In the heart of downtown Nashville’s trendy Gulch district, amid the sleek high-rises and bustling restaurants, a different kind of community is taking root—one conversation at a time.
Gary Morgan, 64, doesn’t look like a revolutionary. With his easy smile and unassuming manner, he blends right into the upscale urban landscape. But his approach to church planting through Story Church Nashville represents a profound shift from traditional models, especially in an area where approximately 84% of residents are unchurched.
“Downtown Nashville has about 20,000 people, and of those, around 80% don’t have a personal relationship with Christ,” Morgan explains, sitting at a corner table in a Gulch coffee shop where the baristas all know him by name. “And most of them don’t have meaningful relationships with any Christ followers. We’re trying to change that—not by building a big church, but by building real relationships.”
Morgan’s strategy, which he calls “dinner and discovery,” centers around creating spaces where believers and non-believers can share meals and explore Scripture together. Unlike traditional Bible studies, these gatherings aren’t lectures but conversations where everyone participates in discovering the meaning of biblical passages.
“We ask simple questions like ‘What stands out to you in this passage?’ or ‘Where do you see God in this Scripture?'” Morgan says. “Then we just listen. Sometimes there’s silence, and that’s okay. I do what I call the ’10-count’ in my mind before anyone speaks. It’s amazing what people will share when you create space for them.”
This patience has yielded remarkable moments. Morgan recalls one of their first dinner gatherings where a young woman volunteered to retell a biblical passage despite admitting she knew nothing about Jesus or the Bible. After she finished, the room erupted in spontaneous applause.
“I got chills all over,” Morgan remembers, his eyes brightening. “It wasn’t about how much anyone knew. It was about people engaging with God’s word in a genuine way.”
The impact of these gatherings is evident in the stories Morgan shares. Several residents who initially came just for the food have found themselves drawn into deeper conversations about faith and purpose, often rediscovering spiritual foundations they had abandoned years earlier.
Morgan sees this as the essence of disciple-making—not programs or services, but relationships where life change happens naturally. “We’re not trying to grow a big church. We’re trying to grow healthy disciples who make more disciples.”
This focus on relationships extends beyond the dinner table. Morgan and his wife spend hours each week simply walking the neighborhood, getting to know local business owners and residents. They’ve become fixtures at dog parks—a strategic choice in an area with 6,500 registered dogs among 20,000 residents.
The results aren’t measured in attendance numbers but in transformed lives. Like the restaurant owner, a non-believer who recently insisted on covering the bill for Morgan’s entire group, explaining later that their consistent kindness had made him curious about their faith.
Or the young man who, after months of attending dinners silently, spontaneously prayed for Morgan after a personal tragedy, beginning with his own tearful confession on a downtown sidewalk.
“Life change happens in the context of relationships,” Morgan emphasizes. “That’s been true my entire 40 years of ministry, but never more evidently than now.”
His vision extends beyond the Gulch. Morgan hopes to see a movement of micro-churches spreading throughout Nashville and beyond—not through programs or buildings, but through ordinary believers living intentionally.
“Jesus didn’t say build big churches. He said make disciples,” Morgan says. “And that can happen anywhere—in apartments, coffee shops, dog parks, or around dinner tables. Especially around dinner tables.”
