In sixty-five years of existence, Eastside Church has undergone a variety of changes—including its own name.
Founded as Eastside Baptist Church in 1961 as a mission of Marietta’s Roswell Street Baptist Church, Eastside grew into one of the biggest faith communities in East Cobb in the following decades.
It expanded its campus on Lower Roswell Road near the Marietta Parkway to include a school and a community recreation center. Banners hung high around the parking lot proclaiming “Exciting Eastside!”
In more recent years, as its attendance fell, Eastside began outreach to local Brazilian and Spanish-speaking communities, which have regular services at the church.
In the period after COVID-19, church leaders developed a 20-year plan to chart Eastside’s future, drawing from a similar roadmap from the 1980s. One particular recommendation stood out, according to executive pastor Darrell Whipple.
That was caring for senior members of the community.
Whipple said a task force was created to conduct a feasibility study “to see how the Lord would lead us,” and the results were encouraging.
What Eastside discovered was there was an acute need to accommodate elderly people who can live independently without nursing home-type care.
They conducted market research to further develop the concept, looking at new commercial senior complexes in East Cobb, and convinced church elders to make it part of Eastside’s mission.
In a recent interview with East Cobb News, Darrell Whipple, Eastside’s executive pastor, and Ray Farmer, who led Eastside’s 20-year plan, explained the senior living concept, called The Haven.
The 20-year plan includes a variety of initiatives, but the senior living proposal is a markedly different step for a faith community.
Whipple said it’s part of Eastside’s continuing mission to serve its immediate community.
“This is something that will remain with Eastside,” Whipple said, explaining that the plans call for the church to set up a 501 (c)(3) non-profit to operate The Haven.
On Tuesday, Eastside’s application to rezone some of its property from residential (what faith communities are zoned) to RSL, or residential senior living.
The church has hired noted zoning attorney Kevin Moore to make its case/
‘We want to continue to be good neighbors’
Eastside is proposing 107 senior-living units to be built on its property, mostly on parking areas that are no longer in use.
The plans call for a three-story 95-unit building next to the former community rec center, now used by Eastside Christian School and the church’s day care center, and that is acccessible via Lower Roswell.
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