Antioch Church of Christ

For More Than A Century... The Antioch congregation traces its roots back to the late 1800's when an evangelist from Lavergne travelled from house to house preaching. The first meeting house, located northeast of the railroad crossing in Antioch, was acquired in 1892. In 1925 the congregation built the frame building still standing at 2343 Antioch Pike, where it now houses a salvage store. Plagued by flooding at this location, the membership purchased the present land site, previously the home of the Antioch Grammar School.

In 1960 Antioch's membership of about 150 moved into a new building. John Adams (father of Greg) became Antioch's minister in August of 1968. When more space to accommodate growth was needed, members used picks and shovels and hand dug a basement under the auditorium. Today that basement, referred to as "L. A." or "Lower Antioch," has been remodeled into an area for our teens. Walt Leaver came to Antioch on a full-time basis in 1976. The congregation soon experienced significant growth and Betty Bailey, our first secretary, was hired in 1977.

The 1980's were a period of rapid growth for the Antioch community and the Church. 1980 brought Bob Neil to Antioch as an associate minister. In 1983 Harold Kieffer and Wayne Pyle joined Junior Grimes and Bill Reeves to serve as elders. By that time there were three worship services and two Sunday Schools each Sunday morning, as well as two Sunday evening worship services. In August of 1984 the present auditorium and fellowship hall were completed. Meanwhile, Nancy Clark joined the staff in a part-time secretarial position in 1984.

By February 1985, a second worship service had again been added to the Sunday morning schedule. In January, 1986 Weldon Rickman took on many of the ministerial duties left in the void created by Brother Karl Peltier’s death. James Craighead became the full time maintenance man in 1986. Tod Bell served as the first full-time youth minister in 1986. Two additional elders were named in 1988 – Stan Birdwell and Neil Chaffin and two portable buildings were leased to provide additional classroom space. In 1989 Jim Taylor joined the Antioch staff and shortly thereafter David Vaughn was hired as the youth minister. In 1992 an educational wing was completed to help meet the needs of our growing Bible School.

After 21 years of service to the Antioch Church of Christ, Walt Leaver transitioned to responsibilities at Lipscomb University and Brentwood Hills Church of Christ. After an extensive search, Mike Root was hired in 1998. Mike Root served the Antioch congregation from March 1998 through December 2004. During that time we adopted a mission statement, added additional elders, and reorganized our ministries and the deacons assigned to them, and added associate ministers and ministries (Greg Adams – Children's Ministry, Matt Owensby – Student Ministry, Chuck Chisam - Antioch Bible Camp, Steve Diggs – No Debt, No Sweat, and David Vaughn – Church Life Ministry.) Winter Flame and the Antioch Bible Action Plays began during this time. Assisting in secretarial duties fell to a capable crew of part time assistants: Karen Nixon, Bonnie Diggs, Sue Thweatt, and Peggy Grimes. Other staff members were Jim Taylor, James Craighead, Weldon Rickman, and Sheryl Friend. 2003 brought a search for a new youth Minister which ended with the arrival of Andrew Sowards in July, 2003. Barbara Biffle added her talents to the secretarial staff beginning in December of 2004.

2005 was another year of transitions as we said good bye to Mike Root and began an interim ministry with Jim Woodroof from January - May 2005. We also saw the retirement of three elders preceded by the addition of four new elders. Michael Whittington joined the staff as senior minister in August, 2005.

2006 brought still more change with the addition of Worship Minister, Marcus Miller, and Associate Minister, Randy Patterson. We experienced rapid growth in our English Classes and Hispanic Ministry and Lisa Steele joined our staff as Director of English Classes.

2007 marked the retirement of Weldon Rickman, the remodeling of the back offices and teacher's workroom, and the redesign of the antiochcofc.org website. The foyer and a portion of the Auditorium were re-carpeted.

2008 brought the formation of several "Life Groups" and the addition of a Children's WOW (Wonder of Worship) in January. Work was begun on the addition of a Pavilion on the Ball Field. Marcus Miller left the staff to pursue full-time employment.

The Antioch Church of Christ continues to grow physically and spiritually as new members join us and we continue, “Loving God and Loving Others.”