sixty were worshipping God together. After meeting for six months at the College of the Bible, the church purchased a dwelling at its present address of 1533 Nicholasville Road, modified its interior, and began meeting there permanently.
The present auditorium was constructed on that site in 1961, the first worship service being conducted there on January 7, 1962. The Educational wings were completed in two stages, one in the fall of 1971, and the other in the summer of 1976. In 1983-4 the auditorium was expanded, and the north educational wing remodeled. In 1998 the auditorium and parts of the educational wing were given a face-lift. August 2000 marked the completion of a new 2-story wing for offices and additional space with an expanded entrance foyer.
Since 1960 the following men have served as preaching ministers for the congregation: Basil Overton, Howard Emerson, Ron Bryant, Jerry Hollis, Jerry Harvill, Ken Neller, Kevin Wooten, Tom Sibley and Bryan Barrett. Barrett Coffman has been with us since October 2006. John Peden was hired as our Campus Minister in 1975, followed by Ken Durham and Craig Culbertson. Kevin Wooten ministered to the “Cats for Christ” from December 1989 until August 2018 when Evan Saxton stepped into the role of campus minister after interning with “Cats for Christ” for four years. Jerry Savage was our first Youth Minister in 1975, since then Stan Sizemore, Terry Hester, Daniel Stockstill, Ed Bass and Michael Fann have filled that position. Jeremy Stewart has been with us in that position since April 2011. Bill Nolan served as our Counseling and Family Involvement Minister from 1991-2001.
“My School” started in 1977 by Patty Hollis as a mothers’ day out program. In 1982 Nita Cates added a preschool curriculum, making My School a Thursdays-only preschool program. Patty Rhodes had been My School’s director since 1990 until the end of the program.
Lesa McKenzie was our first Children’s Ministry Leader, succeeded by Leslie Davis (birth-kindergarten) and Joy Lasiter (grades 1-5), Shonna Anthony took over from Joy at the beginning of 2003. In June 2007, Amanda Jones became our first full-time Children’s Minister. Amanda served in that role until January 2018.
