Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
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…]
Baptist & Reflector
“Dr. Billy Graham was indeed America’s pastor and a great global ambassador for Christ. His gospel-centered message was always clear as he made one simple appeal, ‘Come to Jesus.’ As a Southern Baptist, he epitomized everything good about our Great Commission focus.”
Randy C. Davis, TBMB president and executive director [Read more…]
Tennessee Baptists Remember Graham’s Last Crusade in Nashville
Editor’s Note: A post with quotes from Tennessee Baptists about the impact of Billy Graham and his ministry is also available.
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, B&R
The marketing poster from the Billy Graham Crusade held in Nashville.
FRANKLIN — Southern Baptists’ (and the world’s) most widely recognized evangelist died Feb. 21 in Montreat, N.C., at the age of 99.
Known as “America’s pastor,” Billy Graham reached millions of people with the gospel over his decades-long ministry. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association says Graham’s audience has reached nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. [Read more…]
By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
James and Joyce Forbes, walk the track with the Striders Club. The track is located at the gym in the family life center at Tusculum Hills Baptist Church.
— Photos by Corinne Rochotte
NASHVILLE — For many people, “going for a walk” is a leisurely activity.
For the members of the Striders Club, it’s serious business.
Each lap around the track at the Tusculum Hills Baptist Church family life center is purposeful for the roughly 100 individuals who make up the club. The members of the group keep detailed logs of their “mileage” and those who reach certain totals — milestones, you could say — are rewarded with various prizes, such as hats, T-shirts, jackets, and gift cards.
Granted, the club members have plenty of fun and fellowship while participating in the program. But the ultimate objective is exercise and fitness.
Created 10 years ago by Tusculum Hills Baptist Church minister of senior adults and recreation Bill Highsmith, the club is open to anyone above the age of the 16, but is predominantly comprised of senior adults. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Pastor Justin Randolph of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Sevierville, leads a devotion prior to a workout at The Fit Factory in Sevierville. Randolph and his wife, Stephanie, joined the fitness center more than a year ago and it has opened doors of ministry for them both.
SEVIERVILLE — When Justin Randolph signed up more than a year ago for a month’s membership at a fitness club, he thought he was doing it in order to spend time with his wife and get some exercise.
Little did he know that the membership would not only accomplish that goal, but it also would lead to an opportunity for Christian ministry and witness.
Randolph, pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Sevierville, actually bought the membership as a Christmas gift for his wife Stephanie. “We were looking for something to do as a couple while wanting to get in shape and lose a few pounds,” he recalled. [Read more…]
By Bob Smietana
Lifeway News Office
NASHVILLE — Church collection plates were a little bit fuller last fall, according to Nashville-based LifeWay Research.
About 40 percent of Protestant pastors say their churches received more offerings in 2017 than in 2016.
Three-quarters say their church met or exceeded budget.
And only about a third say the economy gave their church trouble.
Those are among the findings of a new report from LifeWay Research, based on a survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors. LifeWay Research has tracked the impact of the economy on churches since 2009, said Scott McConnell, executive director, and this is the first time the majority of pastors said the economy isn’t troubling their church. [Read more…]
From LifeWay Christian Resources Staff
Almost 70 years after he began his public ministry, Billy Graham continued to impact the faith of millions with almost half of all Protestant churchgoers saying they have watched one of his sermons on television.
“Billy Graham was one of the greatest evangelists the Christian faith has ever known,” said LifeWay Christian Resources President and CEO Thom S. Rainer. “Throughout his life, it was obvious he wanted the focus to be not on himself but on one thing: the cross of Jesus Christ.”
A recent LifeWay Research survey found Graham’s wide-ranging ministry influenced churchgoers through a variety of means. [Read more…]
By David Roach
Baptist Press
Charlie Fuller, chairman of the CBF’s Illumination Project Committee, presents a report to the CBF General Assembly June 29. -Screen capture from CBFblog.com
DECATUR, Ga. — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Governing Board has voted to lift the Fellowship’s “absolute prohibition” of hiring homosexual and transgender employees.
But CBF “leadership positions in ministry” and missionary roles still will be limited to individuals “who practice a traditional Christian sexual ethic of celibacy in singleness or faithfulness in marriage between a woman and man,” according to a hiring “implementation procedure” also adopted by the Governing Board. Other positions will be open to “Christians who identify as LGBT.”
The new hiring policy and implementation procedure — adopted Feb. 9 at a CBF Governing Board meeting in Decatur, Ga. — replace the previous CBF hiring policy, which prohibited “the purposeful hiring of a staff person or the sending of a missionary who is a practicing homosexual.” [Read more…]
Nina Ruth Miller, 84, a member of Lantana Road Baptist Church, Crossville, died Feb. 1. She served in ministry with her husband, Roy Lee Miller, for 61 years. He is a former staff member of the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board). In addition to her husband she is survived by four children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
First Baptist Church, Middleton, will begin revival services on Sunday, Feb. 25, and continue through Tuesday, Feb. 27. The guest evangelist will be Roc Collins of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. The Sunday morning service begins at 10:55 a.m. and the evening service at 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday services begin at 7 p.m. [Read more…]
By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
David Platt
GALVESTON, Texas — As the search begins for a new International Mission Board president, outgoing president David Platt said he believes the IMB is “financially healthy, physically strong, and practically ready.”
Two days after announcing he was stepping down as IMB president, Platt spoke to a group of editors on Feb. 14 at the annual Association of State Baptist Publications meeting in Galveston. Platt told the ASBP conference attendees that he made the decision to leave the IMB office “because I believe that is what God is leading me to do.” [Read more…]
