Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

PASTOR SERVES IN ADDICTION CENTERS, PRISONS

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Matt Reed

Matt Reed

OLIVER SPRINGS — It might seem to the casual observer that Matt Reed can’t avoid people who have life-controlling issues and/or have broken the law.

Reed has ministered in jails and prisons all of his ministry, which began 14 years ago at age 39, when he preached his first sermon in a jail. Reed felt called to the ministry while he was a fire department captain.

So he wasn’t surprised when in 18 months he saw 20 men make professions of faith in a 1-5-1 Harvest Plants group his church started at the Morgan County Recovery Court in Wartburg. [Read more…]

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EC WRAP-UP: SMALL-STATE REPRESENTATION CONSIDERED

By Baptist Press

The SBC Executive Committee gathered Feb. 22-23 for their meeting in Nashville. -Photo by Morris Abernathy

The SBC Executive Committee gathered Feb. 22-23 for their meeting in Nashville. -Photo by Morris Abernathy

NASHVILLE (BP) — After nearly an hour of discussion, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s officers withdrew a recommendation to propose granting representation on three key SBC committees to Baptists in pioneer regions. EC leadership promised, however, to make an alternate proposal with the same goal but addressing logistical concerns raised by EC members.

In other business during the EC’s Feb. 22-23 meeting Nashville, the committee recommended a change in the method for asking questions of entity leaders during SBC annual meetings; approved a one-time transfer of funds from the North American Mission Board to the International Mission Board to assist IMB personnel leaving the board during its “organizational reset”; and withdrew the convention’s fellowship from a South Carolina church whose pastor performed a same-sex wedding ceremony with the deacons’ approval. [Read more…]

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CR CONFERENCE SET AT UNION

By Baptist and Reflector

JACKSON — Union University will host a church revitalization conference March 14-15.

The theme of the meeting sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Convention is “Rekindle: Fanning the Flames of Christian Leadership.” [Read more…]

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FORMER TENNESSEANS LEAD PORTLAND CHURCH

Josh and Amy Carter among North American missionaries featured  Week of Prayer

By Jim Burton
NAMB News Office

Portland is a neighborhood-centric city with self-contained communities making up the metro area. Church planter Josh Carter, right, visits with elementary school parent-teacher organization president Stacey Borowick, left, and fourth grade teacher Allyson Dubuque during a project at the school at which Remedy Church members volunteered. To learn more about the Week of Prayer and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, visit anniearmstrong.com.

Portland is a neighborhood-centric city with self-contained communities making up the metro area. Church planter Josh Carter, right, visits with elementary school parent-teacher organization president Stacey Borowick, left, and fourth grade teacher Allyson Dubuque during a project at the school at which Remedy Church members volunteered. To learn more about the Week of Prayer and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, visit anniearmstrong.com. — NAMB photos by Susan Whitley

PORTLAND, Ore. — When Josh Carter and his family migrated 2,700 miles from East Tennessee to the Pacific Northwest, he found his people — mountain people — in Oregon. The move was out of obedience to God’s call on the family.

Carter’s preparation didn’t happen without hardship and a spiritual battle. The product of a broken home, grandparents helped in the raising of Carter and his two siblings in East Tennessee. Under the tutelage of his grandfather, who pastored an 80-member country church, Carter made a profession of faith in Christ.

In college, he became active in ministries and even started a church in East Tennessee with his wife, Amy, whom he had known since kindergarten in Kingsport. Carter was 21, a newlywed, and over his head.

“I had no idea how to lead,” he said. [Read more…]

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BHSET GRANT APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED

Baptist and Reflector

submit, button, online, form, computer, keyboardBRENTWOOD — Applications are now being received for grants from the Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee Medical Missions Fund.

The Baptist Healthcare System of East Tennessee was begun by Tennessee Baptists soon after the end of World War II. More than $2 million was contributed by 800 churches in 32 counties of East Tennessee. The hospital began service on Nov. 30, 1949. [Read more…]

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CHURCH PROVIDES HEALING MINISTRY

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

A woman receives dental care from a dentist and dental hygiene students of Walters State Community College, Morristown, at First Love on Main in Morristown.

A woman receives dental care from a dentist and dental hygiene students of Walters State Community College, Morristown, at First Love on Main in Morristown.

MORRISTOWN — The man who visited the church’s clinic shocked those present. The growth on his neck was as large as a melon.

He also had some trouble walking because he had multiple sclerosis but the concern that day was his struggle to breath.

A physical therapist who had been laid off, he couldn’t afford medical insurance, he told Boni Frazee, director of First Love on Main, the clinic of First Baptist Church, Morristown. His wife couldn’t work because she needed to stay at home with their children. [Read more…]

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SPEAKMAN, PRICE TO WRITE COMMENTARIES

By Baptist and Reflector

ss-bible-studies-for-life-and-explore-the-bibleBRENTWOOD — A Tennessee Baptist pastor and a layman will write Sunday School commentaries for the March – May quarter.

Gene Price, pastor of Tumbling Creek Baptist Church, Gleason, will write the Bible Studies for Life series. [Read more…]

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TRAFFICKING HOTLINE CALLS RISE IN 2015

By Baptist Press

Bars of soap with a hotline to report sex trafficking have become one of the strategies for combatting the crime at motels and strip clubs. Photo from traffickfree.com/soap

Bars of soap with a hotline to report sex trafficking have become one of the strategies for combatting the crime at motels and strip clubs. Photo from traffickfree.com/soap

NEW YORK CITY — Human trafficking victims are reaching out for help in increasing numbers, according to an advocacy group that operates a national text and phone call center.

More than 1,600 survivors of human trafficking reached out for help in 2015 — a 24 percent increase over 2014, according to the nonprofit anti-trafficking organization Polaris. [Read more…]

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TENNESCENE FEB. 24-MAR. 8

LEADERS

Fred Ward

Fred Ward

Fred Ward, pastor, First Baptist Church, Huntingdon, for almost 30 years, will be honored on his upcoming retirement on Feb. 28. The celebration will be held at 10:15 a.m., and from 2-4 p.m. For more information, contact the church at fbcht@fbchuntingdon.org or 731-986-5000.

Charles Nored

Charles Nored

Charles Nored, Baptist Collegiate Ministries director, Motlow State Community College, Lynchburg, was honored recently by the Tennessee Baptist Convention staff on his 35th anniversary as a staff member. He has served Motlow State since 2004, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, from 1985-2004; and Walters State Community College, Morristown, from 1981-85. Nored is a graduate of Delta State University, Cleveland, Miss., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. [Read more…]

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1-5-1 STILL EFFECTIVE, SAY SPECIALISTS

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

151-Reaching-TNBRENTWOOD — Since the 1-5-1 Harvest Plants strategy was introduced about three years ago, Tennessee Baptists have seen an increase in both church starts and baptisms.

1-5-1 was the brainchild of Bobby Welch, former associate executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Convention who retired last summer. 1-5-1 Harvest Plants are off-campus efforts (outside the four walls of the church) geared toward people who don’t know Christ as their Savior for the purpose of sharing the gospel, discipling people, and starting churches. [Read more…]

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