Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, B&R
Pastor Gene Mims leads the worship service at The Gathering at 840 which meets on Sunday mornings at Page Middle School in Franklin.
FRANKLIN — The Gathering at 840 would not be considered the typical new church start in Tennessee today. [Read more…]
C-N news office
Carson-Newman University SPOTS team members take a moment to rest while serving during a 2017 trip to Nepal.
JEFFERSON CITY — More than 115 Carson-Newman University students and members of the C-N family will spend their spring break volunteering as part of the university’s annual spring SPOTS mission trips. [Read more…]
By David Roach
Baptist Press
The Baptist General Association of Virginia, pictured here at its 2016 annual meeting, announced Feb. 26 it will no longer forward churches’ gifts to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Photo courtesy of BGAV
HENRICO, Va. — The Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) has become the second Baptist state convention in the past week to announce it will stop channeling churches’ contributions to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. [Read more…]
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
As storms swept across the central-U.S. Feb. 24-25, tornadoes destroyed and damaged homes in two subdivisions in Clarksville, Tenn., where Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are already responding. (WSMV-TV video screengrab / Baptist Press)
CLARKSVILLE — Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers are on the ground and others are on standby after weekend tornadoes and flooding killed five people and damaged homes in five states. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
Former TBC president Doug Sager.
KNOXVILLE — Longtime Tennessee Baptist pastor Doug Sager died Feb. 24. He was 78.
Sager, who was president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 1998, served as pastor of First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville, from 1992-2013 when he retired. Retirement did not last long as he began serving soon after as interim pastor of Vonore Baptist Church, Vonore, and was later called as pastor where he served until his death.
Baptist and Reflector
Pastor Eliab Saenz signs paperwork giving property from South Gate Baptist Church, Nashville, to Iglesia Bautista Renacer.
NASHVILLE — South Gate Baptist Church in Nashville has given its building and 11 acres, valued at $750,000, to Iglesia Bautista Renacer.
The signing of paperwork on Jan. 7 marked the celebration and culmination of months of study and prayer by members of South Gate, according to Rusty Sumrall, director of missions for Nashville Baptist Association
Sumrall said that South Gate began looking into revitalization in the spring of 2017. After studying five different options for the future, the congregation entered into a time of prayer, he recalled. [Read more…]
Baptist Press
Stephen Rummage, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, presided over the EC’s Feb. 19-20 meeting in Nashville. Photo by Morris Abernathy (for Baptist Press).
NASHVILLE — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has given the District of Columbia Baptist Convention (DCBC) 90 days to “secure” the “the removal of any churches from its fellowship that have demonstrated a faith or practice affirming, approving or endorsing homosexual behavior,” according to a recommendation adopted by the EC Feb. 20.
If such churches remain in friendly cooperation with the DCBC after that period, the DCBC will lose its authorization “to receive and disburse Cooperative Program and other SBC contributions,” the EC stated during its Feb. 19-20 meetings in Nashville. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
GALVESTON, Texas — During the annual meeting of the Association of State Baptist Publications held Feb. 12-15 in Galveston, Texas, Baptist editors affirmed the work of Baptist state convention executive directors.
Editors unanimously adopted “A Resolution of Appreciation for State Executive Directors.”
The resolution was presented by Gerald Harris, editor of The Christian Index in Georgia, who noted he enjoys a good relationship with his state executive director, J. Robert White. [Read more…]
Davis encouraging Tennessee Baptists to put high priority on health and fitness
By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — When Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis first launched a fitness initiative — called “The Chubby Challenge” — in January of 2015, he encouraged the participants to lose 10 percent of their body weight.
Ryan Culpepper, the pastor of the Mary’s Chapel Baptist Church, proved to be up to the “Challenge.” In fact, Culpepper not only met the 10-percent goal, but surpassed it — nearly five times over.
“Getting healthy has greatly helped me as a husband, father, pastor, preacher, and friend,” said Culpepper. “(Before the Challenge), I was on the pathway to an early grave.” [Read more…]
By Nathan Handley
Union University
James Merritt.
Photo credit: Cross Pointe Church
JACKSON — James Merritt, lead pastor at Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Ga., will be the keynote speaker at the third annual West Tennessee Evangelism Rally on March 4 at Union University. [Read more…]
