On March 4,1928, twenty-one people met at the McFadden
Elementary School in Murfreesboro for the purpose of
organizing the Westvue Baptist Church. The church began as
a mission work of the First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro.
Several pastors served the church until 1940. On Wednesday
night October 1, 1940 the Westvue congregation called
Woodrow Medlock as pastor. He preached his first sermon as
pastor, titled “Go Forward” on Sunday night, November 3,
1940. At this time, there were fewer than fifty enrolled in
Sunday School. On April 6, 1941, Bro. Medlock was appointed
as Chairman of the Building Committee for a new parsonage
which was built within a few weeks and paid for by the
church in the next twelve months. The greater portion of
this eight-room house and basement was used for Sunday
School space. The year 1947 saw the church double the size
of the auditorium to accommodate the growing congregation.
In 1948, the church purchased a building and three extra
lots for the purpose of building a large tabernacle.
November 30, 1949, brought the construction of the basement
for the large
Westvue auditorium. The first service in the new
one-thousand seat auditorium was conducted on April 12,
1950.
A few years later, the Lord placed a burden upon the church
to start an Orphan home. Construction of the Good Shepherd
Children’s home was started on October 11, 1961. The church
gave the first money and then a corporation was formed. The
home became a reality and has cared for numbers of precious
boys and girls over the years. On February 7, 1962, the
church voted to buy fourteen acres of land on Sanbyrn and
Houston Drives in the Bellwood Community for the purpose of
building a new facility. A vote was taken to sell the
Westvue property to the Sword of the Lord Foundation of
Wheaton, Illinois, which took possession June 3, 1963. The
first service on the Bellwood property was held in an
open-air tabernacle on June 5, 1963. The following May over
twelve hundred came to the open house for the new building.
Bellwood Christian Academy was founded in 1972 offering
grades K-12 using the A.C.E curriculum. The school is
housed in a single large building that contains both
classrooms and a gymnasium.
In the early 1980s Donald Williams was pastor followed by
James Avaritt from 1984 to the present.
The years have seen countless souls saved and many of our
people called into the ministry to preach the gospel. The
Bellwood Baptist Church is a testimony to the faithfulness
of the Lord and His grace.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of
the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto
you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
Jude 3