By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Enjoying the setting at Linden Valley Baptist Conference Center is a group from Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Bradford. From left are Theresa Kay Stone, Annalee Bratton, Macy Johnstone, Ava Anglin, Emma Cook (standing), and Alyssa Anglin.
BRENTWOOD — Sunday, May 28, will be observed as a day of prayer for the conference centers owned and operated by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
The day of prayer is for both Linden Valley Baptist Conference Center in Linden and Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center in Newport. The theme for the day is “Pray For Them All,” taken from I Timothy 2:1, NKJV.
“We have had days of prayer for both camps from time to time,” said Tim Bearden, senior manager of the conference centers for the TBMB.
It seemed natural to call Tennessee Baptists to “pray for the kids, youth, and adults who will come our way that God will move in their lives while they’re here,” he said.
Bearden stressed that the prayer is not just for those who will be attending during the summer camp season that begins soon, but is for those who will attend anytime during the year.
“We want to ask for a movement of God,” Bearden continued. “If we plan for that to happen, the activity of God will be more expressed.”
During the April 25 meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, directors adopted a resolution establishing May 28 as a day of prayer for the centers.
The resolution notes that the conference centers have served Tennessee Baptists for almost 70 years and “continue to attract over 16,000 adults, youth, and children each year. The resolution also recognizes the conference centers “are places of spiritual significance, where many thousands of individuals have made the decision to follow Christ, committed to vocational ministry, and have been called to the foreign missions field.”
According to the resolution, more than 1,000 children and youth are expected to attend TBMB Journey and Impact camps this summer in addition to children and youth from multiple churches that will be conducting their own camps at the conference centers.
The resolution also resolves that TBMB directors ask all churches of the Tennessee Baptist Convention to:
- Pray for their sister churches and other organizations that will utilize the conference centers’ facilities over the next year, that the Lord will give to each a time of renewal, revitalization, and recommitment to the Great Commission,
- Pray specifically for the summer ministry at the conference centers, praying that God will be honored with the worship, the Bible study, the fellowship, and the recreational activities during camp, and
- Pray specifically for the boys and girls, men and women visiting the conference centers during the summer and throughout the year, that the Holy Spirit would speak clearly and distinctively to those who are yet unsaved, calling them to put their faith in Jesus Christ, be baptized, and set on the road to discipleship.
“Many of us recall the spiritually significant commitments we made for Christ in the environment of a Christian retreat center,” said Randy C. Davis, TBMB president and executive director.
“In just a few weeks, thousands of children, youth, and adults will be descending upon Carson Springs and Linden Valley, our two Tennessee Baptist conference centers. Please join me and Jeanne in bathing these camps in prayer on May 28,” Davis said.
Materials, including bulletin inserts, are available. For more information about the day of prayer, contact Bearden at tbearden@tnbaptist.org or 931-589-2622.
