From a schoolhouse in Castleberry to a campus on Ooltewah Ringgold Road
What is now known as Eastwood Church began on October 15, 1882, when Reverend James A. Mathis organized a small body of believers as Oak Grove Baptist Church. They met in the Castle School House at the corner of Tunnel Boulevard and Wilcox Boulevard with 13 charter members and joined the Ocoee Association two years later, in 1884. The congregation outgrew the schoolhouse by 1899 and moved to a small frame building at the corner of Shallowford Road and Tunnel Boulevard, where the name was changed to Eastdale Baptist Church in 1913.
Fire destroyed that original building in 1929, and a new sanctuary was dedicated on February 29, 1930. The church stayed at the Shallowford Road location for nearly five more decades before selling the property on May 3, 1978. The last service there was held on Father's Day, June 18, 1978. That same month the family that was willing to move held services in Ooltewah Middle School while construction crews finished what was originally called the Family Activities Center, the present gym. On September 10, 1978, 176 charter members walked into the new building for the first time. A new sanctuary followed in 1981, and the education and nursery buildings went up in 1994 and 1995. The present-day campus at 4300 Ooltewah Ringgold Road in Ooltewah, Tennessee, is the product of that 1978 restart and a long line of building campaigns that grew up around it.
Pastor Bill Spencer has led the church since 2012, following a pastorate of Mike McGinnis that ran from 1992 to 2012. The list of pastors in the church's history stretches back to J.A. Mathis and includes R.R. Denny, who served from 1940 to 1963, and F. Ray Walker, who led the congregation through the move to Ooltewah from 1973 to 1982.
A week that gathers, grows, and goes
Eastwood's rhythm is built around the words "Gather, Grow, Go," the same phrase that runs across the church's main banner. The week centers on two anchors: a Sunday morning in the sanctuary and a Wednesday night around the table.
Sunday morning begins with Sunday School for all ages at 9:30 a.m., running until 10:30 a.m. The whole church then gathers in the sanctuary at 10:45 a.m. for corporate worship. Children stay through the praise time and are dismissed around 11:30 a.m. to the Kid'z Zone, where they break into age-graded rooms for the rest of the service.
Wednesday night is a community meal followed by worship and small groups. A fellowship dinner is served in the gym from 5:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.; reservations are taken through the church office. The congregation then gathers in the sanctuary at 6:30 p.m. for a corporate worship service, and small-group Bible studies for adults, students, and children begin at 7:00 p.m. and run until 8:00 p.m. On the first Wednesday of each month, the youth group hosts a game night alongside its regular Refuge student worship gathering.
Beyond the Sunday-Wednesday spine, the church also hosts the Joyful 50+ Ministry, a co-ed group for adults 50 and older that meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. for a covered-dish lunch and Bible study.
What Eastwood believes
Eastwood's statement of faith opens with the Bible as the infallible, inerrant, and inspired word of God, and the church confesses one living and true God, eternally existing in three equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The statement affirms the deity of Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, and personal return, and it describes the Holy Spirit as the one who regenerates, sanctifies, and indwells every believer.
Salvation, the church teaches, is by grace through faith in the blood, sacrificial death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those who repent and trust Christ are regenerated and become new creations whose position in him is eternally secure. Eastwood recognizes two ordinances committed by Christ to the local church: baptism by full immersion and the Lord's Supper, both of which the church observes and administers until Christ's return. The statement closes with belief in the personal and visible return of Jesus, the resurrection of the body, final judgment, eternal joy for the righteous, and endless suffering for the wicked.
Children, students, and the next generation
Three of the church's seven ministry arms are aimed at the next generation.
The Children's Ministry, directed by Laura Smith, gathers children in three weekly settings: Sunday School at 9:30 a.m., the Kid'z Zone during the latter part of the 10:45 a.m. service, and a Wednesday night program at 7:00 p.m. after corporate worship. The ministry's teaching framework rests on Ephesians 1:4, working through who each child is "to Christ," "in Christ," and "for Christ," with the goal of leading every child into a personal love relationship with their Creator.
The Youth Student Ministry, led by Youth Pastor Jonathan Barrett, runs two weekly touch points. "Refuge" meets on Wednesday nights from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for student worship with a band, biblical teaching, and small groups divided by gender and school grade. "Fuel" meets on Sunday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for Sunday School followed by small group breakouts, with a light breakfast served. The first Wednesday of each month is game night.
The Young Adult / College ministry gathers on Sundays from 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for Bible study and again on Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., working through a book of the Bible together. The group's stated purpose is to gather to study the Word in order to grow in the knowledge of God so that its members can go and spread the good news.
Men, women, and the Joyful 50+
The Men's Ministry exists to lead the men of the church into a deeper relationship with Christ through Bible study, prayer, encouragement, one-on-one discipleship, small group fellowship, and service projects. The Women's Ministry shares the same gather-grow-go shape, with a vision of drawing women closer to the heart of God and a regular calendar that has included a women's retreat at Cedine Camp every fall for many years. The Joyful 50+ Ministry, the church's longest-tenured adult group, is a co-ed gathering of adults 50 and older who meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. for a covered-dish lunch and a study of God's word.
A church with a world-sized prayer list
Missions shape much of the life at Eastwood. The church maintains a roster of both local and overseas partners that the congregation prays for and supports throughout the year.
Local partners include CHOICES, a Chattanooga organization that has educated, supported, and empowered women and men in the community since 1985; CBMC (Christian Business Men's Connection), which presents Jesus Christ to business and professional men; Cedine Ministries, a year-round camp, retreat, and Bible-centered outreach where Riley and Kimberly Peak serve; WDYN, a Chattanooga gospel radio station at AM 980, 94.9 FM, and 94.7 FM; and ComeOnLetsGo, a digital media effort that finds, films, and produces short videos of people's encounters with God and distributes them as digital ads.
Overseas partners include Carl and Kathy Most, who work in Cuba and the Caribbean through the Caribbean Ministries Association; Training Pastors International, which has trained, discipled, and mentored national pastors in Central and South America, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic since 2003; Another Child Foundation in Romania; Daniel and Sarah Barrett in Costa Rica, where they planted Horizon Church in Jaco; Pastor Makumbi Johnson and Victory Living Word Church in Kawempe, Uganda; and Nathan and Marllorys Arce in Venezuela, who planted Open Door Baptist Church (La Puerta Abierta) and lead a Feed the Children Ministry there. The church also supports Baptist International Missions, Inc. (BIMI) and Shepherd's Staff Mission Fellowship.
Each year the church seeks God's guidance in choosing these partners, and members are asked to be in fervent prayer for them throughout the year. A short-term mission trip to Costa Rica is a regular part of the church's summer rhythm.
Teaching, the table, and the song
The Worship Team describes itself as a diverse group whose purpose is to point others to Christ. The team sees corporate singing as a spiritual discipline that engages the body of Christ in a way that a concert never can, opening the heart, mind, and soul to commune with God without distraction.
The sermon library is the largest part of the church's public teaching. Recent series include a study of 1 John and 2 Peter, the Lord's Prayer, "Isaiah: The Fifth Gospel," "The Life of Jesus," "Choosing Christ Over the World," "The Prodigal Son," "Becoming A Disciple Maker," "God Owns It All," "The Grace of Giving," and topical studies on baptism, the Lord's Supper, missions, the family, suffering, prayer, and being still. Pastor Bill Spencer is the primary preacher; other teachers include Sean Hanzelik, Jonathan Barrett, and Laura Smith, and the church maintains separate archives of children's teachings and youth teachings. Most messages are available in both audio and video, and an audio archive stretches back to 2020. The Lord's Supper is observed on the Sunday services that fall on the fourth Sunday of March, June, August, and November, and is also part of a regular teaching series on the ordinance.
Finding the church and getting connected
Eastwood Church is located at 4300 Ooltewah Ringgold Road in Ooltewah, Tennessee, in Hamilton County, just east of Chattanooga. The church office can be reached at 423-396-2177 or at office@eastwoodchurch.com. Visitors can update their contact information through the church's online form, and a Wednesday night dinner reservation can be made through a separate form on the church's site. Giving is handled online through Vanco Payment Solutions, and the church's Facebook page keeps a current feed of news and updates. Weekly devotions are posted on the church's site, and an archive of past posts stretches back several years.
For more than 140 years, the same congregation that started with 13 charter members in a schoolhouse has been gathering in this part of the Tennessee Valley, first under the name Oak Grove, then Eastdale, and now Eastwood. The name on the building has changed, the location has moved once, and the people have come and gone, but the rhythm of gathering to grow and growing to go continues to shape life at Eastwood Church.