Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

IMB TRUSTEES APPOINT 56 MISSIONARIES, CELEBRATE WITH MISSIONARY EMERITI

By Leslie Peacock Caldwell
IMB news office 

IMB trustee chair Chuck Pourciau (left) shakes hands with IMB president Paul Chitwood. Pourciau, lead pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church, Shreveport, Louisiana, was elected to a second consecutive one-year term as trustee chair. — IMB photo

ORLANDO — International Mission Board trustees approved 56 new fully funded missionaries for appointment during their May 18-19 meeting in Orlando, Fla. The meeting was conducted in conjunction with the Celebration of Emeriti event held every five years to recognize retiring missionaries who have completed their service with the IMB.

New missionaries approved for appointment will be recognized during a Sending Celebration on June 14 at 9:20 a.m. PDT during the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California. Each missionary is crucial to IMB’s goal to send an additional 500 missionaries by 2025. Accounting for missionaries who complete their service, approximately 400 new missionaries are needed each year to meet the strategic objective of growth in the total mission force.

The meeting was opened in prayer by trustee Nate Bishop, second vice president, from Kentucky. [Read more…]

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EXPERIENCING GOD’S SALVATION SYMPHONY

By Johnnie C. Godwin
Contributing Columnist, B&R 

Johnnie Godwin

In September 2001, I was in Moscow at the Cosmos Hotel when my phone rang at 11 p.m. Surprisingly, it was Andrei — a friend we had met in 1989. Andrei urgently wanted to meet with me before he and his family would emigrate from Russia within 48 hours. We agreed to meet in a fast-food kiosk near the hotel; and I learned of Andrei’s plans to leave Russia for other countries in the free world. They could take nothing but a small carry-on. They had a few rubles, but rubles weren’t convertible outside Russia. I offered dollars, but Andrei said customs agents would take them at the border. 

Besides freedom, Andrei needed currency that would be convertible in the free world — a currency he couldn’t get behind the Iron Curtain. Andrei had made a life-changing decision that was radical but essential for him. So we had prayer, and I figured my amen was the last we would ever see of Andrei and his family. But 31 years later, we are still in touch. And Andrei has a spiritual currency!  [Read more…]

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EVANGELIST CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF MINISTRY

By Dianne Barker
Contributing writer

Charles “Toonie” Cash

JOHNSON CITY — Tennessee evangelist Charles “Toonie” Cash recently surpassed a ministry milestone — 50 years in fulltime evangelism.

Cash has served four terms as president of the Fellowship of Tennessee Baptist Evangelists. He has ministered in 18 states, preaching revival meetings and leading special conferences, teaching Bible studies and speaking for banquets and other events.

“I understand the average stay for an evangelist in this ministry is 18 months,” Cash said. “I appreciate the goodness of God in supplying every need over these many years and look forward to a busy preaching schedule this year. What a privilege to present the hope of Christ to a hurting world!”

A lifelong resident of Gray,  Cash accepted Christ as a young boy at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Gray, where he later felt called to ministry, preached his first sermon and was ordained. The church recently hosted a reception to recognize his five decades in evangelism. [Read more…]

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THE BLIND ONLY WANT TO SEE

By Clay Hallmark
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention

Listen to these words from John 9:1-5 from the Christian Standard Bible: As he (Jesus) was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

These are some convicting words for our lives, our churches, and our denomination. Let me give you a few insights that might help us today.

First, when I look at this I cannot help but see an unusual perspective. When you read the first verse, you cannot help but notice that the perspective of Jesus and the perspective of Jesus’ followers were completely different.  [Read more…]

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HINDMAN: AGE-APPROPRIATE BIBLE TEACHING ‘IS CRITICAL’

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Ken Hindman, children’s pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, holds a copy of his book, Every Age, Every Stage, Teaching God’s Truth at Home and Church.

FRANKLIN — Ken Hindman believes there can be, and should be, more to teaching children about God than reading a Bible story and passing out Goldfish. 

Hindman, children’s pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, has spent years developing a teaching method that can be applied by parents, children’s workers and church leaders as they engage in teaching children and youth about the Lord and the Bible. Hindman outlined these concepts in the book Every Age, Every Stage, Teaching God’s Truth at Home and Church, which he co-authored with Landry Holmes, manager of Lifeway Kids Ministry Publishing, and Jana Magruder, director of Lifeway Kids.

Hindman shared some of his thoughts on the topic and discussed the book during a recent webinar hosted by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. During the session, Hindman stressed the importance of teaching children in an “age suitable” manner. He noted that teaching the Bible isn’t a “one size fits all” concept — which is the focal point of Every Age, Every Stage. [Read more…]

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LESSONS LEARNED FROM A FRIEND

Editor’s note: Longtime Tennessee Baptist pastor, director of missions and TBMB staff member John Parrott died April 26 after a lengthy battle with COVID-19. John Parrott was a friend and mentor to countless people within the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Joe Sorah shared his thoughts about his friend and co-laborer in a recent devotion for TBMB staff.

By Joe Sorah
Harvest Field 5 Team Leader, TBMB

Joe Sorah, left, shares a laugh with John Parrott and Kathie Parrott. Sorah referred to Parrott, who recently passed away, as a “spiritual giant.”

A few months ago, Danny   Sinquefield of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board staff shared a video interview with Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney with Harvest Field Team Leaders. 

Coach Swinney outlined his coaching philosophy and what he asks of his players and assistant coaches. He said he wants them to follow the words of George Washington Carver when he said, “When you do all the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

When I think of John Parrott, I think of that quote. John was a common man but did all the common things in uncommon ways. He did everything with excellence and he commanded the attention of all of us who knew him. 

John Parrott was a spiritual giant to me, a Barnabas yes, but also like an Apostle Paul. John mentored me in how to transition from serving as a pastor to serving as a denominational servant.  [Read more…]

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THE AWARDS THAT MATTER MOST

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

Lonnie Wilkey

Three staff members of the communications team (which includes the Baptist and Reflector) of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board recently learned that we had been recognized by the Baptist Communicators Association in the 2022 BCA Awards Competition (see story HERE).

BCA is a professional development association for Baptist communicators and has a membership of about 250 communicators nationwide.

To be recognized in an awards competition with your peers is both exciting and humbling. There are members in BCA organizations who could write for any news outlet in the country or compete in any other area as well. BCA is not just for writers and editors. There are communications personnel in all areas including photography, audio-visuals, graphic design and more. The competition is stout in every category. Entering the competition gives us an opportunity to see how we compare to others in our profession. [Read more…]

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ALMOST 75 YEARS LATER, A PLACE IS STILL NEEDED

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

The chapel at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center provides a beautful setting for worship and fellowship.

FRANKLIN — In the mid-1940s members of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union were facing a dilemma. They were unable to find adequate facilities to provide summer missions camps for their Royal Ambassadors and Girls in Action.

WMU youth worker Mrs. M. K. Cobble observed, “The burden of my heart is that, to date, we have no place to have our camps this summer. Due to summer schools and the remodeling program we cannot use Carson-Newman College (now University) again. We have made 10 contacts. Every door is closed” (from Give Me a Mountain: The Centennial History of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union by Rosalie Phelps, pages 65-68).

Then WMU President Mrs. C. D. Creasman appointed a committee to explore the possibility of establishing camps in the state. “We must have a place for our young people to meet,” she said.

“Sometimes, a look to the past clarifies the vision for the future,” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “That need (described by Mrs. Cobble) breathed a vision that led to a purpose,” Davis said.

He noted that in 1947, Tennessee WMU proposed the idea for two Baptist camps (one in the east and one in the west) to messengers at the annual meeting in Chattanooga that year. “It launched the Tennessee Baptist Convention on a Great Commission journey,” Davis said. [Read more…]

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FIRST SHIPMENT OF SUPPLIES SENT TO UKRAINIAN REFUGEES

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

Don Owen, who oversees the ministry of God’s Warehouse, leads a prayer for the team of volunteers who were organizing the supplies being shipped to Ukraine. — Photo by Lonnie Wilkey

MORRISTOWN — For the past several weeks, Tennessee Baptist churches have been collecting supplies for Ukrainian refugees.

Their efforts culminated on May 2 when volunteers from Nolachucky Baptist Association loaded the first of two containers that will be sent to Moldova to assist in Ukrainian relief efforts.

The containers were loaded at God’s Warehouse, a ministry of Nolachucky Baptist Association in Morristown.

“We picked up items that Tennessee Baptists collected from Memphis to Mountain City and Chattanooga to the Kentucky state line,” said Don Owen, who oversees the ministry of God’s Warehouse which also includes volunteers from other associations in East Tennessee.

“It’s been tremendous to see how Tennessee Baptist churches have responded,” Owen said. “They have gone above and beyond the call to help the refugees from Ukraine,” he added. [Read more…]

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SATF RELEASES FINAL UPDATE BEFORE REPORT

By Brandon Porter
Baptist Press

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a response from Jack Graham’s office.

NASHVILLE — The SBC Sex Abuse Task Force issued the fifth update on its work with Guidepost Solutions in the investigation of the SBC Executive Committee’s (EC) alleged mishandling of sex abuse claims. The group said it would be its last update before Guidepost’s full report is made public in mid-May.

“Pursuant to the Messenger’s Motion, Guidepost must submit its report to the Task Force no later than 30-days prior to the SBC Convention in Anaheim, which begins on June 14, 2022. Thus, the report is due to the Task Force on May 15, 2022,” the update said. It did not provide a date for public release.

Guidepost and the task force say they will release the factual portion of the report to the Committee on Cooperation (CoC) on May 10.

“Guidepost will not provide its observations or conclusions to the CoC, but strictly the factual portion so that any inadvertent errors (e.g., titles, dates) can be corrected,” the task force reported. [Read more…]

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