“Making Disciples . . . Planting Churches”—this is the North Boulevard Church of Christ mission statement. North Boulevard has long been a prominent landmark along North Rutherford Boulevard in Murfreesboro, not far from MTSU. Church members come from all over Murfreesboro and the surrounding areas to meet together and worship the Lord every Sunday morning.
The church has grown substantially over the last two decades. Its prime location and the genuine love that the church members exhibit for one another inspired the elders to undertake a new challenge. They support many missions in other parts of the world. Why not start a mission in their own backyard? Or, in this case, the other side of the city. A lot of folks in Smyrna travel across town on Sunday morning to worship. What if the growing community on the western side of Murfreesboro had their own building in which they could meet and do outreach? The elders and the church got excited about this vision and began to pray back in 2013.
The prayers of the congregation were, over time and in many stages, answered. First they were answered in the form of Glenn Robb, who came to North Boulevard from Atlanta to spearhead the church’s project for planting a “west campus.” The launch of this project began with interest meetings to explain the needs and the vision; after getting to know the church, Robb and about 100 members, who volunteered to be “local missionaries” from the east congregation, went to the Lane Agri-Park center and began to worship there. Every Sunday, beginning at 6:30 a.m., they’d put up and tear down hundreds of seats, several projectors and other equipment, and, at the conclusion of services, clean up. They even installed temporary dividers to partition off classes. These had to be put up and removed each time the church met. Soon, people in the community became interested in this “congregation.”
As it was gaining a foothold, the church really relied on its “life groups”—small groups used to create a familial environment while studying the Bible. People who came to the congregation immediately had a place to plug in outside of worship, without the intimidation of a large crowd.
“We wanted everyone on the west side of Murfreesboro to know that we were present,” Robb said during an interview with the Murfreesboro Pulse. It did not hurt that many community outreach events were held here throughout the year, hosted by North Boulevard as a whole. In the first year, before the campus construction was more than a dream, they hosted two large events: a Christmas party, dubbed “The Christmas Experience” (1,300 people in attendance); and an “Easter Experience” with egg drops, booths, and a record-breaking egg hunt (over 8,000 in attendance)—the latter turned out to be the biggest Easter party that Murfreesboro had ever experienced. In short order, families in the community got to come see what North Boulevard was all about.
The congregation’s attendance grew, and the opportunities expanded for those at the location. David Hunzicker soon joined Glenn Robb and the team of the dedicated, West Campus staff as a minister.
The congregation realized it would eventually need a fixed location. North Boulevard began looking for property in 2017, and the following year purchased the 18 acres on Burnt Knob Road, on which the West Campus building now stands.
“It’s been a blessing to have this much land, because the building is designed to easily double on the left-hand side,” Robb said. Yes, the church is already planning to double as membership grows and outreach expands. The church desired to have a welcoming, inviting environment and many visitors do, indeed, report that the building has that feeling when one first steps inside its glass doors.
When asked about the mission statement and inspiration that fueled the West Campus ministry, Robb replied: “Make disciples and plant churches, so this is one of those churches to be planted. . . . Our focus is always coming back to the concept of helping people follow Jesus, which is what making disciples means. In terms of that, we also have values that are very high that we try to embed in this campus as we’ve launched it—values of our love for Scripture, because we’re a basic church that focuses on following the Bible. We focus on Christ—high value there—and our love for other people. So out of that last one—to show our love for other people—is why, from the beginning, we wanted it to be a welcoming, inviting community of faith. And, we built in a lot of things from the earliest stage to try to put a lot of emphasis on welcoming people at the door, outside the building, inside the building, welcoming them into life groups and smaller groups, giving them a sense of community. I think that’s shown up as we’ve grown.
Even though the economic times have been challenging in the last couple years, the church managed to come up with the money necessary to begin and complete construction at the site. The building was made to be strong and sturdy, but with many supply shortages across America, it was also made very simply. The architectural design, spearheaded, again, by Robb, was meant to be “homey and open,” he told the Pulse. He even explained that before the walls were painted, many of the young people in the expansive youth group at the West Campus wrote his or her favorite verse on the wall, thereby covering the walls, literally, in God’s Word.
Robb, Hunzicker and all who have made this new outreach their personal passion project, say that it has everything to do with the power of prayer.
The first Sunday that the congregation got to meet in its new, permanent auditorium, the building was packed; membership has grown to about 550 people each Sunday.
“We can literally expand to create a mirror image of the building we have so far, giving us twice the space,” Robb said. The congregation wants to be a resource for the community, not just a place of worship on Sundays, a light in a world looking for something more out of life, with Jesus at the center of everything it does.
Some upcoming events include weekly GriefShare group meetings beginning Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and the Winterfest youth event from Feb. 16–18. For more information, visit northboulevard.com/campus-west-murfreesboro or visit the congregation at 4950 Burnt Knob Rd., Murfreesboro. Sunday worship services begin at 9 and 10:30 a.m.
