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SHARING THE GOSPEL AT CHRISTMAS

January 9, 2018

By Michael Koontz
Pastor, Pine Ridge Baptist Church, Harriman

A few months ago, one of our deacons approached me about participating in the Oliver Springs Christmas Parade. The church had not been in a parade during his 10 years at the church. After a little research, we decided to jump in and see what God would do. Our church is in a transition period of young unchurched families coming in, and we are financially strapped right now. So, we went into this outreach with basically no budget. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Culture, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Christmas, evangelism

CHRISTMAS IN SILVER POINT MEETS NEEDS

December 27, 2017

Church provides food, shoes to underprivileged in community

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus at Christmas in Silver Point are Phoebe, left, and Winnie MacNaught.
— Photos by Lonnie Wilkey.

SILVER POINT — What began as a youth Sunday School class project 17 years ago has developed into an annual tradition at Silver Point Baptist Church, a rural congregation of about 75 people in Putnam County.

Christmas in Silver Point is now looked forward to every year by both the congregation and residents of the community, according to church leaders.

Christmas in Silver Point has continued to grow, said Pastor Tony Crow, who has been in that role for 11 years. He was a deacon and member of the church before being called as pastor. “We want to open our doors to the community and let them see Christ in us,” he said. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Christmas, Foundation, Tennessee Baptist Foundation

CHRISTMAS CAROLS: OKAY TO SKIP VERSES?

December 22, 2017

By David Roach
Baptist Press

NASHVILLE — As worship pastor Andrew Lucius selects songs for Christmas worship, he is considering specific needs in the Georgia congregation he serves. Among his conclusions: singing only the first verse of familiar carols could leave worshipers spiritually malnourished.

The widow “who’s going through the Christmas season the first time this year without her husband … needs more than the first verse of ‘Joy to the World!’” said Lucius, associate pastor of music and worship at Bull Street Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga. “She needs to sing, ‘No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.’

“When she’s feeling the power of the curse and its application in death, I want her to be singing and believing that,” Lucius said. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Culture, Featured, News, SBC Tagged With: Christmas, worship and music

HOW TO PUT A SHINE ON THE GOLDEN RULE

December 21, 2017

By Johnnie Godwin
Contributing Columnist, B&R

Dad was grateful for gifts he received and liked and he would let you know it. But Dad was never a man of pretense, and that often resulted in awkward responses he would make when he received a gift that neither suited him or pleased him. 

At Christmas or other occasions — with our family of gift-givers and receivers around — Dad often opened a gift and said aloud, “I wonder whatever made anyone think I would want one of these!” Instead of our being offended at such a response, we all learned to laugh and know it was Dad being Dad. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: Christmas, Johnnie Godwin

SYNONYMOUS: NBA TOY STORE AND DEMONBREUN

December 20, 2017

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Carolyn Demonbreun of Shelby Avenue Baptist Church welcomes shoppers to the Nashville Baptist Toy Store.
— Photo by Tammy Drolsum

NASHVILLE — When you mention the Nashville Baptist Association Toy Store, it’s hard not to think about Carolyn Demonbreun.

The NBA Toy Store has existed for 66 years and Carolyn Demonbreun has been there for 58 of those years, serving the community and sharing the love of Christ.

Demonbreun served as director of the Toy Store from 1973-97. She has been a volunteer for the last 20 years, still giving countless time to the ministry which is held at her home church, Shelby Avenue Baptist. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, Tennessee Tagged With: associations, Christmas

AN INCREDIBLE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

December 20, 2017

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Last year the Baptist and Reflector told the story of Tiffany Bowen, a pastor’s wife in West Tennessee, who was a self-described “atheist, feminist bartender.” Tiffany candidly shared her story of her journey from someone who denied God to becoming the wife of Jason Bowen, who would later become pastor of First Baptist Church, Trenton.

At the conclusion of the story, Tiffany said she was willing to share her story anywhere, anytime. “If it brings God glory, then I’m an open book,” she stated. A year later, the book is still open.  [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: Christmas, evangelism, pastors

CHRISTMAS AND GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

December 19, 2017

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Aren’t you glad it is Christmas? You can settle into your favorite chair by the fire, watch the twinkling lights on the tree, and sip hot chocolate from your favorite Christmas mug. Finally, you can breathe, just breathe, as you enjoy a quiet reflective moment in the stillness of your own home.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure you just chuckled when you read that and grunted, “Sure must be nice.” To be honest, that’s not really the way it is around my house either. For most of us, it seems life’s accelerator gets stuck to the floor the week of Thanksgiving and stays wide open until we coast into the first week of the new year, running on the fumes of exhaustion. It takes a couple weeks of January just to recover from the holidays! [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: Christmas, Randy C. Davis

PEW: CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS, BELIEFS LESS RELIGIOUS

December 15, 2017

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (BP) — Most Americans believe society is increasingly abandoning the religious aspects of Christmas, according to new Pew Research Center findings, but most Americans are not troubled by the trend.

Only 32 percent of Americans find the trend troubling, Pew found in the study released Dec. 12. While 56 percent of U.S. adults identified such a trend, a quarter of that group said the trend doesn’t bother them. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Culture, Featured, News, SBC Tagged With: Christmas, data and statistics

FIRST-PERSON: CHRISTMAS ACTS OF KINDNESS

December 13, 2017

By Anthony Jordan
Exec. Dir., Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) — While we have been seeing Christmas advertisements for weeks, the Christmas season officially began with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. The focus of Christmas for most Americans, as you are well aware, has nothing to do with Jesus’ birth. Society’s focus is about retail, and retail in a big way.

I do not intend to curse the darkness that shrouds Christmas these days; it is what it is. We can buy into the materialism or bring a modicum of restraint to our approach to the season — the choice is ours. It may not be simple to keep the joy in Christmas and a sense of peace in the midst of the retail storm, but here are some ideas:

Lead your family in giving

Anthony Jordan

Consider giving your largest priced gift to honor the One whose birthday we Christians celebrate. And make it a family affair. Bring your children alongside you in the next few days and ask them to pray with you in regard to the gift you will give to Jesus. You might even ask them to consider getting less so your family can give more.

There are several places where these gifts can be given to honor Jesus. I would suggest that one of the best places to give during the holidays is to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering through your local church. By giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, you can augment the support your church gives to international missionaries through the Cooperative Program. Your Christmas gift will help tell the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and soon return in places where the Gospel is scarce.

Help people in need.

Most churches ask their members to help provide Christmas food baskets for families in need. Let your children go to the grocery store or go through your food pantry with you as you prepare to give.

Additionally, among the many avenues of helping people during this time of year is Angel Tree. Let your children be a part of picking the toy or the gift to give. Use this time of year to teach your children that Christmas is more about giving than receiving.

Contact a nursing home near you and ask if there are any residents who have no family. Let your children make cards and small gifts to give them. Take the time to visit and let your children share their love with the elderly and give the gifts. There are probably some people in your church or down the street who would benefit from such kindness. And grandparents, you can come alongside your children and grandchildren to help relieve some of the time pressure.

Joy will fill your children’s hearts as they see the difference such small acts of kindness can mean to someone who is lonely.

Yes, I know, these acts of kindness and love will take time, which is exactly what you don’t have in the hustle and bustle of modern life. Yet, a well-spent hour or two is worth more than you can imagine to the people you bless. Greater still is the teaching opportunity you have to demonstrate tremendous lessons of the Christian faith and generous giving to your family.

As always, when you act to bless, in the end, you and your family will be blessed. When you fall into your chair on Christmas night, exhausted, and watch your children play with that popular toy, you will experience more joy over your acts of kindness than anything else done at Christmastime.

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: Christmas, Cooperative Program, family, LMCO, Lottie Moon, missions

THE ‘POST-CHRISTMAS’ QUESTION FOR CHRISTIANS

January 11, 2017

By Steve Freeman
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention

Steve Freeman

Steve Freeman

Hello Tennessee Baptists!

Another Christmas season is in the books! If your experience is anything like mine, it seems as though Christmas rolls around much faster each year and before you know it — it’s all over! The excitement and anticipation of the season is a wonderful experience … then it’s all done! Life simply returns to “normal” and the normal “everyday” routine seeps back into our lives. The “post-Christmas” question is “what are we supposed to do now?” This is why I am so thankful for the Bible because it provides for us, as God’s children, every answer to every question that we may have in our lives. This certainly includes an answer to the “post-Christmas” question!

Consider the “excitement” of the first Christmas — after the long-awaited and prophesied Messiah had been conceived in the virgin womb of His chosen mother, after Mary and Joseph had persevered through the scandalous scrutiny of “being found with Child” during their engagement, after the long-awaited and anticipated birth of their unique first-born Son, and after the appearance of the angelic hosts announcing the birth of Jesus to wise men from the East and shepherds “abiding in their fields keeping watch over their flock by night” prompting them to “go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us” (Luke 2:1-15, Matthew 2:1-2). [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: Christmas

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baptisms Baptist Collegiate Ministries Bible: Acts Bible: Matthew Bible: Psalms Carson-Newman University childhood Christmas church revitalization collegiate Cooperative Program Disaster Relief education election evangelism Five Objectives Gatlinburg fires Golden Offering homosexuality IMB international LifeWay LMCO Lonnie Wilkey Lottie Moon missions money NAMB national new churches pastors prayer racial reconciliation Randy C. Davis SBC annual meeting sports Steve Gaines Summit TenneScene transgender Union University volunteers WMU Woman's Missionary Union youth

Recent Posts

  • SYRIAN COUPLE SHARES CHRIST WITH MUSLIMS
  • HENRY MATRIARCH GOING STRONG AT AGE 100
  • AN IMPORTANT HIRE
  • LOTTIE MOON GIFTS UP 4.4 PERCENT
  • CHURCH HAS TRUST IN COOPERATIVE PROGRAM
  • ‘LORD, THERE MUST BE MORE TO IT THAN THIS!’

Tags

baptisms Baptist Collegiate Ministries Bible: Acts Bible: Matthew Bible: Psalms Carson-Newman University childhood Christmas church revitalization collegiate Cooperative Program Disaster Relief education election evangelism Five Objectives Gatlinburg fires Golden Offering homosexuality IMB international LifeWay LMCO Lonnie Wilkey Lottie Moon missions money NAMB national new churches pastors prayer racial reconciliation Randy C. Davis SBC annual meeting sports Steve Gaines Summit TenneScene transgender Union University volunteers WMU Woman's Missionary Union youth

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