Danny Sinquefield, Harvest Field One Team Leader and the coordinator of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s BlueOval City Initiative, left, is joined on stage at this year’s Summit by Jay Stephenson and Nick Glenn, who both pastor new church plants in the BlueOval City area.
MURFREESBORO — For more than a year, Danny Sinquefield has been beating the drum for the BlueOval City Initiative.
At the 2024 Summit, Sinquefield was joined by some other “percussionists.”
Taking the stage for a panel discussion during the Tuesday afternoon session of this year’s annual meeting, Sinquefield, the coordinator of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s BlueOval Initiative, was accompanied by two Tennessee pastors — Jay Stephenson and Nick Glenn — who have planted new churches in West Tennessee as part of the TBMB’s evangelism efforts in that region.
The three men shared some the “God stories” that are developing on a near daily basis in the Stanton area, where the Ford Motor Company is constructing BlueOval City, a massive auto plant that is expected to employ 8,000 workers when fully operational.
Sharing the gospel and impacting lives in BlueOval City is a top priorioty in the TBMB’s Acts 2:17 Initiative.
“We continue to be excited and grateful for all the work and the partnerships that are happening in the West part of the state through the BlueOval Initiative,” Sinquefield told the 1,000-plus messengers who gathered for this year’s meeting.
“We are currently still ministering to thousands of workers who are constructing the plant. Our churches in West Tennessee, and all across the state, have really engaged these workers — and we have seen so many come to Christ. It’s such an exciting thing to see.”
“God is at work,” Sinquefield added, “and we are grateful for this privilege.”
Sinquefield then passed the microphone to Stephenson and Glenn, who each shared updates on their personal journeys.
Stephenson is pastoring one of the new church plants — Manor Community Church in Gallaway — and said these are indeed exciting times in West Tennessee.
Stephenson, who previously served on staff at Bellevue for 12 years, said when he first heard that the TBC was looking to plant 40 new churches in the BlueOval area, the Lord “really got a hold of my heart.”
Soon, he felt called to join the BOC evangelism movement.
Stephenson said he and his wife “wanted to be faithful” and wanted to use their abilities to help the Initiative.
“We began to meet with some great churches from all across the state — from Collierville First Baptist to First Baptist Covington to First Baptist Hendersonville — and so many others that wanted to see God do something in this area,” he said.
As part of the Initiative, the TBMB purchased some property, including a former wedding chapel, in Gallaway. The property happened to be located only two miles from Stephenson’s house.
At that point, Stephenson said he knew what he needed to do.
In the days that followed, Manor Community Church began to take shape. The church developed a core team, and partnered with Fayette Baptist Association (led by director of missions Gregg Hauss) “to figure out what our ministry would look like,” Stephenson said.
The church held its first official service in October, and Stephenson said he can hardly wait to see what God has in store in the months ahead. “It’s really just such an exciting time.”
Another story that developed from the BlueOval Initiative involved Calvary Baptist Church, where “a small band of believers from Brownsville” (as Sinquefield called them) felt compelled to do a hard thing: They decided to cease operations as a church and give their property and assets to the TBMB to be used for a new church plant.
At the time, the church had only about a dozen remaining members, most of them elderly, and the church body believed it was time, after 70 years of faithful ministry, to start a new chapter. “They wanted to see a vibrant, healthy church plant there in Haywood County that would effectively reach the community,” said Sinquefield.
Calvary Baptist Church held its final service in December of last year. At the conclusion of that service, Sinquefield was literally handed the keys to the church after he delivered the sermon.
In the weeks that followed, the church buildings were “rehabbed and refurbished,” Sinquefield said, and the BlueOval Initiative leadership team started praying for the right person to come lead the way for a new church plant.
Nick Glenn, a former pastor in the Memphis area and a member of Brown Missionary Baptist Church (which is located in Southaven, Miss., but is a TBC church), proved to be that person.
This development came as a surprise, even to Glenn. “Keep in my mind that during my days as a senior pastor, I once made the statement that planting a church was someone else’s job,” Glenn recalled with a laugh.
Not in this case.
Through a series of God-ordained events, Glenn was contacted about becoming the pastor of a new church, and he decided — after many conversations with his wife and many hours in prayer — to accept the role.
Now, just a few months later, the new church plant is off to a promising start.
The church held its “preview service” on Oct. 13 and had more than 100 attendees. The church is now meeting once a month, Glenn said, and will began meeting weekly in May of 2025.
Glenn said he knew the Lord was “in this” from the start, but said there was one moment, in particular, that “really sealed it for me.” It happened during the preview service, he said, when a senior-aged lady approached him.
Glenn said the lady told him, “I am 85 years old and I joined this church when I was eight years old.” She then paused and told Glenn, “I had to come today so I could hear the sound of children’s footsteps running down the hall in this building.”
Glenn said that was the defining moment of the entire process. “It was a great day,” he said.
Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB, noted that the BlueOval City evangelism efforts have become the model for the TBMB in terms of strategy and follow-through in other areas of the state that are also experiencing similar “population explosions.”
Davis said the TBMB’s BlueOval formula is working all over the state, helping to bring the gospel “to places where there isn’t much light.” B&R
