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FRANKLIN — Growing up, many of today’s younger women were active in their church’s mission programs.

They climbed the ladder of steps leading to accomplishments and reached the highest level in the Girl’s Auxiliary (GA) of Queen Regent. Many will say, “I learned and memorized more scripture during those days than I have learned since. I’ll never forget those verses, and they are part of my life — when I experience joy or walk through the shadows.”

But as they graduated out of GA’s and into college and adulthood, the mission organizations took second place in their life.

As young career women, wives, and mothers, they had less time for extracurricular work. Then, also, most of the Women on Mission (WMU) members in their churches were older women. One young woman said, “We were welcomed, but somehow, I just didn’t fit in.” [Read more…]

Bivo pastors, wives enjoy slower pace at three-day retreat

Attendees at the 2026 bivocational ministers and wives retreat gather around the tables inside the Music Road Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge. The three-day event, hosted by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, drew 300-plus attendees despite winter storms that hit many parts of the state before and during the retreat.

PIGEON FORGE — Despite the snow and ice created by Winter Storm Fern, more than 300 attendees enjoyed a time of warm fellowship at the annual Bivocational Ministers and Wives Retreat in Pigeon Forge on Jan. 29-31.

The retreat featured numerous keynote speakers, a wide variety of breakout sessions and plenty of intentional “down time” for pastors and their wives. The speakers and the breakout sessions focused on the theme of “battling burnout.”

Roger Britton, bivocational ministry specialist for the TBMB, said he believed each of the attendees came away from the retreat feeling renewed, relaxed and revived.

“Every year, I hear someone say, ‘This was the best retreat ever’ — and in many ways that feels true each time,” Britton said. “But as I reflect on this year, what stood out most was not that it was bigger or smoother, but that it was absolutely God-directed from start to finish. And that’s what matters most to us.” [Read more…]

TBMB-sponsored ministry takes root for inmates in Anderson Co.

Seen here are a few of the handwritten letters of thanks from some of the inmates at the Anderson County Detention Center who completed the 180 Program. The resources were provided by the TBMB through Compassion Ministries. — B&R photo

CLINTON — A team of 30 volunteers are bringing hope and transformation to inmates at the Anderson County Detention Facility.

The jail ministry started 12 years ago with just two people. Fred Owenby, who leads the volunteer group, oversees a Sunday and Monday schedule of Bible studies and faith-based curriculum designed to help incarcerated men and women turn their lives around.

“Our goal is to share Jesus,” said Owenby, an 81-year-old volunteer who has been involved in jail ministry for 16 years. “We want to help people not come back to jail.” [Read more…]

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FRANKLIN — The Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC or Convention) is dependent upon over 400 volunteers to lead and serve the Convention, its committees, and its institutions.

The TBC Committee on Boards and TBC Committee on Committees (the committees) are charged by the Convention to nominate approximately 1/3 of these volunteers each and every year. About half of that number are being nominated for a second term. That still leaves approximately 80 to 100 new volunteers that must be found each year. To accomplish this task, both committees are dependent upon recommendations that come from Baptists in the pew.

Over the last few years, the number of recommendations coming to the committees has been decreasing, causing the committees to review the process for securing recommendations and for what those recommendations should include. [Read more…]

After years of service with TBDR,  Murray and Marjorie Johnson get assistance following ‘Fern’

Longtime Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers Murray and Marjorie Johnson, were among the thousands of Tennesseans impacted by Winter Storm Fern. Fittingly, volunteers from TBDR provided help for the couple. — Photo by Elizabeth Holmes / TBDR

MOUNT JULIET — Longtime Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers Murray and Marjorie Johnson have brought the hope and love of Jesus Christ to countless victims of tragedy since they first learned of the ministry nearly 30 years ago.

They have seen the tears of joy and heard the testimonies about how what they were doing as volunteers impacted the lives of others.

Now, they can relate to it as a couple who have been ministered to by TBDR volunteers.

The Johnsons were among hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans affected by Winter Storm Fern which swept through Tennessee Jan 25-27, bringing historic amounts of ice to the state. They were without electricity for eight days. [Read more…]

Two weeks ago, Rosedale Baptist in Nashville held a volleyball match at its gymnasium — the first event sparked by the congregants themselves and a sign of the church’s revitalization efforts. – Submitted photo

With Woodmont Baptist’s help, Rosedale is blooming again

NASHVILLE  — The bells once tolled for Rosedale Baptist Church.

In its 85th year, the historic church located in Berry Hill, dwindled down to eight faithful members. It seemed destined to fade into the yellowing pages of history.

Today, those same bells ring with renewed purpose. On any given Sunday, 15 to 25 people gather to worship — many of them young families — drawn by expository teaching, fellowship, and a simple mission to keep “the main thing the main thing.”

“I just thought Mom and Dad are looking down and so happy,” said Donna Youree, whose father, Everett Hooper, pastored Rosedale from 1968 to 1990. Hooper passed away in 2012 at the age of 92. [Read more…]

SAVANNAH, Tenn. — Jerry Spencer, a Southern Baptist evangelist with deep Tennessee ties, who preached to millions across more than 50 countries and served in key denominational leadership roles for decades, died Feb. 14, 2026, in Savannah, Tenn. He was 86.

Spencer led more than 1,500 revival meetings and 100 area-wide crusades during a ministry career spanning nearly seven decades. He was born in 1939 and was raised near the Mississippi River in Osceola, Ark., where he was called to preach at age 17, answered God’s call to preach on mission fields at 26, and made his first mission trip to Brazil in 1966 where he spent six weeks and said that was when he “fell in love with overseas missions.”

“As a teenager growing up in the First Baptist Church of Osceola, Ark., I truly enjoyed singing the old songs of the faith,” Spencer is quoted as saying. “One Sunday as we sang; ‘I’ll go where you want me to go dear Lord, over mountain or plain or sea. I’ll say what you want me to say dear Lord; I’ll be what you want me to be!’ As we sang I made a commitment. ‘Lord, I’ll go, say, and be as you lead me.” [Read more…]

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After closing our doors for two Sundays due to inclement weather, churches across our community met again this past weekend for what I am sure were powerful gatherings. With so much discouraging news in our world recently, it seems to me that people are hungry for a genuine encounter with the Lord. I am praying that the churches across our nation will see an undeniable visitation from God in the days ahead. A heaven-sent revival is exactly what we need.

The cry of every human heart is to know and connect with our Creator in a meaningful way. To better understand what we should be praying for, allow me to make a distinction between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God.

The Lord’s omnipresence simply means that He is everywhere at the same time. The psalmist illustrates God’s inescapable presence: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:7-8). The problem, though, is that God can be present while we remain totally unaware that He is with us. He may be everywhere, but He works differently at given times in various places. [Read more…]