By Lonnie Wilkey
Baptist and Reflector

HARRIMAN — When Taylor Phelps came to the pastorate of Caney Ford Baptist Church in the Midtown community of Roane County in 2014, the church had about 22 members, he recalled.

Phelps said it did not take long for him to discover that Caney Ford was known in the Midtown community as the “family chapel or family church.” 

And, for some people in the community that reputation was negative because they felt they could never be a part of the church because they had not grown up in it. [Read more…]

By Tim Ellsworth
Contributing writer, B&R

KNOXVILLE — Speakers at the 2019 Tennessee Baptist Pastors Conference held Nov. 18 at First Baptist Concord addressed the theme “Run with Endurance” as they encouraged pastors to persevere in their ministries, even in times of difficulty and struggle. 

The theme came from Hebrews 12:1-2. Scott Parkinson, lead pastor of Stevens Street Baptist Church in Cookeville and president of this year’s conference, said he hoped pastors would have a fresh encounter with God through the event and be empowered to serve Him with increasing fruitfulness. 

Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, said one of the issues that repeatedly surfaces in his conversations with Tennessee pastors is the challenge of holding onto convictions while still being compassionate in a culture that is increasingly anti-Christ. [Read more…]

Thanksgiving will be observed today in home all across Tennessee and our nation. 

For some, the main emphasis will be food and football, mixed with a little bit of family.

Christians, however, should always keep God at the forefront of all we do, including our holiday celebrations. This is especially true on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

For Christians, every day should be “Thanksgiving.” 

God has given us so many blessings; more than any of us could possibly count. Each day, we can look around and see limitless things for which we are grateful. 

So, as you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, be especially mindful to give God all the thanks and glory He deserves. Remember these words from Jesus in John 15:5: “… because you can do nothing without Me.”

Even when our circumstances in life seem unbearable, we can still give thanks because of Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving! B&R — Lonnie Wilkey

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

KNOXVILLE — Considering the negative numbers and troubling trends that are prevalent in today’s church culture, the challenge of “winning Tennessee for Christ” seems incredibly daunting, perhaps even impossible. 

Hollie Miller sees it differently. 

Preaching the convention sermon at the 145th annual meeting of Tennessee Baptists, Miller, a retired pastor and former TBC president, said he is confident that Tennessee Baptists can reach their No. 1 objective of seeing at least 50,000 Tennesseans annually saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship by 2024.  [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Baptists overwhelmingly adopted a resolution denouncing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and intersectionality during their 145th annual meeting Nov. 19-20 in Knoxville.

Messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention acted on the resolution during the final session on Nov. 20. The resolution defined CRT as “a secular worldview used by some in social sciences to analyze marginalized populations by categorizing differences among peoples, especially race and gender.” The resolution noted that intersectionality “arises from dialogue regarding CRT and focuses on the overlapping categorizations within CRT.”

The resolution presented to TBC messengers was originally written and presented by Shawn Allred, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kenton. The TBC Resolutions Committee rewrote the resolution that was presented for a vote by messengers. [Read more…]