On December 21, 1978, James Griffin began meeting with Bill and Waunda Potter, James and Eva Basham, Benny and LaVon O’Dell, and Carol and Arlene Vaughan in the home of the Potters. This was the beginning of Sharon Baptist Church.
As a mission, it was sponsored by Vista Baptist Church. When more people were added to our numbers, Sunday services were moved to Washington Elementary School.
In March of 1979, Brother Samuel Moore was called as pastor of this mission. Sharon Baptist Church was constituted on February 17, 1980. In June of 1980, 20 acres were purchased on Black Bob Road, north of Santa Fe, as the future home of the church.
Early in 1981, the church began meeting in rented office space at 417 Rawhide Drive.
Brother Sam Moore remained as pastor until June 28, 1981. Brother Mark White was called as interim pastor on September 9, 1981, and in February of 1982, he accepted our call to be full-time pastor.
Having grown to a membership of 61 and finding the space we were using to be inadequate for our needs, we moved from Rawhide Drive to meet at the Associational Buildings on 119th Street in 1982.
In a business meeting held on May 9, 1982, a motion was made and carried that the church initiate a campaign toward debt retirement with the ultimate goal of building a church building on our land. In August, 1982, we began a “Together We Build” program.
Construction on the property on Black Bob Rd began in July of 1984 with completion and dedication taking place in 1985. During this time part of the 20 acres was sold to help reduce the debt.
A second Together We Build program was initiated in 1987 to finish the building. At this time membership was around 180.
In November of 1989 Russ Preston was called to be Senior Pastor.
In a special called business meeting on July 15, 2012, under Pastor Preston’s leadership, the name of the church was changed to The Branches.
Pastor Preston retired from The Branches on Easter Sunday of 2016, and David Manner from KNCSB became interim pastor. A search committee was formed. Sam Peluso was voted in as the new Senior Pastor and assumed the position January 1, 2017 and is currently Senior Pastor.