May 6, 2024
STANTON, Tenn. — For Mike Young, the excitement surrounding BlueOval City can be divided into three parts: Past, present and future.
Young, senior pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Brownsville, has already seen some incredible evangelistic stories emerge during his involvement with BlueOval City — the massive Ford auto plant in Stanton — and said he can’t wait to see what God has in store for the days ahead.
“God has been at work here at ground zero of the BlueOval region since the groundbreaking,” said Young. “The churches of the Haywood Baptist Association have coalesced and worked together to seize this unique opportunity of reaching this great influx of workers that have descended on Haywood County,” he said.
The BlueOval City plant, which is expected to employ an estimated 10,000 workers when it is fully operational, is a point of evangelistic emphasis for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board as part of the Acts 2:17 Initiative.
Danny Sinquefield, Harvest Field One Team Leader for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is serving as the coordinator of the TBMB’s BlueOval City Initiative. The project aims to incorporate and empower local churches to make connections at BlueOval City, which is expected to bring a population increase of 90,000 to the area during the next 10 years.
Sinquefield said the Initiative is already having a big impact on the area.
“We are seeing more and more pastors and churches with stories of BOC workers that have come to know the Lord, been baptized, and joined some of our area churches,” Sinquefield said.
“This is really fruit from the relationships we have worked hard building through ministry and outreach events.”
The BlueOval campus is located roughly 40 miles east of Memphis and will eventually cover approximately 4,000-plus acres.
Here’s a look at just a few of the stories that have developed in the past few months from the BlueOval harvest field:
Pastor Mike Melton said the congregation at Charleston Baptist Church — located about 10 miles from the BlueOval plant — has enthusiastically embraced the mission opportunities, and the challenges, that have come with being involved in the BlueOval Initiative.
“It’s been exciting to be a part of such a great endeavor,” Melton said. “It has challenged our church to look beyond our walls to see the need to reach people who are moving into the area.”
In recent months, the church has seen some of the fruits of its labor. During the church’s fall revival last September, for example, a family attended a service at Charleston Baptist, and the father of the family — who works at BlueOval — received Christ and was baptized. Now, he and his family are active members and “have become a wonderful part of our church family,” said Melton.
In recent weeks, another BlueOval employee and his wife were led to the Lord at Charleston Baptist, and they, too, have now been baptized and are faithfully attending the church.
“It’s exciting to have people who work at Blue Oval coming to our church — and to watch our people embrace them,” Melton said.
Melton said the church is excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, and said they are actively seeking ways in which to connect with the BlueOval contingent.
Melton noted there is an RV park, Blue Acres, located about fives miles from Charleston Baptist. The park is home to more than a 100 RVs, mainly comprised of BlueOval employees and family members.
“We have been seeking various ways of reaching out and ministering to them,” said Melton.
Melton also noted that Charleston Baptist’s family life center has become “a base of operations for various mission teams that come to work in the area. These teams are able to stay in our FLC while they are here,” he said.
With a special emphasis on reaching the residents of the nearby RV parks, Zion Baptist has made numerous inroads with the BlueOval employees.
“Many RV parks have sprung up all across Haywood County,” said Young. “Living in these travel trailers are workers from all walks of life and from all parts of the nation and world. One missional strategy implemented by the HBA is to hold block parties. The strategy is to set up near the RV park, grill burgers and give away door prizes to draw them in.”
The church has hosted several of these “evangelistic cookouts” and has formed many new relationships as a result.
“When people come (to the block parties), we engage them in gospel conversations,” said Young. “And then we have a speaker give a very brief testimony, share the gospel, and have a time of response. The results have been incredible.”
The first block party was held on Sept. 9 of last year. During that gathering, Young was able to engage in a gospel conversation with a BlueOval worker named David Lacke, from Mobile, Ala.
“David was at the end of his rope and at the end of his marriage,” said Young. “During the course of the conversation, David indicated that he previously had never believed in God, but felt like his views had changed. He sensed that God was at work in his life.”
Young was able to pray with Lacke, and invited him to church. Just a few weeks later, Lacke attended a service at Zion Baptist, came forward at the invitation and made a public profession of faith and presented himself for baptism.
Young encouraged Lacke to invite his wife to come see him get baptized, but Lacke made it clear that she would not come, saying that the couple had already began moving forward with their divorce.
Young asked Lacke if he could call Lacke’s wife. Lacke replied that it simply wouldn’t do any good.
At that point, Young stopped and prayed with Lacke, pouring out his heart before the Lord and interceding for the couple’s marriage.
Two weeks later, Lacke showed up at church with a lady seated beside him. Young asked Lacke, “Who is your friend?” And he replied, “This is my wife!”
Young said it was an incredible story to watch. “God was at work,” Young said. “Not only did David commit his life to Christ, not only has he been delivered from substance abuse, but his marriage has been fully restored.”
Young said these are the kinds of “God stories” that he and the church have been seeing time and time again in the past year — and he said he can’t wait to see what God has next for the church.
“We have at least four or five block parties planned for the spring and more to come in the fall,” he said. “Please pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Pastor Ben Cowell, at Brownsville Baptist Church, said he has seen the Lord moving in a special way since 2022, when he and his family answered the call to move to the Stanton area to be part of the BlueOval Initiative.
“Part of the consistent joy my family and I are experiencing from serving the Lord in Haywood County is seeing God’s providential hand at work on a daily basis,” he said. “There are several Kingdom opportunities around every corner that only God could orchestrate. In many ways, we can easily see how God has been at work here long before He called us to come and serve.”
Cowell said he has seen the doors opened for ministry in miraculous fashion during the past year. One of his favorite stories, he said, involved a man named Chance.
“We connected with Chance during a block party event that BBC hosted at a local RV park,” Cowell said. “During this outreach effort (in July of 2023), we brought the RV tenants welcome bags filled with coupons to local restaurants and information about the city and our church.”
Cowell said Chance was among those tenants that the church attempted to connect with. Although Chance didn’t attend the block party, God was still at work in Chance’s life, Cowell said.
“During the next several weeks, Chance experienced various waves of disappointment and pain,” said Cowell. “One particular Saturday evening, Chance found himself enveloped in the darkness of despair; and in that hour he looked up and saw the welcome bag from our church.”
After examining the contents of the bag, Chance made the decision to attend a service at Brownsville Baptist the next morning. He came again the following Wednesday, and one of the Brownsville deacons shared the gospel with him.
The following day, while reading the Bible at his home, Chance prayed the sinners’ prayer and committed his life to following Jesus.
“He came forward that following Sunday with a smile on his face to tell me how the Lord had saved him,” said Cowell. “Needless to say, he was excited to schedule his baptism as soon as possible (which ended up being the following Sunday). Ever since then, Chance has been growing in his faith and the joy of the Lord permeates from his whole countenance. Moreover, Chance is always excited to tell me how he uses his position to share Jesus with his fellow Blue Oval City coworkers when they ask him why he ‘seems happier these days.’ ”
Cowell said Brownsville will keep the RV park block parties as a high priority. However, he said, there are also massive ministry needs that preexist Blue Oval City outreach.
“As a church, Brownsville Baptist has a convictional burden to be just as intentional regarding community ministry efforts to our existing neighbors as we are with those who have (and will) come because of BOC,” he said. “And as Brownsville Baptist Church begins to make preparations for our Bicentennial in 2025, we are making community ministry a priority focus for celebrating the Lord’s sustaining the mission and ministry of BBC for 200 years.”
