Our Story
Pastor James Barker along with a devoted launch team that included friends and family started the church with $450 worth of faith in 1993. In that first location, located in Rossville, Georgia, Joyful Sound experienced some mighty moves of God.
After a year and a half at the 802 Chickamauga Avenue location, Pastor Barker and the Joyful Sound congregation were given a church building about three miles down the road in the high crime community of East Lake in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The building, located at 1614 Foust Street was home to many Baptist churches over many decades, but it became a central ministry hub to the surrounding community for the next 18-plus years.
In 1995, Joyful Sound began a ministry feeding the sick and elderly within a 20 mile radius surrounding the church. That ministry evolved into twice weekly afternoon services with hot meals for the needy and homeless of our city. In addition to the Community Outreach ministry, Joyful Sound also partnered with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank to provide emergency assistance in the form of groceries to our community.
Approximately 250,000 hot meals and countless pounds of groceries were served out of that building over our 18-plus years in the location.
While at the Foust Street location, Joyful Sound experienced growth and saw many souls come to Jesus. Two future pastors were raised up under the Joyful Sound ministry in that location as well.
One of those young men, Kevin Wallace, now pastors one of the fastest growing churches in Chattanooga, Redemption Point Church.
The rapid growth of Pastor Wallace's church paved the way for the creation of multiple campuses of the Redemption Point Church in Chattanooga, Tenn. One of those campuses, the first iteration of Redemption Point Metro, was located at 3912 4th Avenue. From there, RPC Metro branched out even further into the East Lake community.
In April 2013, RPC Metro was blessed to take over the iconic Highland Park Baptist Church campus near downtown Chattanooga. Upon receiving the Highland Park campus, Pastor Kevin gave the newly refurbished, 11,000 sq. ft. 3912 4th Ave. location to Joyful Sound.
In turn, Pastor Barker was able to offer the 1614 Foust Street location to another pastor that grew up in the Joyful Sound ministry. Pastor Jesse Hall and Fresh Word Ministries now serves at that location.
In October 2013, Joyful Sound made it's third move in 20-plus years. In the weeks since the move, Joyful Sound's membership has grown rapidly.
God's hand has been revealed throughout Joyful Sound's history in various ways. We're excited about where God is leading us!