Members of the Carson-Newman football team look on from the banks of Mossy Creek as freshman Gavin Stinson (center), of Winston-Salem, N.C., is baptized by Drew Eudy (left) and Marty Blakely. Stinson was one of 31 C-N football players to be baptized.

JEFFERSON CITY — In a tradition that reflects the mission of Carson-Newman University, 31 members of the University’s Eagles football team were baptized in the waters of Mossy Creek on campus. 

They were joined by other team members, coaches, University leadership and campus community who lined the banks of the creek to witness the event.

The public professions of faith were officiated by Marty Blakely, director of Lakeway’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Drew Eudy, congregation pastor at Mossy Creek Fellowship. The group marked the largest group since the tradition began several years ago.

Following the baptisms, first-year head football coach Ashley Ingram said that he wants football at Carson-Newman to be a transformative experience.  [Read more…]

Approximately 100 Tennessee BCM students and leaders recently attended Collegiate Week. Tennessee Baptist collegiate ministry specialists on the trip included Stacy Murphree, Austin Peay State University; Mark Whitt and Shelby Hall, Middle Tennessee State University; Ben Maddox, Tennessee Tech; Jeff Jones and Ashlyn Trice, University of Memphis; Grace Jones, Cleveland State Community College and Morgan Owen, University of Tennessee, Martin.

DAVIS, Okla. — Days before the start of a new school year, more than 1,730 college students and leaders gathered at Falls Creek Conference Center in Davis, Okla., to learn how to live on mission and become passionate followers of Jesus. 

Groups from across North America — including Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada — gathered with International Mission Board (IMB) and North American Mission Board (NAMB) personnel for the five-day August event that included worship, teaching and fellowship. 

State convention collegiate ministry leaders partnered to plan and produce the event, which saw its largest post-Covid attendance this year.

Pastor Arjay Gruspe, of Pawa’a Community Church in Honolulu, also serves as the state director of Next Generation Ministries for the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention and was a member of the event planning team. This year, he brought eight others from Hawaii, including four students, to “challenge them to be countercultural in the way they live and approach life on their campuses.” [Read more…]

Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers repair the roof of a church that sustained damage in Hurricane Francine. — Submitted photo / Baptist Press

MOUNT JULIET — A disaster relief team from Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, led by Steve Brock, will leave Sunday, Sept. 15, for Morgan City, La., and work next week to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Francine.

The hurricane hit the Louisiana coast in Terrebonne Parish, with Morgan City facing particularly bad damage on Sept. 11.

Baptist Press reported that thousands were without power in Louisiana on Sept. 13 and some residents face structural damage, downed trees and flooding. [Read more…]

Byron Ash, pastor of Cowpunchers Cowboy Church in Shelbyville, back row with cowboy hat, recently baptized an entire family of new believers, the Wagners. They family now regularly attends the church, driving roughly 100 miles roundtrip to be at Cowpunchers each week.

SHELBYVILLE — As pastor of a cowboy church, Byron Ash has a strict rule: No poaching allowed. 

That’s not in reference to cattle or horses, but to church members.

“If someone in our church has a friend who is already a member of another church, I tell them NOT to invite them to our place,” said Ash, pastor of Cowpunchers Cowboy Church in Shelbyville. “In fact, I get mad if they do. We’re not here to take members away from other churches. We’re not rustlers. Our goal is to reach the unchurched.” 

That simple objective is being achieved each and every Sunday at Cowpunchers, which started ten years ago with four adults and five kids in a small meeting space and has now grown into a thriving church that ranks among the top churches in the state in baptisms. Along the way, they’ve helped plant four other cowboy churches. 

“There’s no way to explain what’s happened here other than to say it’s all Him,” said Ash. “It’s not me. It’s not our staff. It’s all Him. Jesus has allowed us to be used, there’s no other way to put it.” [Read more…]

Campers at Linden Valley Conference Center take a raft ride down the Buffalo River. The two Baptist Conference Centers, Linden Valley and Carson Springs, combined to host more than 5,600 guests this summer and attendance records were broken.

FRANKLIN — More than 250 individuals accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior during summer camps held at Tennessee Baptists’ two conference centers at Carson Springs Baptist in Newport and Linden Valley in Linden.

The summer of 2024 has been the largest in attendance in Carson Springs history, affirmed Kevin Perrigan, manager of Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center.

Carson Springs reported 2,971 guests from more than 60 different churches with 106 salvation decisions from six kids camps; seven youth camps, eight college/adult groups, and a one-day event.  [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — For the sixth time in eight years, Tennessee Baptists have set a new record for giving through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions with total gifts of $3,128,219.03.

The 2023-24 GOTM fiscal year ended Aug. 31.

The total includes $2,451,737.21 in gifts from churches and $676,481.82 in Golden Opportunity Projects, a fund established this year to allow donors to give money or in-kind gifts (such as property) to specific GOTM-funded ministries. [Read more…]

Union student Henry Piercey, back left, with coworkers from the culinary department at Dollywood Splash Country.

JACKSON — Union University junior Henry Piercey completed a summer internship with YoungLife and Dollywood Splash Country in Pigeon Forge that he says was life changing.

“This summer really taught me to actually hand things over to the Lord,” Piercey said. “Truly, apart from Christ, I really can’t do anything, because I’ve tried it before. Anything I try on my own, it crumbles, ultimately.”

Piercey is a Christian ministry and missions major from Jackson and a member of West Jackson Baptist Church. He spent the summer going through “Discovery: God’s Answers to Our Deepest Questions,” a nine-week discipleship study with Union alumnus Ray Pettigrew, who serves as camp manager for discipleship focus with YoungLife. [Read more…]

Tennessee pastor Bobby Mullins was killed in a car accident Sept. 4, and his wife, Wanda, died from injuries the following day.

PIPERTON — Over the past few days, Kirk Baptist Church in Piperton, Tennessee, has had to post words they never wanted to post — that their pastor, Bobby Mullins, was killed in a car accident Sept. 4, and his wife, Wanda, died in the hospital the following day from her injuries.

But over the past few days, the congregation along with the family have also expressed other words, words they’ve heard the couple say in the past. On the latest Facebook post, person after person shared their memories of the Mullinses and their faith.

“I know when he passed thru heavens gate, in Brother Bobby’s own words: WELL GLORY!,” one poster wrote. [Read more…]