Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptists gave $2,940,444 through the Cooperative Program in August.
After 10 months of the current fiscal year, Tennessee Baptists have given $29,067,556 through the CP giving channel. The amount is just short ($8,940) over what was given over the same time frame last year.
Receipts remain, however, $317,556 or 1.10 percent above budget needs with two months remaining in the 2018-19 budget year. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — “By All Means, Win TN” is the theme of the 2019 Summit, scheduled for Nov. 17-20 at First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville.
Summit festivities begin on Sunday, Nov. 17, with the “Tennessee Reunion” at 6 p.m. at First Baptist, Concord. The worship service will feature Rick Barnes, men’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, one of the most decorated and accomplished head coaches in school history.
Also on Sunday night, the All Nations Worship will be held at Black Oak Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville. [Read more…]
David Ward
David Ward has been called as pastor of C3 Cornerstone Cowboy Church in Columbia. He has been in the ministry for more than 20 years and has been in pastoral ministry since 2012. An Army veteran, Ward is the past moderator of Maury Baptist Association, based in Columbia. The cowboy church meets each Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Maury County Park Exhibit Building.
Marty Trivette recently was licensed to preach at Little Doe Baptist Church, Butler.
Jerry Cornett has been called as pastor of Stoney Creek Baptist Church, Elizabethton.
Williston Baptist Church, Williston, has called Chris Pulliam as pastor. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — In order to reach the world for Christ, it is imperative to change the culture in the Southern Baptist Convention, said Ronnie Floyd, new president of the SBC Executive Committee.
Floyd was the guest speaker during the board of directors meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board on Sept. 9 at ClearView Baptist Church in Franklin. [Read more…]
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
Joe and Pennie Wright lead a conference for pastors and wives through their ministry with the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network.
NASHVILLE — Happily wed to his new bride Pennie, Joe Wright didn’t want to travel without her in his role as executive director of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network (BSCLN).
“When I interviewed with the BSCLN and they offered me the position, I shared with them, ‘This is a burden on my heart. A lot of ministers are struggling. I’m a newlywed, I’m happy and I want my wife to go with me, ’ ” Wright told Baptist Press in describing a new BSCLN conference for pastors and their wives.
“And they said, ‘Joe, will you buy her plane ticket?’ ” Wright recounted. “And I said, ‘I will, I will.’ They said, ‘Then she goes with you wherever you go.’ ”
The Wrights’ story segues into “The Pastor’s Wife and The Other Woman: Balancing Your Marriage with Your Ministry,” a conference available at no fee to Southern Baptist churches, associations and conventions. The conference, adaptable to a single evening or two days, is designed to encourage and equip pastors and their wives to manage their ministerial and personal lives in harmony.
“I believe the greatest vulnerability for the modern minister is not in his church work, but in his home life,” said Wright, a former Tennessee Baptist pastor and director of missions for Dyer Baptist Association, based in Dyersburg. “And if Satan can injure him at home, he will cripple him at work. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptists gave a record $1,920,733 through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions in 2018-19.
The amount is $77,222 over the old record of $1,843,511 which was set during 2016-17.
Tennessee Baptists have come to understand and value that “any way you slice it, Tennessee is a missions field,” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
“We are excited and thrilled that Tennessee Baptists have given sacrificially to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in our state where more than 50 percent of the residents are unchurched,” Davis continued.
Vickie Anderson, executive director of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union, which helps to promote the annual GOTM offering, agreed. “The churches who give through GOTM see that our state is a missions field,” she said. [Read more…]
By Tim Ellsworth
Associate VP for Communications, Union University
JACKSON, Tenn. — Union University trustees at their Sept. 6 meeting adopted a campus master plan that calls for new buildings and an extension of the university’s Great Lawn all the way to Highway 45 Bypass over the next 20 years.
In other matters, trustees approved new officers, established tuition and fees for the 2020-2021 academic year and approved Beverly Bone-Absher as professor emeritus. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
MOUNT JULIET — After several days of wondering if and when Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief would be called on to respond to Hurricane Dorian, Wes Jones made it official on Sept. 6 when he notified leaders across the state that all units are “standing down.”
A feeding unit from Sullivan County had been deployed to New Bern, N.C., but was recalled before they had traveled very far. [Read more…]
C-N news office
Charles Fowler gives his first address as president to students, faculty and staff of Carson-Newman University during the school’s Fall Convocation held Sept. 5.
JEFFERSON CITY — Carson-Newman University held its Fall Convocation Sept. 5 to a packed Holt Fieldhouse. The event serves as a ceremonial marker to the start of the new academic year. The occasion also marked the first time new Carson-Newman President Charles A. Fowler addressed the full campus community.
Citing Psalm 145:4, Fowler pointed to the importance of “celebrating the faithfulness of God,” as evidenced in C-N’s past, but also directing attention to the future by “anticipating the faithfulness of God. [Read more…]
Baptist Press staff reports
Jonathan Howe
NASHVILLE — Jonathan P. Howe has been named vice president of communications for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee effective Sept. 5.
Officers of the Executive Committee approved Howe upon recommendation of EC President Ronnie Floyd during an Aug. 28 conference call.
Howe, of Franklin, Tenn., will oversee all SBC Executive Committee communications including SBC.net, SBC LIFE, Baptist Press, social media initiatives and other media and messaging strategies. [Read more…]
