Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF ‘THE SOIL’

By Johnnie C. Godwin
Contributing columnist, B&R

Johnnie Godwin

A city pastor in a country church. After feeling called to preach and being in my early years of preparation, I was led to pastor a country church. I was a city boy and had never spent much time on a farm. That became evident as I got oriented to pastoring a country church. There were no signs to tell what time church started.

On the first Sunday, toward evening in Daylight Saving Time, I asked a group of the men talking outside what time church would start. They all laughed. Then the chairman of deacons said, “It starts about dark-thirty.”

I had lived by a clock and deadlines all of my life, so I wasn’t prepared for a clock-less Sunday starting time. The farmers explained to me that the cows couldn’t tell the difference in Daylight Saving Time or Standard Time. They just needed to be milked when they were full of milk. I soon adjusted to life by the sun and not a clock. [Read more…]

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WE MUST KEEPING TELLING THE MESSAGE

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Lonnie Wilkey

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” It’s an upbeat, simple song that proclaims a timeless truth: “Go, tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere. Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.”

In today’s world, it is more imperative than ever before that we keep proclaiming the news of the birth of Jesus Christ and what that means to a lost world.

As Christmas approaches in just a few days, it is a reminder that another year has come and gone.

Like the past two years, 2022 had its share of highs and lows. The economy has gone south and it is taking a toll on many families, not only in our churches and communities but all over the world.  [Read more…]

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CHILDREN: AN IGNORED GROUP IN WORSHIP?

By Ray Van Neste
Dean and professor of biblical studies, Union University, Jackson

Week in and week out, the same group of unconverted people come to our worship services — and we practically ignore them. We’d never treat first-time visitors like this, and if we ever heard that they felt ignored, we’d certainly respond quickly to go out of our way to make them feel at home.

But this group? We basically ignore them. If you haven’t realized already, I’m talking about the children in our gatherings. Even in thoughtful, biblically sound churches, you can hear months of sermons without a word spoken to them.

Don’t assume children can’t or won’t listen. Many things will escape them, but they understand more than we give them credit for. 

Surely, anyone who has raised children has learned this. But for some reason, in church, we’re training them to think they don’t need to listen — that what the adults are doing is simply not for them. I know we don’t mean to do this, but when, week after week, we never directly speak to them, I can’t say I blame them. [Read more…]

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KIRKLAND RECEIVES PAUL B. CLARK MUSIC AWARD

By Baptist and Reflector

Martha H. Kirkland was announced Nov. 14 as the third recipient of the Paul B. Clark Church Music Ministry Award. With her, from left, are Jeremy O’Neal, worship pastor at First Baptist Church, Paris, and president of the Tennessee Baptist Church Music Conference; Joe Fitzpatrick, worship and music pastor at First Baptist Church, Nashville (where Kirkland is a member); Kirkland; and Scott Shepherd, worship and music specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

CORDOVA — Longtime church music leader Martha H. Kirkland has been chosen as the third recipient of the annual Paul B. Clark Church Music Ministry Award.

The award is presented by the Tennessee Baptist Church Music Conference to recognize individuals who exemplify outstanding, courageous leadership through their commitment, influence and contributions to the ministry through music in the local church, said Scott Shepherd, worship and music specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Kirkland served as the Young Musicians choir director at First Baptist Church, Nashville, for 31 years and served in a number of church music roles at Lifeway Christian resources for 22 years.  [Read more…]

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WALLACE MEMORIAL HOSTS 5K RUN FOR MISSIONS

By Ann Lovell
Baptist and Reflector correspondent

KNOXVILLE — John Green highly recommended glow sticks and nighttime running gear for his church’s inaugural 5K Moon Run/Walk. Wallace Memorial Baptist Church, where Green is senior pastor, hosted the nighttime fun run Dec. 2 at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville.

Dubbed the Moon Run in memory of Lottie Moon, a Southern Baptist missionary to China from 1873 to 1912, proceeds from the event will raise funds for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which supports missionaries sent through the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. 

While the event is named for Lottie Moon, the name of the race is also a play on words, Green said. Participants will run by moonlight along a lighted path, using glow sticks and head lamps.

Green, who had the idea for the 5K to support international missions nearly five years ago, hopes the event will engage those in the greater Knoxville community who enjoy exercise and fitness.  [Read more…]

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FERRELL STEPS DOWN AS TBC REGISTRATION SECRETARY

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Dan Ferrell, right, registered pastor James Prince of Faith Baptist Church in Loretto, and his wife, Sherry, during the recent Summit held at Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova. Ferrell is stepping down this year after serving for 30 years as registration secretary for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. — Photo by Lonnie Wilkey

FRANKLIN — When the final gavel sounded at Summit on Nov. 16, an era ended.

Dan Ferrell completed his 30th and last year as registration secretary for the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Ferrell also will conclude his service as a staff member of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board on Dec. 31. He is the second longest tenured staff member with 39 years of service, just behind Andy Gunn who has served for 40 years.

When Ferrell became registration secretary in 1992, he was elected each year. Over time, the office was incorporated into his staff responsibilities.

A native of Alexandria, Ferrell has enjoyed his tenure with the TBMB and as registration secretary. “It has been a blessing,” he affirmed. [Read more…]

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TENNESSEE MINISTERS’ WIVES CONNECT DURING SUMMIT

By Ann Lovell
Baptist and Reflector correspondent

The Ministers’ Wives gathering and luncheon was held during the Tennessee Baptist Convention’s Summit at Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, on the second day of the annual meeting. The event has become a tradition at Summit. — Photos by James Wilson

CORDOVA — The Lord’s faithfulness was the theme of the Ministers’ Wives gathering and luncheon at the annual Tennessee Baptist Mission Board Summit on Nov. 14-15 at Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova.

The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board sponsored two events for ministers’ wives. The Good Cup, a coffee and dessert fellowship on Nov. 14, promoted friendships and connections and included games and door prizes. 

The annual luncheon on Nov. 15, featured Donna Gaines of Bellevue Baptist Church as the speaker and Hannah Gafford of Faith Baptist Church, Arlington, as worship leader. 

Both annual events are designed to encourage ministers’ wives and give them opportunity to connect with other women who understand their unique situations, said Jeanne Davis, ministers’ wives specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and leader of the planning team for the event.  [Read more…]

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PRE-CHRISTMAS EVENT KEEPS FOCUS ON JESUS

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Approximately 120 ladies from mostly East Tennessee gathered Nov. 12 for “Christmas in November” held at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center in Newport. — Photos by Kevin Perrigan

NEWPORT — Debra Perrigan learned years ago that it is easy to get so caught up in getting ready for Christmas, that you can miss the true reason for the season.

As a result, Perrigan developed Christmas in November, an event for women to remind them that Jesus needs to be the focus of Christmas and to show them ways to keep Christmas from becoming too stressful.

Perrigan, food service coordinator for Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center and wife of conference center manager Kevin Perrigan, began the ministry while they were serving at a camp in Alabama.

When they moved to Carson Springs 15 years ago, she brought the concept of Christmas in November with her. [Read more…]

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WOMEN ON MISSION PROVIDE WELL IN PUERTO RICO

By Ashley Perham
Baptist and Reflector correspondent

Individuals in Puerto Rico load up water after using the well provided by a Women on Mission group at Beulah Baptist Church in Kingsport.

KINGSPORT — Touched by the story of a church in Puerto Rico that didn’t have consistent access to water, Betty Cress mobilized her Women on Mission group at Beulah Baptist Church in Kingsport to fundraise for a well in 2020.

Little did they know that in September 2022, the well would be the sole water source for a whole city and would also be the means for introducing people to the Living Water in a time of crisis.

Drilling of the well started two years ago but took longer than expected as pipes and drilling equipment had to be upgraded. At one point, Pastor Jorge Santiago of One Church Comerio (OCC) needed $6,000 more to pay the driller.

Cress reached out to the national Woman’s Missionary Union and asked if she could use some money from a Pure Water, Pure Love grant that had been awarded but not used. [Read more…]

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WHAT WILL BE OUR RESPONSE?

By Chris Turner
Communications Director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

There were a million adventures awaiting my family when we moved to England in 2009.  The first was to attend church at All Souls Church in London, the church theologian John Stott led for decades. 

We settled into our balcony seats and I said to my wife, “I wonder if we are going to hear any semblance of the gospel preached in John Stott’s church.” All Souls is a Church of England church which to a large degree lost its biblical bearings years ago. Moments after my comment, minister Rico Tice stepped to the pulpit. 

“The greatest need humanity has is to repent of its sin, confess that Jesus is Lord and submit to Him in worship.”

We evangelicals offer an “amen,” but let me ask you Paul’s question. “How will they hear without someone preaching?”

Statistically, “they” aren’t hearing because Christians aren’t “preaching.” Spiritual lethargy defines a large percentage of those sitting in Southern Baptist churches, and what is often preached from pulpits is “moralistic, therapeutic deism,” not the gospel. Theologian Michael Horton says American Evangelicals are at a point where we too often practice “Christless Christianity.” [Read more…]

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