Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

DO SPECIAL-NEEDS FAMILIES FEEL WELCOME?

By Sandra Peoples
Disability ministry consultant • Southern Baptists of Texas Convention

Peoples

We walked up to the registration area for the children’s classes one Sunday at the church we were visiting in North Carolina while staying with family. The woman we met there asked questions to figure out where the boys should go and typed the answers into her computer.

The questions were easy to answer for our older son, but our younger son took more explanation. His birthday does not represent his developmental stage. 

It was our first time visiting a new church after James’ autism diagnosis. We didn’t know what to expect, how to prepare, or even whether we would be able to attend or if they would turn us away. The church wanted to welcome us and figure out a way to include James, but without any options for kids who didn’t fit into the usual ministry structure they were not sure how to proceed. [Read more…]

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GREER TO BE NOMINATED AS PRESIDENT-ELECT OF PASTORS CONFERENCE

By Baptist and Reflector

Greer

FRANKLIN — Sam Greer, pastor of Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga, will be nominated to serve as president-elect of the 2025 Tennessee Baptist Pastors Conference.

Chuck Herring, pastor of First Baptist Church, Collierville, announced July 24 that he would nominate Greer. 

He noted that Greer was called to preach while attending First Baptist Church, Richland, Miss., while Herring was serving as pastor.

“Over the ensuing years, I have served as his mentor. I know him well and I think he would do a great job of leading the Pastors Conference. This young man loves the church, and he is devoted to the faithful exposition of God’s Word.  [Read more…]

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TBC CP GIFTS ABOVE BUDGET

By Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches contributed $3,010,947 through the Cooperative Program in July.

For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given a total of   $26,275,764.

With three months remaining in the 2023-24, fiscal year, gifts are $246,707 or 0.9 percent above what was given after nine months last year.  [Read more…]

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JUDSON BAPTIST HOLDS VBS TRAINING IN CUBA

By Ann Lovell
Baptist and Reflector

Ariadna Torres was one of nine members of Judson Baptist Church in Nashville who helped train VBS workers in Cuba.

NASHVILLE — August will be a busy month for Cuban churches. Church leaders anticipate more than 500 churches will host Vacation Bible Schools in church buildings, backyards and homes across the island, thanks to a team from Judson Baptist Church in Nashville.

Ariadna Torres was a member of the nine-person team from Judson who traveled to Havana June 21-29 to hold VBS training there. 

The team included seven Hispanics and two Caucasian members, Torres said. 

They worked with a nonprofit ministry based in Texas who connected them with a Cuban missionary. [Read more…]

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CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF VBS

By Ann Lovell
Baptist and Reflector

Liane Keaton, center, ministry assistant and Vacation Bible School director at Sylvia Baptist Church, Dickson, stands with children who attended the church’s VBS this summer. They dressed as “100 year olds” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Vacation Bible School.

FRANKLIN — Southern Baptists are celebrating an important birthday this year, and a few Tennessee Baptist churches made the most of the occasion. 

If fun music, crafts, snacks and lots of energetic kids and adults come to your mind, you are on the right track. Lifeway’s Vacation Bible School is 100 years old this year, and according to Liane Keaton, ministry assistant and VBS director with Sylvia Baptist Church in Dickson, VBS just keeps getting better and better. 

“We asked our children to dress like 100-year-olds” on Thursday night of the church’s VBS in early June, Keaton said. “We sang happy birthday to VBS and blew noisemakers during the opening assembly (that night).” [Read more…]

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FBC HENDERSONVILLE GIVES $1M-PLUS THROUGH CP IN ONE YEAR

By The Baptist Paper

Bruce Chesser, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, left, presents with a commemorative check to Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. — Photo from The Baptist Paper

HENDERSONVILLE — First Baptist Church Hendersonville announced Sunday, Aug. 11, that it will be the first church in the state to ever give more than $1 million in one year through the Cooperative Program, to support Southern Baptist missions and ministry around the globe.

The special presentation came as the church celebrated the 15th anniversary of their pastor Bruce Chesser. The church presented a check to Randy Davis, executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, during its morning worship services.

“If you don’t know what Cooperative Program means, that’s how we support missions and evangelism and missionaries all across Tennessee and around the world,” noted Chesser, who also has served as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. “It’s what supports thousands of missionaries and their families.” [Read more…]

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VBS: EARLY REPORTS ENCOURAGING, MORE NEEDED

By Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — As summer winds down and students return to school in this month, Vicki Hulsey, childhood specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is hearing good reports from Tennessee Baptist churches regarding Vacation Bible School.

“Vacation Bible School continues to be the one week of the year that mobilizes the entire church to reach the community with the gospel, while also providing a unique discipleship experience for children and volunteers,” she added.

“I continue to receive praise reports through e-mail and Facebook from Tennessee Baptist pastors, children’s ministers, VBS directors and church members, sharing what God is doing through VBS in 2024,” she said. [Read more…]

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AUG. 18: INCLUDING

By Darrell Nimmo
Retired Tennessee pastor

Focal Passage: Acts 10:34-48 

Sunday School Lessons explore the bibleHave you ever noticed how people react to one another in large groups or crowds?  The peculiarities which become very distinguishable?  How people begin to segregate from the larger group into smaller groups of commonalities.  

Some might call what I have just described as a clique. I have always seen that term as being judgmental and a little harsh because it has always been used negatively against a group wishing to degrade someone else. 

I say this because all of us are drawn toward this natural human behavior, and most likely, have done it ourselves. We feel most comfortable when we associate ourselves with those we know who have common interests and share similar beliefs, goals, experiences and ideologies.  Most often we don’t have anything against the other people that may be present, but we like to stay in our little pond of familiarity. [Read more…]

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AUG. 18: HAMAN

By Joshua Moore
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Sharon

Focal Passages: Esther 3:1-9, 6:10-14 

Sunday School Lesson Bible Studies For LifeThis week’s lesson points to a secondary character in the book of Esther that serves as a cautionary tale.  Haman is the great villain of the story and teaches the dangers of allowing positions of power to serve one’s hubris and pride.    

Accept honors with humility.  Esther is the great narrative about how a Jewish young woman becomes queen of Persia and helps save her people from destruction.  Her uncle, Mordecai, helps and encourages her along the way.  Haman was placed by the king of Persia above all other officials, a group that included Mordecai.  Each day, as Haman was presented at court, all the officials would bow except Mordecai.  

Why did Mordecai refuse to pay homage to his superior? The clue to understand this is in Haman’s name.  He was the son of an Agagite. Agag was a dynastic, honorary title given to high-ranking Amalekites.  [Read more…]

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IN THE FRONT DOOR, OUT THE BACK

By Marissa Postell Sullivan
Writer, Lifeway Christian Resources

BRENTWOOD  — Even as the front doors of churches swing wide to welcome new faces to the congregation, the back doors creak open as others make their way out to another church.

For some, a residential move caused them to leave the church, but others simply moved to a church across town. A recent study by Lifeway Research found slightly more than half of churchgoers switch churches at least once as an adult.

Lifeway Research conducted a comprehensive study on churchgoers in the United States, focusing on reasons people change congregations. The Church Switchers Study surveyed 1,001 Protestant or non-denominational adults who attend church at least twice a month and have switched churches as adults. [Read more…]

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