Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

CHURCH BAPTIZES 100 IN SERVICE

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Jeff Lovingood, senior associate pastor, First Baptist Church, Cleveland, baptizes Savanna Wheaton on March 13 at the church.

Jeff Lovingood, senior associate pastor, First Baptist Church, Cleveland, baptizes Savanna Wheaton on March 13 at the church.

CLEVELAND — The March 13 evening service of First Baptist Church here was unique. No one at the church had been in a service where 100 people were baptized.

Amazingly, in many ways, the event wasn’t planned. For instance, 97 new Christians were signed up to be baptized but three more people came to bring the total to 100 people baptized.

No special occasion or event was held at the church which resulted in the many people making the commitments. The people baptized had made professions of faith mostly during the past six months or so.

In fact, baptisms are the norm at First Baptist. The church baptized 253 new Christians last year. First Baptist draws about 3,300 people to its five Sunday morning services. All of the services are held on site at the main campus. [Read more…]

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TAKING THE CHURCH TO THE PEOPLE

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

David Taft, pastor, First Baptist Church, Hermitage, visits with Hailey Mozo, 8, outside of her apartment as he visits residents there.

David Taft, pastor, First Baptist Church, Hermitage, visits with Hailey Mozo, 8, outside of her apartment as he visits residents there.

HERMITAGE — Pastor David Taft sees First Baptist Church here as a “gas station” which serves a few people at a time.

“Our goal is not to get a lot of people in the building, but to get Christ in people. …

“The church cannot be the church if we remove ourselves from the community,” declared Taft.

“If I can’t relate to them, there’s no chance for them to see what Christ is like. … If I don’t know them, then how can I understand them and help them?” he asked.

“What I would say to the church is, ‘Could we just wake up and learn who our neighbor is?’ ”

For First Baptist, Hermitage, its neighbors live in apartment complexes or multi-housing units, explained Taft, the pastor. [Read more…]

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REACHING NEIGHBORHOODS: PASTORS

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Armida Garcia, left, Yasid Diaz, center, and Frumencio Diaz discuss an Easter activity with a new friend at Walker Memorial Baptist Church, Franklin. The activity was for Walker Memorial and Iglesia Bautista de las Americas, Franklin, which now shares a facility with Walker Memorial Baptist.

Armida Garcia, left, Yasid Diaz, center, and Frumencio Diaz discuss an Easter activity with a new friend at Walker Memorial Baptist Church, Franklin. The activity was for Walker Memorial and Iglesia Bautista de las Americas, Franklin, which now shares a facility with Walker Memorial Baptist.

FRANKLIN — To reach its neighborhood, which is home to a lot of Hispanics, Walker Memorial Baptist Church here considered starting a Hispanic congregation. Then it learned from the Tennessee Baptist Convention staff of a Baptist Hispanic congregation meeting in its city and God began to work.

What Walker Memorial Baptist and Iglesia Bautista de las Americas (Baptist Church of the Americas) worked out led the Hispanic church to leave a bigger church building where they were meeting to move to Walker Memorial for one reason, the two pastors explained.

Josh Franks, pastor, Walker Memorial, and Nathan Velasquez, pastor, Las Americas, said both congregations will be better able to minister to the Hispanic neighbors of Walker Memorial if they work together.

Simply put, they needed each other. [Read more…]

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CHRISTIANS FACE INTOLERANCE; COMPLAIN

By Bob Smietana
Lifeway News Office

160407complain1NASHVILLE — A growing number of Americans believe religious liberty is on the decline and that the nation’s Christians face growing intolerance.

They also say American Christians complain too much.

Those are among the findings of a new study of views about religious liberty from LifeWay Research. Researchers surveyed 1,000 Americans in September 2013 and September 2015 and then compared the results.

Two-thirds (63 percent) say Christians face increasing intolerance, up from half (50 percent) in 2013. A similar number (60 percent) say religious liberty is on the decline, up from just over half (54 percent) in 2013.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed say American Christians complain too much about how they are treated, up from 34 percent in 2015. [Read more…]

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BAPTIST MINISTRY RECEIVES NEW RESOURCE

Wallace Memorial’s healthcare ministry receives ultrasound machine from ERLC

By Tom Strode
Baptist Press

Dan Darling of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, speaks to the congregation of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. Looking on, from left, are Mike Boyd, pastor; Sandy Bolton, director of missions for Wallace Memorial; John Swisher, president, Wallace Mobile Healthcare; Joe Sorah, compassion ministry specialist, Tennessee Baptist Convention; Phil Young, director of missions, Knox County Association of Baptists; and Tom Hodges, director, Montgomery Village Baptist Center, Knoxville.

Dan Darling of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, speaks to the congregation of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. Looking on, from left, are Mike Boyd, pastor; Sandy Bolton, director of missions for Wallace Memorial; John Swisher, president, Wallace Mobile Healthcare; Joe Sorah, compassion ministry specialist, Tennessee Baptist Convention; Phil Young, director of missions, Knox County Association of Baptists; and Tom Hodges, director, Montgomery Village Baptist Center, Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE — An East Tennessee ministry has a new resource provided by Southern Baptists for its mission to serve the needy — in this case, underprivileged, pregnant women.

Wallace Mobile Healthcare, based in Knoxville, received an ultrasound machine March 6 from the Psalm 139 Project of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. The gift — the latest made by the ERLC to centers across the country — occurred during the morning worship service of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville.

The ERLC is “honored to work with Wallace Mobile Healthcare (a ministry of Wallace Memorial Baptist) to provide hope for pregnant women in crisis,” said Dan Darling, the ERLC’s vice president for communications, after making the presentation.

“Wallace Memorial has such a wonderful legacy, inspired by the great missionary Bill Wallace, of providing gospel hope to the most vulnerable,” Darling said in a March 7 news release. “This ultrasound machine is just one more way the heroes working here every day can serve the community with a holistic, pro-life ethic.” [Read more…]

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LIFEWAY HOLDS 125TH ANNIV. & GROUNDBREAKING

By Baptist Press

LifeWay’s executive leadership team turned the ceremonial first shovels of dirt for the ministry’s new building. (From left to right) Jerry Rhyne, Eric Geiger, Selma Wilson, Thom Rainer, Brad Waggoner, Ed Stetzer, Tim Hill and Cossy Pachares.

LifeWay’s executive leadership team turned the ceremonial first shovels of dirt for the ministry’s new building. (From left to right) Jerry Rhyne, Eric Geiger, Selma Wilson, Thom Rainer, Brad Waggoner, Ed Stetzer, Tim Hill and Cossy Pachares.

NASHVILLE (BP) — LifeWay Christian Resources celebrated its 125th anniversary, then held a groundbreaking ceremony and prayer service today (April 6) on property in downtown Nashville where it intends to build its new headquarters.

LifeWay announced plans in February to build a nine-story 250,000-square-foot office building in a mixed use development located just blocks from the campus LifeWay sold last November. [Read more…]

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TENNESCENE APR. 6- 19

LEADERS

Chris Moore, minister of youth/recreation, First Baptist Church, Bolivar, for nine years has been called as student pastor, First Baptist Church, New Albany, Miss.

First Baptist Church, Pleasant View, has called Terry Hudgins as children’s pastor.

Adam Holland, pastor, Hope Church of Knoxville, has written and seen published the book, Friendship Established. It is a book on the biblical theology of friendship. He also wrote and saw published the book, Friendship Redeemed.

Chris Fachman has been called as interim minister to students, Meridian Baptist Church, Knoxville. [Read more…]

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TBC CP GIFTS INCREASE

By Baptist & Reflector

cplogoBRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $2,747,830 through the Cooperative Program in March.

For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $14,712,077.

After five months of the current fiscal year, the total is $1,101,628 or 8.1 percent over the amount given at the same time last year. It also is $441,244 or 3.09 percent ahead of current budget needs. [Read more…]

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TBC LAUNCHES ‘THE REACHING APP’

Phone app encourages Tennessee Baptists to be Great Commission Christians

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

160405appBRENTWOOD — Wake up in the morning, turn on the television or pick up your morning newspaper and you’re immediately reminded of the sin that is rampant in today’s society.

The Tennessee Baptist Convention has launched a new phone application designed to provide an encouraging word to help Tennessee Baptists and other Great Commission Christians to start each day. [Read more…]

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UNION MOURNS LOSS OF LANCASTER, 51, TO CANCER

By Tim Ellsworth
Associate VP for Communications, Union University

Holli Lancaster

Holli Lancaster

JACKSON, Tenn. — Holli Lancaster, a former IMB missionary in Southeast Asia and missionary in residence at Union University, died March 29 at age 51, following a battle with ovarian cancer. Holli’s husband, Dan Lancaster, serves as assistant vice president for university ministries at Union.

“They brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the campus and built incredible relations with students as well as faculty and staff,” said Todd Brady, vice president for university ministries at Union.

Prior to serving at Union, the Lancasters spent 12 years as missionaries in Southeast Asia. Brady said when they came to Union, their mission and purpose came with them.

“Their investment and love for the mission of Union and God’s heartbeat for the world, those two things were obvious,” he said. [Read more…]

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