The directors of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board unanimously approved the purchase of 14 acres with two buildings with a combined 15,100 square feet of space to be used for church planting in the area near BlueOval City during their first meeting of the year April 23 in Franklin.
Included with the purchase was 25 acres contiguous to the property given as a charitable donation. The property is located in Gallaway in Fayette County near the site of BlueOval City, the massive Ford auto plant currently under construction in Stanton. The BlueOval City plant is expected to employ an estimated 10,000 workers when it is fully operational.
RELATED: Check out more stories on BlueOval City ministry here.
The recommendation called for the purchase of 5.1 acres with the two buildings (home to Bellamia Manor, a wedding venue) for $2,400,000; the purchase of 8.9 acres of cleared land with approximately 1,200 frontage feet on Highway 70 for $945,000 and the donated 25 acres.
Board members were informed that all three plots are contiguous, but the 8.9 acres are necessary to fully utilize the donated property without significant disruption to the first plot.
They were also told the purchase will be treated as investment of the TBMB endowment pool. Income generated from leasing and/or selling the first plot to the church established on the site and by developing the other two parcels for commercial use will be returned to the pool sufficient to cover the corpus and income targets of the fund.
“We have a goal of seeing 40 churches planted near BlueOval City over the next 10 years,” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of TBMB. “We feel this will be an excellent investment opportunity while at the same time providing immediate space for a church plant,” he said.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lonnie Wilkey and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
