History

In the year of 1953, Second Baptist Church Princeton, felt the need for a mission in the Shirt Factory Addition of the city. A vacant house was secured and services began with Sunday at 11:00 am and preaching at 10:00am. This was in order that the pastor, Bro. H.D. Knight could carry on the services at the Mission as well as serve Second Baptist.
Later, other young ministers came and worked with the Mission. Second Baptist was the sponsor of this work until 1955. At that time, the property was sold to First Baptist. Bro. H.G.M. Hatler, pastor of the first Baptist church continued the work started by Second Baptist. The Lord blessed in many ways and after much prayer, they saw the need for an organized church to carry on the work in the community. With this purpose in mind, the Mission on Nichols Street became South side Baptist Church.
On Sunday, February 5, 1956, in an afternoon service, the South side Baptist Church was organized with 74 members coming from First Baptist and eight members from other local churches for a total of 82 charter members.
On March 11, 1956, Rev. Gates Bowman was called to be the first pastor. Bro. Bowman accepted the call and begin his ministry on April 15, 1956. On that date, the name of the church was changed to “Southside” instead of South side. Bro. Bowman served as pastor until November 14, 1959.
Rev. Wallis Gray served as Interim Pastor until Rev. Deward Hurst became pastor on February 14, 1960. Rev. Donald Moore served as pastor June 1964 – January 31, 1968. Rev. H.G.M. Hatler served as Interim Pastor. Dr. Don Mathis served as pastor May 26, 1968 – October 14, 1979. Rev. Thomas Shelton served as Interim Pastor October 1979 — August 1980. Rev. Bob Noffsinger served as pastor September 21, 1980 – December 1990.
The church moved in a new sanctuary, offices complex, nursery and music facilities in April of 1981.
Rev. J. Bill Jones served as Interim on January 1990 – June 1991. Rev. Ronnie Sivells began his pastorate on July 1, 1991. In November 1988, the church called Ron Green to serve as Minister of Music and Youth. He served until December 1999. In August 1992, the church called John Benton as its first Associate Pastor. He served until March 25, 2015 Bro. David Scott was called as Minister of Music in January 2002 and served until July, 2016. In June 2004, Ronnie Sivells resigned as Pastor and assumed responsibilities with the Kentucky Baptist Convention working with churches in Western Kentucky. Rev. J. Bill Jones served as Interim Pastor from 2004 – 2005. Rev. Delton Beall served as pastor from 2005-2008. Rev Bruce Hodge was called as transitional pastor on July 19, 2009 and served until October 3, 2010. Bro. Mark Williams served as pastor from June 2012 – July 2014. Bro. Kent Workman served as interim pastor from August 2014 – July 2015. Bro. Baxter Boyd was called to be pastor on February 28, 2016 and served until June 1, 2019. Bro. Bruce Salsman served as as Minister of Music from March 5, 2017 until June 2018. In June of 2017, Bro. Kody Fox joined Southside as the Student Pastor and Bro. Landon Mitchell as the Children’s Pastor and both currently serve in those roles. In February of 2019, Bro. Bill Allen began serving as Minister of Music & Administration and currently serves in that role. Dr. Larry Purcell served as transitional pastor from July 2019 – February 2020 until Bro. Kyle Noffsinger began his pastorate on February 10, 2020 where he currently serves in that role.