Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

SMALL CHURCH, GENEROUS HEART

FBC, Andersonville, supports both CP and a missionary couple

Each year, First Baptist Church,Andersonville, holds a missions market to raise enough money for the International Mission Board to fund one missionary couple for a year. Church members make and sell things like baked goods, knitted items and household decorations. They also auction off services like mowing lawns or cleaning windows. — IMB photo

Editor’s Note: Churches all across Tennessee and around the nation are in the process of collecting the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Read how a Tennessee church meets the needs of a missionary couple while continuing to give more than 10 percent of its undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program.

Baptist Press

ANDERSONVILLE  — A Tennessee Baptist church is proving that missions giving can be both/and, not either/or.

For the past several years, First Baptist Church, Andersonville, has taken on the challenge of supporting a missionary couple at the cost of $90,000 each year. [Read more…]

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BETHEL UNIVERSITY QUARTERBACK ‘PLAYS HIS BEST FOR HIM’

By Bill Sorrell
B&R contributing writer

iStock image

McKENZIE — On his cleats Sam Castronova wrote a soul message.

“I try to carry myself the right way,” said Castronova, a record-setting quarterback at Bethel University. “I started writing AO1 on my cleats. I got it from (Philadelphia Eagles quarterback) Carson Wentz. I’m playing for an Audience of One, playing for the one person that gave me my abilities to play the game I love.”  [Read more…]

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‘COME AS YOU ARE’ APPROACH HELPS CHURCH CONNECT WITH COMMUNITY

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Bert Spann has helped lead First Baptist Church, Hohenwald, to a new era of evangelism and outreach.

HOHENWALD — Since his arrival at First Baptist Church, Hohenwald, roughly five years ago, pastor Bert Spann said he has seen the church undergo a change in culture.

And it started with a change of clothes.

Before Spann’s arrival, FBC had essentially been operating as a white-collar church in the heart of a blue-collar town. But over the past half decade, the church has become more focused on finding ways to connect with the community — and the results have been seen, week after week, in the baptismal pool. [Read more…]

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CHRISTMAS BACKPACKS IMPACT TN FAMILIES

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

Terry Robinson, left, and Tom Nelson of Roan Creek Baptist Church prepare to take a load of backpacks to a local school.

FRANKLIN — Children living in the Appalachian area of Tennessee have been beneficiaries of the Christmas Backpack Ministry for several years, most of which have been donated from outside the state itself.

The Christmas Backpack Ministry has evolved  over the years since 2001 when some Girls in Action (GAs) in Georgia decided they wanted to do something special for children living in the Appalachian region of the United States. [Read more…]

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BAPTIST TAKES CHRISTIAN COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE INTERNET

Baptist and Reflector

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NASHVILLE — A Tennessee Baptist songwriter and recording artist has taken the “Christian Country Music Story” to the Internet to a world-wide audience.

Hugh X Lewis, a member of Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory, is a BMI award-winning songwriter and performer for many decades. He has been recognized by the Tennessee legislature as the Tennessee poet laureate of Christian country music. [Read more…]

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TENNESCENE: DEC. 19-JAN. 8

LEADERS

First Baptist Church, Whitesburg, recently called Ira Ginn as pastor.

Randy Pate recently resigned as pastor of First Baptist Church, Milan, to accept a pastorate outside Tennessee.

Oak Grove Baptist Church, Milan, recently called Bill Rice as interim pastor.

Andy Mayfield has been called as pastor of Spring Hill Baptist Church, Trenton. [Read more…]

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GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Churches reach community, keep focus on Jesus during Christmas

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

The manger scene depicting the birth of Jesus is performed during “The Life of Christ Christmas Drive-Thru” at Brush Creek Baptist Church.
— Photo by James Wilson

FRANKLIN — Keeping Christ at the center of Christmas is a challenge that seems to get tougher each year.

Fortunately, many churches around the country, including a large number of churches in Tennessee, are doing their part to guard against the secularization of the season.

Whether it’s hosting one of the traditional Christmas productions — such as live nativity scenes, children’s musicals, candlelight services and Christmas cantatas — or perhaps branching out in a new direction, the objective is the same: Ensuring that the birth of Christ remains the focus of the holidays. [Read more…]

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SHARING “GOD’S LOVE FROM A DIAPER BAG”

By Trennis Henderson
WMU National Correspondent

Bessie McPeek speaks to the gathering.

JENKINS, Ky. — Bessie and Lester McPeek are known throughout eastern Kentucky as the Diaper Lady and the Diaper Man. They wouldn’t want it any other way.

The McPeeks, who have been married for 24 years, started a unique diaper distribution and parent education ministry in Jenkins, Ky., in 2001. Since then, they have given away more than 2 million diapers to single moms, unemployed families and others in the economically troubled region who are struggling to make ends meet. 

[Read more…]

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TBCH VOLUNTEER MAKES IMPACT AT BOYS RANCH

‘Mr. Dana’ is teaching more than just vocational skills; he’s teaching love of Jesus 

By Carla Harper
Contributing Writer, B&R

Dana Reed stands in the workshop at the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes’ Boys Ranch in Millington where he teaches skills such as welding. Reed is a member of Crosspointe Baptist Church, Millington. — Photo by Carla Harper

MILLINGTON  — When Dana Reed, now 72, left the prison where he worked as an employee in 2011, he began working at the Boys Ranch in Memphis, which is owned and operated by the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes. 

Reed, known as “Mr. Dana” said his job at the Boys Ranch is the “best paying job I’ve ever had because of who I am working for.” [Read more…]

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