Bible Way Church of Atlas Road

Front inscription

This church, founded in 1963, was originally about 3 mi. NW on Bluff Road. It was organized by Elizabeth Simmons (1900-1965), known as “Mother Simmons,” Andrew C. Jackson (1927-2006), and eleven other adults and their children. The first church, a modest building, was called “the Little Red Church.” Jackson, its first pastor and later a bishop, served this church from 1963 until he retired in 1996.

Reverse inscription

After the first church burned in 1966, services were held in Atlas Road Elementary School across the street until a new church was built here. That church, chartered as Bible Way Church of Arthurtown but later renamed Bible Way Church of Atlas Road, was dedicated in 1967. Over the next forty years it grew from a few faithful members to more than 10,000, building new sanctuaries here in 1981 and 2001.