ABOUT
US
THE MISSION
At SoKno City Church, we believe God has given us a direction and that is to Be Disciples who Make Disciples. We believe that God has called us to grow in our relationship with Jesus and lead others to know Him and grow in their relationship with Him. We do this by following The Discipleship Journey and taking the name of Jesus To Knoxville and the Nations.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
BF&M 2000
KNOX COUNTY
ASSOCIATION
OF BAPTISTS
TENNESSEE
BAPTIST
CONVENTION
SOUTHERN
BAPTIST
CONVENTION
OUR STORY
​SoKno City Church is the South Knoxville campus of the Wallace Family of churches. In addition to SoKno City, our family of campuses includes Wallace Memorial Baptist Church (North), Cumberland Knox (West), and Riverview Baptist Church (East). Below is the history of our church family.
On Sunday morning, September 21, 1952, under the leadership of the missions committee of Arlington Baptist Church, the first service of the Clinton Highway Baptist Chapel was conducted in the Tillery Theater on Clinton Highway with 73 people present.
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On July 6, 1953, in the afternoon following the first service in the new location, the church was duly constituted, adopting the name Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in honor of Dr. William Lindsay Wallace, a medical missionary to China for 17 years until his death at the hands of the Communists in 1951.
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In 1964, Wallace's pastor at the time, Dr. Jim McCluskey, and a team from Wallace Memorial Baptist Church planted Cumberland Baptist Church in order to reach the Cumberland Estates community.
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In 1988, as the church began to plan the construction of a new worship center, the idea grew to have an illuminated cross that would be high enough to be seen from nearby Interstate 75. The entire tower was designed with a stained glass front that would extend to the cross itself. The cross was erected on Sunday morning, October 7, 1990, as a part of the worship service of Wallace Memorial.
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On November 15,2015 after a five-month period of prayer and teaching, Cumberland Baptist Church voted with a strong majority of 85% to dissolve its charter and become part of the Wallace Memorial Baptist family of faith through the Legacy Church Planting strategy.
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In July 2017, Wallace voted unanimously to name Dr. John Green IV as the fourth Lead Pastor in the history of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church.
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On June 25, 2023, after a 6 month trial period, Riverview Baptist Church voted to dissolve its charter and become the next campus of the Wallace Memorial Baptist family of faith through the Legacy Church Planting strategy.​
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On June 30, 2024, a special business meeting was called to establish a fourth campus in South Knoxville using the church plant methodology.
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LEADERSHIP
Matt Crabtree
Campus Pastor | SoKno City Church
​Matt and his wife, Sarah Beth, are excited about responding to the Lord's call on their family's life to transition to this new opportunity in South Knoxville. They spent the past ten years serving the student ministry at Wallace Knox, including the past seven years that Matt served as the student pastor. Sarah Beth is in her second year working as an administrator at South Doyle High School, and they both have enjoyed becoming part of Cherokee Nation. They are thrilled to continue to get learn and connect more with the South Knoxville community!