News Archives - Baptist & Reflector

STATE PCC DIRECTORS EXCITED, BUT CAUTIOUS

July 7, 2022

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

NASHVILLE — Two pregnancy care center directors in Tennessee are rejoicing yet are taking precautions as the nation’s political leaders are urging the pro-life community to prepare for a possible violent reaction to the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

The White House and the Department of Homeland Security asked the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to join a call Thursday warning them about an increased threat level based on the potential decision, according to Kentucky Today.

“Political violence of any kind is unacceptable, regardless of the context. That is not how we resolve our differences in this nation,” Leatherwood told Baptist Press in a written statement. [Read more…]

‘JUST HORRIFIC’: ILLINOIS, KENTUCKY SOUTHERN BAPTISTS MINISTER AFTER WEEKEND SHOOTINGS

July 6, 2022

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Screen capture from CBS News.

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (BP) – Mass shootings don’t generally happen in affluent Highland Park, where a gunman killed seven and wounded 30 others gathered for a July 4th parade.

“That’s the last place that you would normally, and I say normally, expect stuff like that to occur,” said Rick Dorsey, administrative counsel chairperson with the Chicago Metro Baptist Association. “We’re living in a different time and a different era, and it could happen anywhere.” [Read more…]

CHURCHES CELEBRATE HIGH COURT’S RULING

July 6, 2022

Baptist Press

KNOXVILLE — On the Sunday after the Supreme Court’s historic overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on June 24, Southern Baptists across the country took time both to rejoice in the ruling and to discuss how Christians should respond.

Many Southern Baptist leaders not only celebrated the Court’s decision, which returns the policy issues regarding abortion back to the state level but also took time to discuss ways to minister to women who may be considering an abortion.

One such example came from First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville, which hosted a panel discussion on Sunday, June 26, about the decision featuring several pro-life advocates. [Read more…]

TENNESSEANS PREPARE FOR ‘ATHEIST CAPITAL OF GERMANY’

July 6, 2022

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

Preparing for their upcoming mission trip to Germany were, from left, Jackson Willems, Andy Vaughn, Jacob Dorak, Ryan McMichael, Avery Pace, Pierce McNew, Kim Cruse, Noah Crook, Caleb Barbier and Jay Barbier (TBMB youth specialist who helped train team). Not pictured is volunteer Haylin Ownby.

NEWPORT — A Tennessee Baptist team of seven youth and three adults are preparing to go to Berlin, Germany, the “atheist capital of Europe” during the week of July 16-24.

Not only will the team encounter an overwhelming majority of people who do not associate with any religion, the largest religious group is Muslim, said team member Kim Cruse, a former International Mission Board missionary and now missions discipleship specialist for Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union.

In order to prepare for the trip, the group recently met in Cooke-ville for evangelism training, team building exercises, sharing testimonies and prayerwalking in a local park, Cruse said. [Read more…]

GOV. LEE SAYS ROE V. WADE DECISION WAS ‘ANSWER TO LOTS OF PRAYERS’

July 5, 2022

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

Tennessee governor Bill Lee was one of the guests on a Baptist Press livestream June 24. Discussing the overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Lee said: “All of my life … we have hoped for and prayed for this opportunity for that to be overturned.” — Screenshot from BP livestream

NASHVILLE — The United States Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 to reverse the 1973 Roe v. Wade court ruling that legalized abortion represents “a hopeful day” for America, said Tennessee governor Bill Lee.

Lee was one of the guests on a Baptist Press livestream June 24 with Brent Leatherwood, acting president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

Lee said the high court’s ruling “is an opportunity for our country really to move into a new season that is redemptive and that is healing. We’re very hopeful about what the future holds.” [Read more…]

B&R DAY: RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER

July 4, 2022

Sunday, Aug. 21, is Baptist and Reflector Day in the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Order free copies of the Aug. 17 issue to distribute to your church by visiting baptistandreflector.org or calling 615-371-2003.

In the photo seen here, Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, recently informed DR volunteers from West Tennessee about the importance of the Baptist and Reflector to help keep the state informed about disaster relief and other ministries provided by the TBMB.

PATRIOTIC DISPLAYS COMMON IN JULY 4TH CHURCH SERVICES

June 30, 2022

By Aaron Earls
Writer, Lifeway Christian Resources

NASHVILLE — Protestant pastors say they will worship God and honor America at church services this weekend, and they’re not too worried churchgoers will confuse the two.

Most pastors (56 percent) say it’s important to incorporate patriotic elements into worship services the week of July 4th to celebrate America, including 27 percent who strongly agree, according to a Lifeway Research study of 1,000 U.S. Protestant pastors. Two in 5 pastors (42 percent) disagree, and 2 percent aren’t sure.

These findings represent a small decrease from a 2016 Lifeway Research study, when 61 percent of pastors felt such worship service elements were important.

“While not a date on the Christian calendar, most Protestant churches adjust their worship services to acknowledge the birth of the United States each July,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “For most churches, it isn’t just tradition. The majority of pastors agree it’s important to incorporate it into the worship experience.” [Read more…]

ACADEMY, CHURCH BAPTIZE 15 NEW BELIEVERS

June 30, 2022

Baptist and Reflector

Pastor Cliff Marion of First Baptist Church, Covington, baptizes a new believer who is a student at Tipton Baptist Academy.

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…]

‘PAY IT FORWARD’

June 28, 2022

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

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

Maritza Cruz, left, accepted Christ as her Savior in 1996 while Dave Shelley was leading his first All Nations Camp. Twenty-six years later she had the opportunity to visit with Shelley again, who is still leading All Nations Camp for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Cruz led a group of 18 people from Iglesia Bautista Cristo Rey in Brownsville.

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…]

SUPREME COURT SUPPORTS COACH’S RIGHT TO PRAY ON FIELD

June 27, 2022

By Tom Strode
Baptist Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court delivered what most religious liberty advocates declared an important victory June 27 in ruling the post-game, midfield prayer of a high school football coach did not violate the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion.

In a 6-3 opinion, the justices decided the Bremerton (Wash.) School District actually violated the First Amendment rights of Joseph Kennedy by removing him as a coach because of its concerns his practice infringed on the Establishment Clause. In doing so, the majority acknowledged it no longer abides by a more than 50-year-old standard in church-state cases known as the Lemon test.

“[A] government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment,” Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court’s opinion. “And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. [Read more…]

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

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