Baptist and Reflector

COVINGTON — For their final chapel service of the year, Tipton Christian Academy had 15 students, from grades 3-8, baptized in the newly renovated lake baptistery at First Baptist Church, Covington, on a sunny, warm May afternoon where hundreds of their classmates and family members were in attendance. 

Most of the students prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior during school, whether it be during a chapel service or class. 

Tipton Christian Academy (TCA) is a ministry of First Baptist that began in 1979 as a preschool ministry, said pastor Cliff Marion. 

He related that in 2008, the church saw a void of Christian education in the area, and the church voted to start a school, adding one grade per year.  [Read more…]

Youth saved at All Nations Camp returns with campers from her church

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

NEWPORT — Maritza Cruz attended her first All Nations Camp in 1996 when she was 15 years old. While at camp, she made a decision that has impacted her life forever.

Cruz accepted Christ that summer while attending the camp with a group from Brownsville Baptist Church in Brownsville. She is grateful to the church which began a ministry to Hispanics shortly after her family moved to town. 

The church offered an English as a Second Language class and took Cruz and her siblings to All Nations Camp that was held that year at Linden Valley Baptist Conference Center in Linden.

She is forever indebted to then pastor Bob Connerley and the members of Brownsville Baptist. [Read more…]

Eighty-eight campers make professions of faith at ANC

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

NEWPORT — The nations came to English Mountain in Newport in early June.

More than 300 children, teenagers and adults from across the state attended the All Nations Camp (ANC) held June 6-10 at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center. The camp was sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

It is the largest attended camp since 2019, said William Burton, new churches team leader and ethnic specialist for the TBMB. The camp was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 and last year’s attendance was less than 100, far short of the record 500 who attended in 2018.

What makes All Nations Camp special is that “it is all about evangelism, worship and connecting with children and youth from our language churches,” Burton said. [Read more…]

Editor’s note: Additional information on the historic Roe v. Wade decision will be printed as it becomes available.

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist leaders have expressed their excitement over the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on June 24 to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe. v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.

By a 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court effectively ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling now gives each state the power to ban, limit or allow abortions. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts did not join the majority ruling, instead wrote a concurring opinion that he would not have overturned Wade but would have only upheld Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks.

The high court overruled the 1973 decision that struck down all state abortion bans and legalized the procedure throughout the country. The justices also invalidated the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey opinion that affirmed Roe.

The 6-3 opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a case regarding Mississippi’s prohibition of the abortion of preborn children whose gestational age is more than 15 weeks — returns policy decisions on the issue to the states and marks a long-sought-for victory for the pro-life movement. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

NEWPORT — When Steve Tiebout became the founding pastor of The River Church, a new plant in Cookeville more than 20 years ago, he never envisioned the church growing to an average attendance of 1,200 to 1,400 people in three worship services.

In his mind, the church would always stay between 200 and 300 people and when that was exceeded, the church would send out members to start another church.

“I really thought we could stay between 200 and 300 people by planting churches every two years, but it seemed like the more churches we planted, the more God sent people to us. We could not outgive God,” Tiebout said.

In 20 years the church has birthed or “adopted” 16 congregations that are still operating, Tiebout said, noting that in some instances, the church came alongside a pastor who had felt called to start a church, but did not have a sponsoring or “mother” church.  [Read more…]