By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Ternae “T.J.” Jordan Jr., left, recently attended a meeting at the Tennessee Baptist Con-vention’s rented office space in Brentwood with his father, Ternae Jordan Sr., center, and his brother, Jamichael. The elder Jordan is pastor of Mount Canaan Baptist Church, Chattanooga, while T.J. is his assistant pastor.

BRENTWOOD — Just looking at Ternae “T.J.” Jordan Jr., one would never suspect that that he once lay in a hospital bed with a bullet in his head, fighting for his life.

More than 23 years later, Jordan still has that bullet in his head but he has no visible scars at the bullet’s entry point.

He now serves as assistant pastor at Mount Canaan Baptist Church, Chattanooga, where his father (Ternae Jordan Sr.) is serving as pastor.

T.J. Jordan, then 15, and his sister, Dejuan, were sitting in a local YMCA (in Indiana where his father was serving as pastor at the time) after taking piano lessons, waiting to be picked up by their mother, when he was hit by a stray bullet fired during a fight outside the facility. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Pastor Robbie Carty of Sunset Village Baptist Church, Bristol, stands beside the church’s Community Prayer Box which has helped connect the church to local residents.

BRISTOL — Robbie Carty is living proof that patience pays off.

When he became pastor of Sunset Village Baptist Church, Bristol, seven years ago he readily admits the congregation “was stuck in a rut.”

Members of Sunset Village did not want to change, he observed. They were content with maintaining the “status quo,” Carty related.

“It took me six years to get them to realize that change is going to happen — not by our accord but by God’s accord,” said Carty, a bivocational pastor. [Read more…]

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

During the final service of Bordeaux Baptist Church, Bordeaux, which is located in metropolitan Nashville, Bobby Hatfield, left, a leader of the church, acknowledges Dwayne Lewis, who will lead the new church located there, New Season Church.
— Photo by Debbie Hatfield

BORDEAUX — Bobby Hatfield admits he was the “hold out” in the group of the 14 remaining members of Bordeaux Baptist Church here in metropolitan Nashville.

“I’ve been the hold out. I was committed to doing everything we can to keep the church open. …”

“This is home church for us. … It was family,” he explained, noting that he and his family had been active members for 18 years. In fact Hatfield was saved and baptized at Bordeaux Baptist at age 10 after which he was away for some years.

However, recently Hatfield admitted to the rest of the congregation that he too had to consider a change. Amazingly, the next day, he received a call from Rusty Sumrall, director of missions, Nashville Baptist Association, asking if Bordeaux would consider some arrangement to help a black congregation needing some meeting space. Sumrall had been working with Bordeaux Baptist for about five years. [Read more…]

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — The Tennessee Baptist Convention’s new Church Support Center is well on its way to becoming reality.

Construction on the Church Support Center began soon after ground was broken on April 23 for the new facility, located just south of Franklin off I-65 on a former farm owned by the Berry family of Franklin for about 100 years. [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

Dale Lusk, right, baptizes Anthony (last name withheld) during a service at Swannsylvania Baptist Church, Dandridge. Volunteers from Swannsylvania and New Market Baptist Church, New Market, invest more than 180 hours per month ministering to boys detained for various crimes. More than 30 boys have been baptized in three years and more are scheduled for baptism this fall. Assisting is prison team member Lonnie Cloninger, also from Swannsylvania Baptist.
— Photo by David LaMar

DANDRIDGE — It is a familiar routine. First there is the sizzling sound of an obnoxious buzzer, then the sudden firing of a heavy deadbolt that unlocks the gray steel door separating freedom from incarceration. The closing slam reverberates down the gray cinderblock hall sending an authoritative reminder that freedom is not an option. Freedom was forfeited three felonies ago.

Buzz. Fire. Open. Slam.

Buzz. Fire. Open. Slam.

All day. Buzz. Fire. Open. Slam.

The blast of the buzzer has no effect on Dale Lusk, however. He doesn’t even flinch at its sound. The process is routine after hundreds of visits. Lusk’s focus lies beyond the door. Like the certainty of God’s own mercy, he knows there is a boy waiting for him to enter a world secured by the looping coils of concertina wire. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Robby Cardwell stands in front of his merchandise at his booth in Clarkrange held in conjunction with the 127 Yard Sale. For the past three years Cardwell has preached a message for vendors and others at a special Sunday church service on site.
— Photo by Lexi Cardwell

CLARKRANGE — When it comes to sharing the love of Jesus Christ in the marketplace, Robby Cardwell has done it — literally.

What’s more, he has done it in one of the largest marketplaces in the nation (and maybe the world) — the (Highway) 127 Yard Sale.

The 127 Yard Sale is billed as “The World’s Longest Yard Sale” (according to its own website). The yard sale is 690 miles long and spans six states, starting in Addison, Mich., and ending in Gadsden, Ala. [Read more…]