Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
Baptist and Reflector
BRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $2,828,179 through the Cooperative Program in September.
For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $31,967,738 for missions and ministry causes in Tennessee and around the world. [Read more…]
By David Roach
Baptist Press
Photo courtesy of Charlotte Convention Center
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amid controversy over North Carolina’s controversial transgender restroom law, Southern Baptist Convention leaders estimate they’re less than two weeks away from finalizing contracts to hold the 2023 SBC annual meeting in Charlotte.
And they say they’re glad to support the state for its moral stand on gender and sexuality. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
Office and Custodial Personnel:
Compensation = Salary (Part-time salary is calibrated to reflect 50 weeks per year at median number of hours: 18)
Pay Package* = Salary + Retirement Benefits Paid by the Church + Insurance Paid by the Church
*The Employer portion of Social Security is not included in the figure for Pay Package. The study assumes that the church pays the Employer portion of Social Security for these employees.Ministerial Personnel (Non-Ordained Ministers):
Compensation = Salary (Part-time salary is calibrated to reflect 50 weeks per year at median number of hours: 10)
Pay Package** = Salary + Retirement Benefits Paid by the Church + Insurance Paid by the Church
**The Employer portion of Social Security is not included in the figure for Pay Package. The study assumes that the church pays the Employer portion of Social Security for these employees.
Ministerial Personnel (Ordained Ministers):
Compensation = Salary + Housing Allowance + Fair Rental Value of Church-owned Housing + Utilities for Church-owned Housing (Part-time salary is calibrated to reflect 50 weeks per year at median number of hours: 20)
Pay Package*** = Salary + Housing Allowance + Fair Rental Value of Church-owned Housing + Utilities on Church-owned Housing + Social Security Equivalent + Retirement Benefits Paid by the Church + Insurance Paid by the Church
***While the Social Security Equivalent could be included with compensation since it is taxable, the Compensation Study has chosen for a number of years to treat the Social Security Equivalent as a benefit so as to be consistent with the general treatment of Social Security for non-ministers. It is suggested the church pay the same percentage for Social Security for the minister that they would pay for a non-minister. Thus it should be budgeted and classified the same way as the regular FICA employer Social Security for non-ministers. The only difference for ministers is that it does become taxable.
This study assumes all ministry-related expenses are paid by the church using an accountable reimbursement plan and are NOT INCLUDED in the “Pay Package.” These include travel expense; expenses for conventions and continuing education; expenses for ministry-related books and periodicals; and ministry-related hospitality expenses. Amounts paid to cover these ministry-related expenses are IN ADDITION TO the above amounts.
Report Date: 9/26/2016
BRENTWOOD — The average compensation (salary and housing) and pay packages for senior pastors and staff ministers in Tennessee Baptist Convention churches exceeds the national average in most categories.
The 2016 SBC Church Compensation Study, a joint project of state Baptist conventions, GuideStone Financial Resources, and LifeWay Christian Resources, was released in early September. The biannual study collects compensation and congregational data anonymously from ministers and office/custodial personnel of SBC churches and missions. [Read more…]
Baptist Press
Students at Knoch High School in Saxonburg, Pa., posted this photo on Facebook of their Sept. 28 See You At the Pole prayer event.
Facebook photo/Ignition
NASHVILLE — An estimated million or more students in the U.S. and 63 foreign countries publicly gathered around school flagpoles Sept. 28 and prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The annual See You At the Pole (SYATP) interdenominational Christian outreach was augmented this year with the launch of the I Am Hope outreach leading up to the Oct. 21 release of the film “I’m Not Ashamed.” [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Students attend Any One at South-Doyle High School, Knoxville. The rally, one of three held in East Tennessee, was a fifth quarter event held Sept. 23.
KNOXVILLE — All they were trying to do is find a way to promote Impact youth camps of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, explained Jeff Williamson and Kevin Perrigan of the TBC staff.
So they came up with the idea of holding fifth quarter events on high school campuses to inform students about the camp. [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Leaders of Any One in Knoxville were, from left, Kevin Perrigan, director, Carson Springs Baptist Conference; Jeff Williamson, Impact camp director; Brent Beeler, minister of youth, New Hopewell Baptist Church, Knoxville; Robbie Robison, evangelist of Nashville; and Keith Jones, minister to students, City View Baptist Church, Knoxville, and volunteer with Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
KNOXVILLE — Brent Beeler, Knoxville minister of youth, knew God might be up to something when in August he along with some other youth ministers were asked by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at South-Doyle High School to meet with them.
Just a few weeks earlier he had been asked to help the Tennessee Baptist Convention hold a rally at the school. [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (recently changed to Fellowship of Christian Anybody) of South-Doyle High School, Knoxville, pause before the Any One rally held there Sept. 23. They are, from left, first row, Paul Brooks, Olivia Snapp, and Debbie Lay, sponsor; back row, Ray Anderson, Nate Wilkerson, Luke Fall, and Noah Wilkerson.
KNOXVILLE — The fifth quarter “Any One” event held at South-Doyle High School here after its Sept. 23 football game drew students to the band field of the campus as they filed out of the stadium.
Teens gathered under bright lights donated by a construction company to hear music and a disc jockey (D.J.), eat hot dogs, and hang out. Musicians led worship, and then Robbie Robison, evangelist of Nashville, spoke. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
Image: NOAA.gov
NASHVILLE — The Weather Channel is predicting that Hurricane Matthew will have a “catastrophic” effect on Haiti. The hurricane, which is predicted to make landfall on Oct. 4, also is expected to impact Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas, according to the weather network.
In addition, the hurricane is anticipated to strike the East Coast of the United States between Florida and Virginia.
If the dire predictions pan out, southern Haiti could receive up to 40 inches of rain. Western Haiti and eastern Cuba could get up to 20 inches of rain. The heavy rain could cause flash flooding and mudslides. [Read more…]
By Jeff Brumley
Associated Baptist Press
The news just never seems to get better for American churches.
A poll released this month confirms statistically what clergy and congregations are hearing anecdotally and through the media practically all the time: the percentage of U.S. adults who are religiously unaffiliated is increasing.
“The share of Americans who do not identify with a religious group is surely growing,” the Pew Research Center said in a Sept. 14 report. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
BRENTWOOD — Reaching Tennessee for Christ will involve reaching the largest metropolitan areas in the state, according to leaders within the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
To help accomplish that goal, City Reach will be launched during this year’s Summit Nov. 13-17 at the Sevierville Convention Center, pending approval from messengers at Summit. City Reach was approved by members of the TBC Executive Board during their Sept. 14 meeting at Brentwood Baptist Church. [Read more…]
