Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
FRANKLIN — Tennessee set a new record this year, and Vickie Anderson, executive director-treasurer for Tennessee WMU, couldn’t be more proud of this one.
When this year’s Christian Job Corps Scholarship/Award recipients were announced, the list included three Tennesseans, marking the first time the state has had a trio of recipients in the same year. [Read more…]
FRANKLIN — As the calendar turns over this week from July to August and the weather is still hot and humid, Beth Moore is already looking ahead to Christmas.
Or, more specifically, the Christmas Backpacks ministry, which provides backpacks filled with toys, clothing, hygiene items, food and other items to children in low-income families. It also serves as a means of outreach and evangelism for participating churches.
Moore, compassion ministry specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, has seen the enormous impact that the project has made in the lives of children around the state — and she is optimistic and enthused about this year’s event. [Read more…]
FRANKLIN — Social media no longer is confined to Generation Z, the generation born in the late 1990s or early 21st century, and it includes much more than Facebook.
What’s more, churches can no longer continue to ignore social media, says Samantha Bligh, events and social media coordinator for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
“Social media is one of those unavoidable things today with the way technology has advanced,” Bligh affirmed.
Bligh was featured recently on the “Tennessee Golden Hour,” a podcast produced by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and hosted by TBMB staff members Matt Tullos and Beth Moore. [Read more…]
Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers, from top of photo, Kenny Street, Tommy Wilson and Butch Porch, work on a clearing a tree at a resident’s home in Spring, Texas.
SPRING, Texas — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers were reminded again this week that there is strength in numbers.
Joining forces with other volunteers from several different states, a trio of teams from Tennessee was able to assist the recovery process in southeast Texas, where residents are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Beryl. The Tennessee groups included chain saw and heavy equipment teams.
Bill Lowe, disaster relief team leader for JST, arrived with his team in Spring, Texas, on Sunday, July 21, along with a team from West Tennessee, led by Butch Porch. Lowe said the teams went right to work — and there was plenty to do.
“At this location alone, there were 333 job requests,” he said. “So far, 170 of those have been completed.” [Read more…]
Wilson
BRENTWOOD — Creely Wilson, Tennessee WMU’s first state coordinator for Christian Women’s Job Corps (CWJC), died July 18. She was 92.
CWJC began in Tennessee in 1997. Soon after National WMU launched CWJC, Wilson came to the office and told the staff that Tennessee WMU needed to start this ministry, recalled Vickie Anderson, now executive director of Tennessee WMU. “Her passion for women and meeting the needs of women through CWJC was clear,” Anderson said.
She noted that Wilson made a difference by attending site coordinator training, finding a location for the first Tennessee site in Nashville (now called Begin Anew), meeting with local and state government leaders, finding teachers and volunteers, leading Bible Study, mentoring, developing a computer lab, promoting CWJC across Tennessee and teaching others to have a CWJC site. [Read more…]
We ask God to bless America. But in all seriousness, why would He?
We’ve chosen happiness over holiness, pleasure over purity, politics over prayer, and earth over heaven.
Why would God bless America?
We’ve forsaken the Golden Rule and replaced it with the rule of gold. We’ve sought power more than served people. We decry idolatry and, yet, we’ve become idolaters. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — Staff members of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board have recently developed and produced Tennessee Golden Hour (TGH), a new podcast designed to inform Tennessee Baptists on a variety of topics.
“The Tennessee Golden Hour’s purpose is to provide a weekly treasure trove of stories, ideas and tools for Tennessee Baptists,” said Matt Tullos, stewardship specialist for the TBMB and co-host of the podcast. “Our goal is to do it in an entertaining and timely way.
“Already we have a library of conversations on church planting, pastoring, LGBTQ issues, social media, crisis communications, preaching, church growth, evangelism and lots more,” he said. [Read more…]
Loneliness and isolation are endemic to the ministry. Ministry isolation and loneliness is partly self-imposed and is partly imposed by the ministry itself. Let’s examine the life of the Prophet Elijah (see I Kings 19:10). In his life and ministry we see the anatomy of loneliness and its remedies. The remedies are not secular, but biblical, spiritual, and practical.
Elijah was a nineth century prophet (870-845 B.C.). God called him to speak prophetic truth to God’s wayward people and to unjust powers. The pinnacle of Elijah’s confrontation with the kingdoms of this world can be found in 1 Kings 18 as he faced down and destroyed the false prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, which led to the humiliation of the spineless King Ahab and his ruthless wife, Queen Jezebel. [Read more…]
Resolutions committee chair Kristen Ferguson delivers part of the committee’s report to messengers at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. — Photo by Sonya Singh
INDIANAPOLIS — SBC messengers spoke to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for the first time on June 12, adopting a resolution on the topic after a sometimes-emotional floor discussion that featured messengers sharing their personal experiences with reproductive technologies.
A resolution “On the ethical realities of reproductive technologies and the dignity of the human embryo” called on Southern Baptists “to reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation especially in the number of embryos generated in the IVF process.”
IVF (a technology that combines an egg and sperm in a laboratory then implants the resulting embryo in a woman’s womb) “routinely generates more embryos than can be safely implanted,” “most often participates in the destruction of embryonic human life” and has generated 1-1.5 million unborn children currently stored in cryogenic freezers in the U.S., “with most unquestionably destined for eventual destruction,” according to the resolution. [Read more…]
Standing in front of the plaque honoring former Tennessee Baptist pastor Phil Jett at Philadelphia Church in Porto Seguro are family members, from left, David Jett, Madilyn Larson, Karen Jett, Luke Larson, Susan Jett Larson and Lyle Larson.
FRANKLIN — By any measure, the late Phil Jett, who served as pastor and later on the staff of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson for 40 years, had a highly successful ministry.
Under his leadership Englewood saw continued growth over the decades while emphasizing missions and evangelism. While pastor of Englewood, he served as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2005-06.
He also served as a trustee and later chairman of the board at Union University and is a past recipient of the university’s Robert E. Craig Service Award. [Read more…]
