Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $2,606,053 through the Cooperative Program in April.
For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $17,657,114 through the Cooperative Program.
After six months of the 2022-23 fiscal year, giving through CP is $406,780 or 2.3 percent below what was given during the same time frame last year.
Gifts, however, are $157,114 or 0.90 above budget needs. [Read more…]
Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, left, introduces pastor Pat Hood of LifePoint Church, Smyrna, during the recent meeting of directors. Hood shared his testimony and information about the Amy Hood Adoption Endowment named after his late wife. — Photo by Lonnie Wilkey
FRANKLIN — Directors of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board adopted a record goal of $2.7 million for the 2023-24 Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions and approved seven other recommendations including a revision to the GOTM Process and Guidelines that would eliminate the following guideline: “GOTM funds are NOT provided for the salary of TBMB staff or Tennessee WMU staff.”
Tennessee Baptist leaders Clay Hallmark and Randy C. Davis each brought reports and challenges during the meeting held April 25 in Franklin.
Hallmark, pastor of First Baptist Church, Lexington, observed that churches can be known for many things, ranging from possessions and personalities to programs and preaching. While those things have their place, churches need to be known as “houses of prayer,” he maintained.
“In a world that has been turned upside down and is crazy, we need to lead our churches to be houses of prayer. Prayer changes people.” [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
RIDGECREST, N.C. — Two members of the Communications Team of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board were among the winners in the recent awards competition sponsored by the Baptist Communicators Association.
Turner
Chris Turner and David Dawson won writing awards for articles published in the Baptist and Reflector.
Turner earned a first place award for his first person column, “We Gotta Talk to Each Other” while Dawson won third place for a feature article, “Game Plan Changes.” [Read more…]
Rummage
JACKSON — Stephen Rummage, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Okla., will be nominated for presidency of the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference (SBCPC).
Adam Dooley, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, will nominate Rummage.
“I cannot imagine a better choice to lead next year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference than Stephen Rummage,” said Dooley. “From my perspective, he represents everything that is good about Southern Baptists.” [Read more…]
FARMERSVILLE, Texas — SBC president Bart Barber has announced his appointments to the 2023 Committee on Committees. Riley Prather, pastor of Green Valley Crossing, Putnam, Conn., will lead the committee as chair, and Cassie Stanteen from First Baptist, Clinton, Miss., will serve as vice chair.
“As a lifelong Southern Baptist, I am thrilled to play a part in helping the SBC keep the Gospel at the center and to remain faithful to our cooperative work in the world,” Prather said. “If you had told me as a kid that I would be serving the Convention in this way, I would’ve called you crazy. But I learned a long time ago to join God where He is at work, and I believe He is inviting me to do this.” [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
Cain
SEYMOUR — Corey Cain, pastor of First Baptist Church, Seymour, was elected to serve on the newly formed search committee tasked with seeking a new president/CEO for the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Cain was in Dallas on May 1 during the special called meeting in which EC members rejected the nomination of former EC chairman Jared Wellman. Cain is one of five Tennessee Baptists serving on the EC board of trustees from where the six search committee members were chosen.
Cain explained the process in an interview with the Baptist and Reflector. EC guidelines called for the original search committee to be dissolved and a new search committee to be named immediately after a “No” vote of a presidential candidate. Wellman’s nomination was defeated by a vote of 50-31. [Read more…]
Bruce Edwards
FRANKLIN — Bruce Edwards, who served in youth ministry with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board for 25 years, died April 28 at the age of 72.
Prior to joining the staff of the TBMB in 1995, Edwards served in youth ministry at Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville and as a youth minister in churches in Tennessee, Texas and Georgia. He retired as student ministry specialist with the TBMB in 2020.
Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB, observed that Edwards “impacted tens of thousands of students through decades of equipping and encouraging student pastors and student leaders.
“He constantly practiced the power of presence by showing up and helping anyone and everyone,” Davis said. “He was a hard-working team player.”
Vicki Hulsey, childhood specialist for the TBMB, worked with Edwards for 19 years. “What a legacy Bruce has left for us to learn from,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“Bruce was a man who loved Christ above all else. … He was a man who invested in the next generation. He was a teacher and a discipler.
“He was the kind of friend we should all long to be — a friend who invests in others, sees potential in others and is there in the good times as well as the hard times,” Hulsey wrote. [Read more…]
Several members of the new search committee, including Corey Cain, center, pastor of First Baptist Church, Seymour, and others gather for prayer after the May 1 EC meeting. — Photo by Marc Ira Hooks / The Baptist Paper
DALLAS — Meeting behind closed doors in executive session today (May 1), the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the nomination of Jared Wellman as its new president/chief executive officer by a vote of 50-31.
Wellman, 39, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, informed his church on April 30 that he was the nominee to lead the EC.
There were 81 of the 83 trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee in Monday’s executive session, according to The Baptist Paper (TBP).
TBP reported 12 of the 83 joined via Zoom due to health and other issues preventing their ability to attend in person. One staff member, the parliamentarian and legal council, also participated in the meeting. [Read more…]
DALLAS — Meeting behind closed doors in executive session today (May 1), the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the nomination of Jared Wellman as its new president/chief executive officer by a vote of 50-31.
All 83 trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee were in the executive session, according to The Baptist Paper (TBP).
Wellman, 39, who serves as pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, informed his church on April 30 that he was the nominee to lead the EC. [Read more…]
VENTURA, Calif. — Protestant pastors are less satisfied with their jobs and church assignments and less confident in their spiritual callings, Barna research said in its latest study on pastoral resilience. (See related story and a column from Sing Oldham).
Only 52 percent of pastors are “very satisfied” with their jobs, only 50 percent are just as confident of their calling as they were when they began, and only 38 percent are very satisfied with their current church assignment, Barna said.
“This research underscores the need for major interventions to support and sustain pastors in their work,” Barna Group CEO David Kinnaman said March 15 in releasing the findings. “This drop in vocational satisfaction may cause significant problems for churches in the future.”
The numbers show declines as high as 20 percentage points from seven years ago when Barna last studied pastoral resilience. [Read more…]
