History
Bellevue Baptist was founded in 1903 by Central Baptist Church as a mission church on the outskirts of Memphis. With a small $1,000 gift from member Fannie Jobe, pastor Thomas Potts, led the congregation to build a one-room stone chapel at the corner of Bellevue and Erskine Avenues. The first service was held on July 12, 1903 with Bellevue's first pastor, Dr. Henry Hurt. Thirty-two founding members signed the official charter on August 9, 1903. The church completed a 3,000 seat building in 1952, which was one of the first air-conditioned churches in Memphis. Bellevue became one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in the United States in the 1950s with more than 9,000 members. The church relocated to its current building (2000 Appling Road), which seats 7,000, on a 377 acre (1.6 km²) campus in Cordova, a Memphis suburb, in 1989. Bellevue is ranked 80th in the largest and fasting growing churches in America by LifeWay Research for Outreach Magazine. The attendance has been up to 6,567.
The church's location near Interstate 40 is marked by a display of three crosses. An unforgettable ceremony held to dedicate and light the crosses took place on New Year’s Eve, 1999. As the clock ticked down the final moments of the millennium, the Bellevue family worshipped at the foot of the cross. At the stroke of midnight, the crosses were illuminated, shining as a brilliant testimony of Christ’s sacrificial love. They are visible from several miles away. The center cross is 150 feet (45.75 m) tall, flanked by two 120-foot (36.5 m) crosses.
Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary is located on 51 acres (210,000 m2) across the street from Bellevue (35 of the acres were donated by Bellevue). However, Mid-America operates independently from Bellevue. Nevertheless, the Seminary has maintained a close relationship with the congregation ever since it moved to Memphis in 1976; former Bellevue pastor Adrian Rogers was an influential figure at MABTS.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)