Blue Oval City Church Plant

I cannot believe this is already our third newsletter. Time is flying by! God has done some amazing things in the last few weeks, and we are so excited to share them with you.

First — we have a city!

Before I tell you where that is, let me give you a little background. Three years ago, God began stirring in my heart about church planting when I heard Danny Sinquefield share about Blue Oval City coming to West Tennessee. He explained that the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB) had assessed the number of jobs expected and believed we would need to plant around 40 new churches to minister to all the new families coming to the area.

Forty churches — wow!

Like many large projects, Blue Oval City has faced challenges and has not grown as quickly as originally anticipated. In the meantime, people have begun moving into surrounding cities and planning to commute. As a result, many nearby communities are already seeing growth and will likely continue to grow for years to come.

Because of that, our target area began to widen as we prayed about where to plant this new church. Would it be close to the Ford plant in Stanton? Nearby in Brownsville? Or in one of the larger surrounding cities? People will be commuting from Arlington, Jackson, Millington, Somerville, and more. So we kept praying, seeking the Lord, and waiting.

Then, recommendations started coming from several church-planting friends. Soon after, the TBMB also made a recommendation — and the amazing thing was that all of those recommendations pointed to the same city.

We began to believe this might be where the Lord was leading us.

We met with a couple of Christian organizations in that city, as well as the largest church in the area, to see if partnership and ministry together would be possible. Every person we met with gave us an overwhelming yes, and the Lord clearly solidified in our hearts that He had led us to the right place.

So without any more suspense…

Ready?

Drum roll please…

3… 2… 1…

The city is… Arlington, Tennessee.

We are incredibly excited and cannot wait to see what God does in the city of Arlington! The Lord has also led us to a facility there, and we are hopeful to share more details about that in the near future. We are still a ways away from officially launching and holding services, but we are definitely making progress. We are humbled by all that the Lord has done.

Second — God has provided a way for people to give.

Bellevue Baptist Church has graciously set up a giving link through their website so that anyone who wants to support the church plant can give online, and 100% of every gift goes directly to the new church. We are so grateful for the many people who have asked how they can give. We are asking the Lord to provide a salary for myself, insurance for our family, and the finances for the budget to launch the Church.

If the Lord leads you to financially support the church plant, you can give here:

CLICK HERE TO GIVE!

Third — our need for people.

We are so thankful for the nine adults and eleven children the Lord has already brought together. It is an amazing blessing! At the same time, we know it will take more people to help launch this church.

Maybe the Lord has been stirring something in your heart. Would you spend some time asking Him if He might be leading you to go with us and minister in the city of Arlington?

If you are interested, have questions, or simply want to learn more, please email me at: derekewalt@gmail.com

The picture below is our team minus Mrs. Pam Golding who was out of town the week we took it.

How You Can Pray?

We are deeply grateful for those of you who are already praying and who have committed to continue praying for us. Here are some specific ways you can pray:

  • That the Lord would lead our team to the right name for the church

  • That the Lord would give our finance committee wisdom

  • That the Lord would bring more people to help launch the church

  • That the Lord would go before us and give us favor in the city of Arlington

  • That the Lord would receive all glory and honor and that He would be high and lifted up

Thank you for praying, encouraging, and walking with us on this journey. We are so thankful for each and every one of you. We love you, and we are praying for you as well.

God bless you,

Derek Ewalt