The synod began with six ministers in 1820 and had forty by 1919, plus ten students and candidates for ministry.
The Tennessee Synod is probably best known for producing the first English translation of the Book of Concord (the confessions of the Lutheran church), published in 1851 by the Henkel Press of New Market, Virginia.
In addition, though not widely known, the Tennessee Synod helped found Lenoir–Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, a private, four-year liberal arts college.
The first president of the university, Robert Anderson Yoder, was the Tennessee Synod's first student beneficiary of scholarship funds.
The churches were chiefly rural and small, with many just being established and built in this period.