Mike Young, senior pastor of Zion Baptist Church, Brownsville, chats with attendees at the “BlueOval City Workers Appreciation Block Party.”
STANTON — Although the Ford Motor Company is slowing down its production schedule at BlueOval City, there are no plans to pump the brakes on the evangelism efforts in that region.
In fact, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and its partnering local churches say they plan to keep surging in West Tennessee, even after the Ford Company’s recent announcement that the launch of its next-generation electric truck would be delayed 18 months.
“What we plan to do as Tennessee Baptists is to step on the gas,” said Danny Sinquefield, coordinator of the TBMB’s BlueOval City Partnership.
“We’re going to continue to prepare for new church plants, and we’re going to continue to strengthen the churches that are in that impact zone that need some help,” Sinquefield said.
The Ford Company made the announcement on Aug. 21, saying that it was pushing back the target date of the launch until the back half of 2027, while citing the need to “utilize lower-cost battery technology,” and take other cost-related measures.
The delayed production schedule seems to indicate a shift in Ford’s electric vehicle strategy as the company looks for ways to cope with struggling EV sales.
However, construction has continued on the BOC campus, and it is still projected to make a major impact in Stanton and the surrounding areas. Tennessee lawmakers approved nearly $1 billion for the $5.6 billion project three years ago, when the Ford Company set an initial production-date goal of 2025.
Sinquefield, meanwhile, said the evangelistic efforts in BlueOval City have already “produced fruit” and said he believes many more “victory stories” will emerge.
The TBMB has been focused on BOC since the earliest days of the plant, quickly implementing evangelistic plans for the region when construction first started.
Block parties, joint worship services, children’s Bible clubs, youth events and a company-wide luncheon (in which TBC volunteers and TBDR teams provided a free meal to more than 1,000 construction workers) were just a few of the events that the TBMB and the BlueOval Coalition of churches hosted during the early days of development.
Since then, the TBMB and its partner TBC churches have continued to place a major emphasis on BOC, and have included the evangelism efforts as part of the organization’s Acts 2:17 Initiative long-range plans.
Sinquefield noted that the BlueOval City Initiative has been successful because of the cooperation of churches around the state, and said he is thankful for the generosity of the TBC churches in their “gifts through the corporate program and through the Golden Offering.”
Sinquefield said he was also grateful that so many TBC volunteers have given their time to “come over to West Tennessee to help us.”
Located roughly 40 miles east of Memphis, the Blue Oval City production plant will eventually cover approximately 4,100 acres and is expected to employ roughly 10,000 people when fully operational. It is estimated that the population within a 20- minute radius of Blue Oval will grow by 90,000 people within 10 years.
Sinquefield said he has been thrilled by the many victories that have already taken place as part of the BlueOval City projects, and said he is even more excited about what is in store for the future.
“(I want to say) thank you to our Tennessee Baptist churches for your cooperation, your generosity, your encouragement through all that we’re doing here in the Blue Oval City Initiative,” he said.
“We’ve got volunteer mission teams coming over pretty regularly, to do the vision tours, to come and see what what is coming, and also to come get their hands dirty in partnering together with some of the impact zone churches.”
Looking ahead, Sinquefield said, “We’re going to continue to prepare for new church plants, and we’re going to continue to strengthen the churches that are in that impact zone that need some help. We’re excited about the days ahead.” B&R
