Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, addresses pastors at a regional Blue Oval City informational meeting.

BROWNSVILLE — Ben Cowell stood before nearly 80 of his peers and offered a testimony to the power of prayer and the emerging opportunity Tennessee Baptists have to reach the nations for Christ. 

“Our church has been praying that God would do something through us in relation to Blue Oval City,” said the pastor of Brownsville Baptist Church. “Then I met a man visiting our church who was from Michigan, and he said that when he woke up that morning he felt God was telling him he needed to be in church. He said he opened his app looking for a church and Brownsville Baptist popped up so this is where he came.”

Cowell’s story wasn’t unique among the nearly 80 pastors who gathered Wednesday at Brownsville Baptist Church for a regional Blue Oval City informational meeting. Several pastors offered testimonies of encounters they’ve had with people who have already moved to the area near Stanton where Ford Motor Company is building the largest automotive production plant in the United States and one of the largest in the world.  [Read more…]

Pastor Paul Gunn, right, and Terry Hudgins, world outreach pastor, stand outside the facilities of Tusculum Hills Baptist Church in Nashville. The church is not only home to its own congregation, but also shares its space with six ethnic congregations on Sundays.

NASHVILLE — Nolensville Road in south Nashville is a busy four-lane highway. Along with fast-food restaurants, medical clinics, fitness centers, and pawn shops, the highway is also lined with aging strip malls that include Hispanic, South Asian, and Middle Eastern restaurants, a large stand-alone “world” market, and several stand-alone ethnic worship centers.

Dubbed the “international corridor of Nashville” in a 2014 article on immigration, this section of Nolensville Road is surrounded by neighborhoods with single-family homes — two- and three-bedroom ranchers dating back to the 1950s — and newer multi-family condominiums and apartments. 

The nationalities within these neighborhoods are as diverse as the merchandise found on the shelves of the world market. 

This community is also home to Tusculum Hills Baptist Church. Located on a hill overlooking Nolensville Road, Tusculum Hills is a predominantly Anglo congregation, also dating back to 1959.  [Read more…]

Union University senior Stephen Williams, left, interviews president Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver during Union’s Founders Day chapel service Feb. 3 that marked the university’s 200th birthday. — Photo by Suzanne Rhodes

JACKSON — Union University turned 200 years old Feb. 3 with a special chapel service, bicentennial birthday party, a documentary release and more. The celebration began in the G.M. Savage Memorial Chapel with a chapel service featuring interviews from each living Union president.

David Dockery, president of Union from 1996-2014, began the bicentennial chapel service by wishing Union a happy 200th birthday and celebrating the university’s Christ-centered convictions. 

He joined Tim Ellsworth, associate vice president for university communications, through a video interview. 

“The university has rallied for almost three decades now around some core values that hold the institution together — excellence-driven, Christ-centered, people-focused and future-directed,” Dockery said.  [Read more…]

A record attendance of more than 300 people, including 146 couples, attended the annual Bivocational Ministers and Wives Retreat Jan. 26-28 in Pigeon Forge. Leading one of the worship sessions is Danny Sinquefield, Harvest 1 team leader for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. — Photos by Lonnie Wilkey

PIGEON FORGE — In 1996, the first retreat for bivocational ministers and wives was held at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, drawing about 20 couples.

Twenty-seven years later, the Bivocational Ministers and Wives Retreat, now held annually in Pigeon Forge, drew a record attendance of more than 300 people, including 146 couples.

The registration included more first-time participants than ever before, said Roger Britton, bivocational ministries specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

The 2023 retreat stood out as one of the “best” on record, Britton said. 

“We had several pastors and wives considering resignation, separation and even divorce, but God provided what was needed to revive marriages, encourage couples and strengthen relationships for each pastor and wife to return to the church field refreshed and excited about their God-called ministries.”

 Britton related that several bivocational pastors and their wives had the opportunity to share Jesus with a lady working at Music Road Resort and the lady (Ann) accepted Jesus as her Savior on Friday night in the lobby of the hotel. [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — After hearing news that cyber criminals recently stole almost $800,000 from a church in North Carolina, many congregations are asking themselves an important question: Are we at risk, too?   

And the answer, in most cases, is “yes.” 

“Churches are a very attractive target for hackers,” said Doug Finch, technology services manager for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “Most churches do not have an IT department and typically have weak security and/or non-existent policies in place to protect the network.” 

Finch and his team take a multi-faceted approach to cyber security at the TBMB, and it is his hope that churches in Tennessee — and around the nation — will soon begin to implement similar protection policies and procedures.

“The reality of the situation is that these cyber scams are a big business,” said Finch. “And cyber criminals are no different from regular criminals in that they look for the easiest targets.”  [Read more…]

Emma Sparks, of Ashland, Ky., drove two and a half hours with five of her friends to be a part of history at Asbury University on Monday. The high school senior said, “This is once in a lifetime. You don’t see things like this every day.” Sparks encouraged others to “go and feel the Spirit for yourself.” — Photo from Kentucky Today / Robin Cornetet

FRANKLIN — Tennessee ministers John Green and Noah Leighton each decided they didn’t want to just rejoice from afar about what was happening at Asbury University.

They wanted to be in on it.  

Almost immediately after learning about the perpetual revival service that is taking place on the Asbury campus, Green, pastor of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, and Leighton, student pastor at First Baptist Church, Goodlettsville, began making plans to travel to Wilmore, Ky., to see for themselves.

The revival at Asbury started as a “typical” Wednesday night chapel service (on the night of Feb. 8), then evolved into a continuous movement of prayer, worship, emotion and fellowship. As of Feb. 20, the revival was still ongoing — uninterrupted — on the campus. 

“As soon as I started reading about it on Sunday morning (Feb. 12), I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to go,’” Green told the Baptist and Reflector. “I wanted to be there.”

After the Sunday services had finished at Wallace Memorial, Green made the trip to Wilmore with his friend Jared Ferguson. Once they arrived, they were amazed at what they saw.  [Read more…]

A team of eight from Carson-Newman University traveled to Denver in December to serve those in the area. Pictured, from left, front row, are: Kirby Logan, Keaton Hubbs, Kara Eldin; second row, Will Kolb, Brett Durfee, Emmy Benton, Chris Milligan and Morgan Webb.

JEFFERSON CITY — Life changing.

That’s how Carson-Newman University senior Keaton Hubbs describes her recent mission trip to Denver, Colo., with six other Carson-Newman students.

The December trip allowed the group to work with unhoused and refugee communities, as well as receive poverty relief training from North American Mission Board’s GenSend missionaries.

GenSend gives college-age students a chance to be on mission within one of the North American Mission Board’s Send Cities. The Tennessee Baptist Convention currently is in partnership with Send Denver.

Though it was not Hubbs’ first trip to the Mile High City, it was no less impactful.  [Read more…]

Ted Taylor and his wife, Wilda.

HARRIMAN — Ted Taylor was a relatively new member of Trenton Street Baptist Church in 1972 when his pastor, John Shepherd, called him and asked if he could use his talents to design the bulletin and church newsletter due to the absence of the church secretary.

Taylor, who has a degree in commercial art, went to the church from his office at The Harriman Record where he served as advertising director and got the job done.

The secretary was unable to return to work due to a pregnancy, so Taylor worked on the bulletin and newsletter for the remainder of the year from his office at the newspaper.

In January of 1973, the church called Taylor to serve as a full-time staff member.  [Read more…]