McIntosh Baptist Church begins again with collaboration from sister churches

GRIFFIN, Ga. — Once a thriving fellowship northeast of Griffin, McIntosh Baptist Church had dwindled to a handful of members and faced an uncertain future. But this fall, McIntosh is coming back to life.

With help from the Flint River Baptist Association, several local congregations, and the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, the 136-year-old church has relaunched as a new work, uniting believers from across the region around a shared vision of renewal and gospel impact.

Frank Nuckolls, associational missionary for the Flint River Baptist Association, said the replant began when former pastor Kevin Murdock approached him to discuss the congregation’s needs. “Through our discussions, the idea of a church replant emerged,” Nuckolls said. “My role was to guide Kevin and the church to discern what the future of the church could be. I gave them several options, with one being a replant.”

Nuckolls connected Murdock with Thomas Hill, pastor of Crestview Baptist Church in Griffin, to pray and plan through what a replant might look like.

As the need was made known, several churches began to express an interest in helping to relaunch McIntosh Church. Nuckolls, Murdock, and Hill shared the concept of replanting a church during a meeting of interested pastors from the association. As a result, four pastors agreed to help with the church replanting.

Nuckolls called Buck Burch, Missions Catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, to ask if financial help was available for a church restart, and the association received a generous gift to help with the expenses that the relaunching of the McIntosh Church would incur.

Several churches in the Flint River Association joined hearts and hands to renovate the structure of the church. According to the Griffin Daily News, help came from as far away as Vermont as Christ Memorial Church “sent funds and 58 members to Griffin to assist, many of them youth.”

To create a critical mass, several of the churches in the association have agreed to send members to McIntosh Church to maintain an adequate number of people so that the church can successfully restart and maintain an effective ministry.

Nuckolls announced, “There is not just one church that is sending members to launch this church. There are members from several different churches that are on the core team for the replant. There are families with children who will be attending the new church.”

Daniel Sanderson, who has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and an M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was named as the new church’s pastor. Previously, Sanderson helped a local church reach university students in Singapore,  and he has served on the staff at Mount Vernon Baptist Church, where he was called upon to be a lay elder. He is married to Chelsea, and they have successfully ministered together since their marriage.

Sanderson said that support from fellow pastors and churches has been indispensable.

“McIntosh has been a member of the Flint River Baptist Association since its start, and we are so thankful for it. I have found help in knowing other pastors in the area to glean wisdom from them.”

He added, “Several of the churches in the FRBA have had me preach and have encouraged members from their churches to come to be a part of the plant team. This has been an encouragement and set us off in the right direction.”

Sanderson described the effort as a true associational partnership. “The directors of the replant are all in the FRBA,” he said. “They vetted me and our other lay elder, Reese Simmons. They’ve made the churches and community aware of the work, and they’ve met with me monthly to give feedback and advice on crucial questions. This is truly an associational church replant.”

Sanderson concluded, “We have been helped a great deal by Crestview Baptist Church in Griffin, Ga. We have even moved our church membership to Crestview as we replant McIntosh. They have involved their members and shepherded them to join or contribute to McIntosh. They faithfully communicate that the kingdom of God is bigger than any one church and that we should all celebrate when the gospel takes root to start another fellowship.”

McIntosh Baptist Church is joyfully beginning again and had a service to formally launch their church with the signing of their Constitution on Sept. 16. This date also commemorates the anniversary of the founding of the church 136 years ago in 1894. The first official worship service was held on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025.