Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

SUPREME COURT SUPPORTS COACH’S RIGHT TO PRAY ON FIELD

By Tom Strode
Baptist Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court delivered what most religious liberty advocates declared an important victory June 27 in ruling the post-game, midfield prayer of a high school football coach did not violate the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion.

In a 6-3 opinion, the justices decided the Bremerton (Wash.) School District actually violated the First Amendment rights of Joseph Kennedy by removing him as a coach because of its concerns his practice infringed on the Establishment Clause. In doing so, the majority acknowledged it no longer abides by a more than 50-year-old standard in church-state cases known as the Lemon test.

“[A] government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment,” Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court’s opinion. “And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

KEY QUOTES FROM DOBBS. V. JACKSON DECISION

By ERLC staff

B&R file / Supreme Court photo

NASHVILLE — In a monumental case that strikes down a constitutional basis for abortion, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Dobbs v. Jackson on June 24 that the issue of abortion is returned to the states. Specifically, the court held that “Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

The ERLC applauds today’s landmark ruling and is grateful for the long-awaited overturn to the court’s disastrous abortion precedent. This ruling is a culmination of nearly 50 years of focused work by the pro-life movement to overturn Roe v. Wade and protect the unborn.

By overturning Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Dobbs ruling sends the question of abortion back to the states. This decision, rather than marking the end of the pro-life movement, will instead launch a new chapter as advocates turn their attention to protecting life in state capitals and working to build a true culture of life across the nation. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

PRAISING THE GOD OF EVERY LANGUAGE

Eighty-eight campers make professions of faith at ANC

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

The 2022 All Nations Camp drew about 300 participants from across Tennessee to Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center. — Photos by Kevin Perrigan

NEWPORT — The nations came to English Mountain in Newport in early June.

More than 300 children, teenagers and adults from across the state attended the All Nations Camp (ANC) held June 6-10 at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center. The camp was sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

It is the largest attended camp since 2019, said William Burton, new churches team leader and ethnic specialist for the TBMB. The camp was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 and last year’s attendance was less than 100, far short of the record 500 who attended in 2018.

What makes All Nations Camp special is that “it is all about evangelism, worship and connecting with children and youth from our language churches,” Burton said. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

RESPONDING TO PROTESTS: ACTION STEPS TO HANDLE DEMONSTRATIONS AT YOUR CHURCH

Brotherhood Mutual / The Baptist Paper

Protests occur at worship centers across the country for a number of reasons. Hate groups, social activist organizations, and others spread their message by staging events that provoke confrontation and attract media attention.

If demonstrators responding to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade were to appear on your doorstep this Sunday, would you know what to do? See related stories on Friday’s Supreme Court ruling  here and here. For an additional story regarding the response of Tennessee Baptist Convention leaders, click here.  [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

TBC LEADERS RESPOND TO REVERSAL OF ROE V. WADE

Editor’s note: Additional information on the historic Roe v. Wade decision will be printed as it becomes available.

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

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist leaders have expressed their excitement over the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on June 24 to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe. v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.

By a 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court effectively ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling now gives each state the power to ban, limit or allow abortions. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts did not join the majority ruling, instead wrote a concurring opinion that he would not have overturned Wade but would have only upheld Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks.

The high court overruled the 1973 decision that struck down all state abortion bans and legalized the procedure throughout the country. The justices also invalidated the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey opinion that affirmed Roe.

The 6-3 opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a case regarding Mississippi’s prohibition of the abortion of preborn children whose gestational age is more than 15 weeks — returns policy decisions on the issue to the states and marks a long-sought-for victory for the pro-life movement. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

PASSION FOR ‘PLANTING’ STILL BURNS WITHIN TIEBOUT

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

Steve and Melissa Tiebout recently served as program participants in a retreat for church planters sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

NEWPORT — When Steve Tiebout became the founding pastor of The River Church, a new plant in Cookeville more than 20 years ago, he never envisioned the church growing to an average attendance of 1,200 to 1,400 people in three worship services.

In his mind, the church would always stay between 200 and 300 people and when that was exceeded, the church would send out members to start another church.

“I really thought we could stay between 200 and 300 people by planting churches every two years, but it seemed like the more churches we planted, the more God sent people to us. We could not outgive God,” Tiebout said.

In 20 years the church has birthed or “adopted” 16 congregations that are still operating, Tiebout said, noting that in some instances, the church came alongside a pastor who had felt called to start a church, but did not have a sponsoring or “mother” church.  [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

LONG HOLLOW CHURCH STAFF MEMBER COMMITS FRAUD OF MORE THAN $100K

By Baptist Press

HENDERSONVILLE — An executive staff member at Long Hollow Baptist Church has been “systematically abusing his access to church resources,” the church said in a statement released June 23.

The statement is signed by senior pastor Robby Gallaty and executive pastor Collin Wood.

Through an audit, Daniel Meadows, a campus operations specialist and executive assistant, was discovered to have made fraudulent and personal purchases of more than $100,000. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

HUGS AND HANDSHAKES: TBMB DESSERT FELLOWSHIP

Continuing the tradition, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board hosted its annual dessert fellowship for Tennessee families who attended this year’s SBC annual meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. The dessert fellowship was held on the night of June 13.

  • Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, far right, prays with Willie McLaurin, his wife, Antonia, and daughters SiChanna and Sierra during the dessert fellowship sponsored by the TBMB prior to the start of the SBC annual meeting. McLaurin formerly served on the TBMB staff and is the interim CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper
  • Memphis native Jonathan Epting, left, now of California, visits with friends Daniel and Candace Jerkins, of Hickory Withe First Baptist Church, Eads, where he serves as associate pastor.
  • Visiting at the TBMB Dessert Fellowship were, from left, Randy Roper, director of missions, Big Emory Baptist Association, Harriman; Scott White, associate pastor, Central Baptist Church, Crossville, and his wife, Beth; and Kirk Casey, director of missions, Cumberland Plateau Baptist Association, Crossville.
  • Meeting for the first time at the dessert fellowship were, from left, Keith Johnson, senior pastor, East Maryville Baptist Church, Maryville, and his wife, Nancy, and Kim and Todd Capps, associate pastor, Victory Baptist Church, Mount Juliet.
  • Ryan Wicker, associate pastor of education at First Baptist Church, Dickson, his wife, Rebekah, and children, from left, Emmett, John and Madie enjoyed the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim. They attended a dessert fellowship at the convention sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
Facebooktwittermail

SBC COVERAGE: TWO TENNESSEANS NAMED TO SBC COMMITTEE

Baptist and Reflector

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The 2022 Committee on Committees has released its report.

Appointed by the SBC president, the Committee on Committees nominates the Committee on Nominations and any special committees that are authorized during Convention sessions. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

SBC COVERAGE: LAMENT, REPENTANCE FOR SEXUAL ABUSE UNDERSCORE RESOLUTIONS

By Erin Roach
Baptist Press

With outgoing president Ed Litton at the stand, messengers vote on an amendment to Resolution 6, “On Lament and Repentance for Sexual Abuse.” — Photo by Karen McCutcheon / Baptist Press

ANAHEIM, Calif.  — Southern Baptists publicly lamented the harm their “actions and inactions have caused to survivors of sexual abuse” in a resolution adopted by messengers to the 2022 SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif.

Messengers, during the second report of the Resolutions Committee, agreed sexual abuse is an abomination before God which grieves Christ, abandons the demands of Scripture, violates the image of God and “causes harm to those who are entrusted to the church’s care and protection.”

The resolution said sexual abuse perpetrated by pastoral leaders or church members is a violation of the sacred trust for pastoral leaders, and sexual abuse in the church is a failure of personal and public witness. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

Address

4017 Rural Plains Circle
Franklin, TN 37064

Contact Information

Mail: Baptist & Reflector, P.O. Box 682789, Franklin, TN 37068
Physical Address: 4017 Rural Plains Circle, Franklin, TN 37064
Email: bandr@tnbaptist.org
Phone: 615-371-2003

2022 © The Baptist and Reflector. All Right Reserved.