The school was founded in 1973 by a group of ten White Southern Baptist churches in the Whitehaven section of Memphis, Tennessee, at a time when public schools were integrating Black and White students.

[6][4] In 1988, after what the school claimed was "The area was losing professionals as well as families who could afford to send their children to SBEC."

[9] Because of the urgency to start a school immediately as integration took place, in 1972 grades K-8 were initially housed in Broadway Baptist Church in Whitehaven while the high school was housed at Graceland Baptist Church.

[10] The second 36 acres (15 ha) Memphis campus,[3] located in Whitehaven at the intersection of Holmes Road and Tulane Road, was utilized from 1974 until 1988, when it was sold to the Memphis City School System to house the John P. Freeman School.

[11] A 61 acres (25 ha) property shared with Broadway Baptist in Southaven, Mississippi was purchased in 1986, and the school relocated there in September 1988 with 600 students.