Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church

Riverside Chapel, built in 1956, was formally organized in 1945 as a church originally in the fold of the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference with a charter membership of 25. During the middle 1940s, the medical staff of Riverside Hospital were faithful members of the Meharry Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. On any given Sabbath as high noon was approaching, there was always a slight disturbance, a moving of bodies. Week after week, the same people---doctors, nurses and other medical personnel---would, as quietly and unobtrusively as possible, walk out of the services. Patients had to be fed; routine patient care had to go on. To satisfy the needs of the patients at the Riverside Sanitarium and Hospital and to keep from disrupting the services at the Meharry Church, it was decided to organize a new congregation at the Sanitarium.

Thus, on the banks of the Cumberland River, the Riverside Chapel was born - March 10, 1945. This small group on "this side of the river" met in the dining room of the hospital and in a cottage on the "San" campus for the first ten years. Preaching was at 9:00AM and Sabbath School at 11:00AM. This way the pastor could serve both Meharry and Riverside congregations. Riverside Chapel was an integral part of the hospital and the hospital existed because the church existed. The hospital carried out an important mission of the worldwide church and in this way represented Seventh-day Adventists to many who otherwise would not be acquainted with the organization.

In 1956, under the leadership of Elder Eugene Carter, the old church building was erected and was dedicated May 11-12, 1956. By this time, the membership had grown to 40-50 members including children. The minutes of the board meetings during those "good ole days" reflect some of the same problems that churches face today. Tuition for the school was Ten Dollars ($10.00) per student (with 1/3 off for more than one child in the family). Finance, heating, delegates to various conference meetings, and disciplinary problems were not strangers to the Riverside Chapel of yesteryears. Since then, the membership has grown to over 400.

Pastors, full-time and interim, during the history of Riverside Chapel, have been Elders:

~ C. Sampson Miles
~ VonGurt Lindsay
~ Ned Lindsay
~ Edwin Humphrey
~ Gene Carter
~ Garland Millet
~ T. M. Rowe
~ Lee Pascal
~ Fred Crowe
~ George Pearson
~ Joseph LeCount Butler
~ Isaac Lester
~ Xavier Butler
~ Randolph Stafford
~ Robert Lister
~ Dr. Samuel Hutchins
~Stephen A. L. Richardson