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PRAYER GROUP HELPS PASTORS’ WIVES CONNECT

March 1, 2021

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Melody Cain (left) and Jeanne Davis, seen here together before the COVID-19 pandemic, helped start the Ministers’ Wives Prayer Group on Facebook last spring. Davis is the wife of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis, and Cain is the wife of First Baptist Church, Seymour, pastor Corey Cain.

FRANKLIN — Jeanne Davis was determined to bring pastors’ wives together. Even if they had to stay apart.

Fortunately, the internet made that possible.

Davis, the wife of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis, teamed up last spring with Melody Cain, the wife of First Baptist Church, Seymour, pastor Corey Cain, and several others to create the TBC Ministers’ Wives prayer group.

The group, which meets weekly on Facebook, has experienced continual growth since it was formed last April. It currently has about 375 members.

Davis said the group is exactly what she’d hoped it would be: a place where pastors’ wives  have an outlet to discuss their situations, to encourage each another and, most certainly, to pray for each other.   [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Pastor's wife, pastors, prayer

UNDERSTAND THE DANGER OF THE EQUALITY ACT

February 26, 2021

Editor’s Note: The following is an open correspondence to Tennessee Baptists by Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

 

Tennessee Baptists, it’s time for vigilance and action.

We stood for life and were heard just a couple of years ago when we needed to speak into prolife legislation here in Tennessee, and now we need to stand and express our voices on a national level.

The Equality Act, which is a dangerous piece of legislation that President Joe Biden and his administration set as a priority to pass within his first 100 days, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives vote and is moving to the Senate. This bill, if it becomes law, has deep and wide sweeping implications across our country. Please contact your U.S. senators AND ask them to vote NO. Also, let the White House know of your opposition to this bill. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Culture, Featured, Opinion Column Tagged With: childhood, education, Equality Act, legal, Randy C. Davis

SBC DISFELLOWSHIPS SEVIER COUNTY BAPTIST CHURCH

February 26, 2021

Compiled by B&R staff

NASHVILLE — A Southern Baptist Convention church affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the Sevier County Association of Baptists is one of four churches that have been disfellowship by the SBC Executive Committee (EC).

Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville was dropped for employing a pastor who confessed to two counts of statutory rape. Also disfellowship for affirming homosexuality were Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Ga., and St. Matthews Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. West Side Baptist Church in Sharpsville, Pa., was disfellowshipped for employing as its pastor a registered sex offender. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: SBC executive committee, sexual misconduct

ROOTED IN GALLATIN, VIRTUAL CHURCH PLANT NOW REACHING THE WORLD

February 25, 2021

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

GALLATIN — A year ago, a virtual church plant was unheard of in Tennessee Baptist life.

Now, thanks to Hispana Iglesia Bautista Gallatin, the concept is “a new tool in the toolbox,” according to William Burton, church planting specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Hispana Iglesia Bautista was birthed in September last year after Burton had preached earlier in the summer at Iglesia Bautista Hispana de Hendersonville and challenged church members not to let the pandemic keep them from doing what God called them to do. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: coronavirus, ethnic, Internet, new churches, technology

SAFETY, SECURITY AND SALVATION

February 23, 2021

Love World, Welcome House impact Knoxville, and the world, for Christ

By Trennis Henderson
WMU National Correspondent

Sunny Ikojoh, who serves as minister of hospitality for Welcome House Knoxville, came to the U.S. from Nigeria in 2015 to attend seminary. The Welcome House facility is a former missionary guest house that the ministry rents from a local church to provide short-term housing for refugees.
— WMU photos by Pam Henderson

KNOXVILLE — How can the crisis of an Iraqi refugee family’s house fire help churches engage young women in missions involvement amid their busy 21st century lives?

Several congregations in the Knoxville area are discovering the answer through hands-on interaction with such ministry groups as Love World, Welcome House Knoxville and Knoxville Internationals Network.

Kimberly Poore is a member of the Love World team at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville. The missions group, which launched in 2019, is geared toward young women age 25 to 40. She said the leadership team seeks “to educate and also provide mission opportunities for other Wallace women within our church.”

Love World’s missions focus includes ministering alongside Welcome House Knoxville, a nonprofit ministry that provides temporary housing for immigrant and refugee families in the Knoxville area. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: missions, refugees, WMU, Woman's Missionary Union

EQUIPPED AND ENCOURAGED FOR FAITHFUL SERVICE

February 18, 2021

By Charles A. Fowler
President, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City

During these days of COVID-19, it seems that every task leaders perform takes longer, is more complex, and draws more criticism than appreciation. Consequently, many pastors and leaders of Christian ministries are discouraged, frustrated and even depressed. These are difficult days for all of us. None seem to be immune to the multitude of challenges resulting from this season of pandemic.

Like any other day, it is wise for us to look to Scripture for instruction. Having done this recently, I found my heart encouraged and my resolve for ministry strengthened. Allow me to share some insights related to Joshua 1:1-9. 

In verses 1-2, Scripture reminds us that God’s call is for Christian leaders who shepherd God’s people. God’s call is specific, personal, and timely. He clearly ordered Joshua’s steps and established him as the next leader of Israel. 

Thankfully, the Scriptures record much of Joshua’s life and leadership prior to his call to lead Israel. When we consider his life, we see several ways that God equipped Joshua for leadership. Here are at least four episodes in Joshua’s life where his leadership lessons were clearly foundational to his success as a future leader. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, Opinion Column Tagged With: bible, Charles Fowler, Encouragement

LONG DAYS FOR LEADERS

February 17, 2021

Pastors express ‘decision fatigue’ and ‘ministerial frustration’ as COVID-19 pandemic lingers

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Members listen to Pastor Richard Bray’s sermon via an FM transmitter while sitting in their cars in the parking lot of Rock Hill Baptist Church in Lexington, Tenn., in April 2020.

LEXINGTON — For the second time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Rock Hill Baptist Church in rural west Tennessee was resuming onsite worship. Then, Pastor Richard Bray was exposed to the virus and the church had to transition once again to remote worship while Bray waited weeks for his test results.

Bray became a one-man worship service team – preaching, leading music with his guitar, recording the service on his phone, handling the sound equipment, broadcasting the service via an FM transmitter to worshipers who listened in their cars in the parking lot, and uploading videos to YouTube, Facebook and the church website after service ended. That was his routine from mid-July to mid-September.

“I think I was tired, just physically and mentally,” Bray said months later. “Tired of dealing with all the issues, the stress of COVID, the stress of trying to do the right thing, the stress of the church members who see things differently than you do. It does take its toll.”

Joe Wright addresses the struggles of many pastors as executive director of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network designed to serve about 83 percent of Southern Baptist churches. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, SBC Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, pastor care, Pastor fatigue

UNION’S CLASS OF 2020 PLACEMENT RATE AT 98 PERCENT DESPITE DIFFICULT YEAR

February 16, 2021

Union University news office

JACKSON — Ninety-eight percent of Union University’s class of 2020 were employed or enrolled in graduate school within six months of receiving their degree, according to an “Undergraduate First-Destination Survey” conducted by the Vocation Center for Life Calling and Career.

The placement rate for Union’s class of 2019 was also 98 percent. For the classes of 2018 and 2017, placement rates were 95 percent, and in 2016 it was 91 percent. 

These studies were conducted in compliance with standards of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Union’s 98 percent placement rate is about 12 points above NACE’s national placement rate average of 85.7 percent in 2018 (the most recent available data).

“The year 2020 has been an unusual and difficult year for everyone, but with 98 percent of the class finding placement within six months of graduation, our May 2020 graduates have shown an incredible resilience and persistence as they were sent out into a challenging economy and shifting work force,” said Alex Huguenard, director of the Vocation Center.  [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Union University, Union University’s class of 2020, Union's placement rate

CHURCHES TURNING TO ‘ONLINE PASTORS’ TO FOSTER COMMUNITY DURING PANDEMIC

February 15, 2021

By Scott Barkley
Baptist Press

A volunteer at Long Hollow Baptist Church talks with others over Zoom during its prayer service Jan. 19. Church leaders say technology has played a key role during the revival the church has experienced over the last month, allowing many to take part from long distances as well as become part of Long Hollow’s discipleship process afterwards.

HENDERSONVILLE — Since Long Hollow Baptist Church began experiencing what pastor Robby Gallaty calls “a genuine move of God” last month, roughly 300 people have traveled to its Tennessee campus from all over the country to be baptized.

One group came forward – some scheduled, others spontaneously – at the church’s first Tuesday prayer service on Jan. 19, which lasted more than two hours. Twenty-two more were signed up for baptism for a Sunday in late January, the first time Long Hollow will have worshiped in person in a month.

The path for many didn’t originate in north Tennessee. Like an overwhelming number of churches, Long Hollow has increased its online capabilities over the last year due to COVID-19. During its current revival, baptismal candidates have included brothers – one in Montana, the other in North Carolina; a woman who drove from Tampa, Fla.; a man from Memphis; and a couple who traveled 100 miles from Kentucky. One man who lived down the street from Gallaty when the two were children started watching online and drove to Hendersonville from New Orleans to be baptized. In another instance, a former Satan worshiper brought his friend, who soon joined that label of “former” Satan worshipper. All became familiar with Long Hollow initially through a screen.

“It’s a new day for technology and we’re trying to figure out how to use it for God’s glory,” Gallaty said. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, Online church, Virtual church

CHURCH DISPLAYS TRUE ‘GIVING SPIRIT’

February 12, 2021

Despite pandemic, Hilldale Baptist surpasses budget, mission goals

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

CLARKSVILLE — “In good times and in bad; in sickness and in health.”

Those words, commonly heard at weddings, also describe the commitment displayed by the members of Hilldale Baptist Church, Clarksville, in 2020.  

Amid all the devastating details of last year, including economic hardships brought on by the pandemic, Hilldale had a record setting year in giving. The church not only surpassed its overall budget, but also reached its goals for the Cooperative Program and the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions. 

“It’s easy to see that God did a miracle in our midst,” said pastor Larry Robertson. “I’m so proud of our church family for a job well done, and for their willingness to let God use them in this way.”

The church exceeded its $3.1 million budget by more than $73,000, in addition to designated giving. This display of generosity would be noteworthy for any year, but it was especially impressive during a year that featured so many adjustments.  [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: Cooperative Program, giving, Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions, Hilldale Baptist Church, Larry Robertson

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Recent Posts

  • CAMP CARSON (CARSON SPRINGS) IS A BETHEL
  • C-N SENDS MESSAGES OF HOPE TO STUDENTS, PARENTS
  • PRAYER GROUP HELPS PASTORS’ WIVES CONNECT
  • MAR. 7: NEIGHBORS?
  • MAR. 7: THE NATURE OF GOD

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abortion baptisms Baptist Collegiate Ministries Bible: Acts Bible: Luke Bible: Matthew Bible: Psalms Carson-Newman University childhood Christmas church revitalization Cooperative Program coronavirus COVID-19 Disaster Relief education ERLC evangelism family Five Objectives Golden Offering homosexuality IMB international LifeWay Lonnie Wilkey Lottie Moon missions money NAMB pastors prayer racial reconciliation Radio B&R Randy C. Davis SBC SBC annual meeting sports Summit TenneScene Union University volunteers WMU Woman's Missionary Union youth

Recent Posts

  • CAMP CARSON (CARSON SPRINGS) IS A BETHEL
  • C-N SENDS MESSAGES OF HOPE TO STUDENTS, PARENTS
  • PRAYER GROUP HELPS PASTORS’ WIVES CONNECT
  • MAR. 7: NEIGHBORS?
  • MAR. 7: THE NATURE OF GOD
  • UNDERSTAND THE DANGER OF THE EQUALITY ACT

Tags

abortion baptisms Baptist Collegiate Ministries Bible: Acts Bible: Luke Bible: Matthew Bible: Psalms Carson-Newman University childhood Christmas church revitalization Cooperative Program coronavirus COVID-19 Disaster Relief education ERLC evangelism family Five Objectives Golden Offering homosexuality IMB international LifeWay Lonnie Wilkey Lottie Moon missions money NAMB pastors prayer racial reconciliation Radio B&R Randy C. Davis SBC SBC annual meeting sports Summit TenneScene Union University volunteers WMU Woman's Missionary Union youth

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