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NASHVILLE —State Rep. Greg Martin, R-Hixson, introduced legislation with the intent to strengthen state protections for places of religious worship, ensuring congregations across Tennessee can gather and practice their faith free from intentional obstruction, disruption or intimidation.

House Bill 2264 creates a specific state offense for deliberately interfering with lawful religious services and activities. The measure establishes a Class B misdemeanor for conduct such as trespassing, disruptive demonstrations inside a place of worship or other intentional acts that disturb or obstruct the order and solemnity of a religious gathering.

The bill is designed to give state and local law enforcement clear authority to respond when religious services are intentionally disrupted, while preserving individuals’ rights to lawful protest outside religious facilities. [Read more…]

Sara Richter, Kim Cruse, and Richter’s daughter, Trinity, on an Off the Grid backpacking trip in the Appalachian Mountains. — Submitted photo

WMU opens doors for missions, ministry

NASHVILLE — Sara Richter has a heart for missions, but for years, she struggled to find opportunities to serve.

After moving to the Nashville area four years ago from Seattle, Washington, Richter began attending Cedar Grove Baptist Church. There, she discovered Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union’s annual Missions Get-Together in Gatlinburg — an event that would change everything.

“I was amazed that a missions conference could be that big and so organized,” Richter said. “They had activities, different booths promoting different things, and gathered people who are like-minded and have their hearts for missions. It just changed my mindset. Being a missionary can actually be not only happy but joyful.” [Read more…]

Rusty Keltner, pastor of Porters Creek Baptist Church in Middleton, speaks to a group of students.

Pastor’s difficult decision ultimately leads to church growth

MIDDLETON — Rusty Keltner, pastor of Porters Creek Baptist Church, wasn’t the least bit angry or disappointed when the church’s board of directors voted to decrease his pay.

After all, Keltner was the one who suggested it.

The bold and unusual move came in the middle of 2024, when the church was facing some financial challenges.

“I just went to the board and said, ‘Look, the best solution is to let me be part-time here at the church and also go back into the school system,” said Keltner, who has a teaching degree. “I told them, ‘Let the school system be the ones that kind of pay my bills for one year. After that, we can come back and revaluate everything.’” [Read more…]

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JACKSON — Kevin Ward, director of missions for the Madison-Chester Crockett Association of Baptists, issued a call to Baptist churches to work together with the City of Jackson to provide warming shelters for our homeless population in response to Winter Storm Fern and other severe weather conditions.

Between 300 and 1,000 people are homeless each night in this area. Warming shelters were provided January 25-27 at First Methodist Church in downtown Jackson for women and children.

[Read more…]

The shelter hosted by Fair Haven Baptist Church in Shelbyville has about 20 beds set up in the youth center building. John Hall said they tend to have around a dozen people staying but that number increased to close to 30 during recent cold spells. — Submitted photo

Church opens shelter during dangerous temps

SHELBYVILLE  — When temperatures drop to 32 degrees or below, exposure becomes life-threatening.

Without proper layering and access to warmth for at least 20 minutes every two hours, hypothermia can kill.

So, after Shelbyville’s only warming shelter closed three years ago, John Hall felt called to act.

[Read more…]

Wayne Phillips, shown here in March 2020, returned briefly to online preaching alongside other pastors last Sunday when dangerous winter weather forced many to cancel Sunday services. – Photo courtesy of Wayne Phillips

ROCKY TOP, Tenn. (BP) – If there’s any place in the country one should be able to find a volunteer, it’s Main Street Baptist Church in Rocky Top, Tenn., just north of Knoxville.

Wayne Phillips needed one on Sunday, March 15, 2020. He was preaching for the first time without an audience and required another person in his home study. Phillips’ wife of 40 years, Joan, became that volunteer and de facto camera operator, motioning for him to speak louder on the Sunday when pastors across the country made their first steps into online church.

The weather last weekend forced Phillips and other church leaders to pivot in the same way for Sunday services. There was less fretting over the process this time around, though, as COVID had provided at least a couple of months for most, longer for others, of getting used to delivering the Gospel through a screen. [Read more…]