Tennessee Archives - Baptist & Reflector

AXIS CHURCH MOVES FORWARD AFTER FIRE

September 20, 2021

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Members of The Axis Church gathered for worship less than a week after an arsonist set fire to the church.

NASHVILLE — Despite some difficult circumstances, The Axis Church is still spinning.

Members of the church, located in downtown Nashville, gathered for an on-campus worship service on Sunday, Sept. 19 — just six days after an arsonist set fire to the building and caused extensive damage. The arsonist threw a Molotov cocktail through a church window on the night of Sept. 13.

Pastor Jeremy Rose said the service was a crucial first step in the healing process.

“For our church, I think this was kind of like 9-11, on a much smaller scale,” Rose said during an interview with the Baptist and Reflector. “So, we need a ‘George Bush throwing out the first pitch’ type of thing to happen. And we felt (the Sunday service) would offer that type of moment.”

Rose estimated the damage caused by the fire to be “easily a quarter of a million dollars.” The church lost 300 chairs (used for worship services and other gatherings) and all of its sound-system equipment. Soot and smoke caused damage to walls and ceilings.

Firefighters arrived at the church around 2 a.m. on Sept. 14 and extinguished a small fire inside the building, according to published reports. The incident — which drew coverage from each of the major network TV affiliates in the Nashville market — did not result in any injuries, but left emotional scarring for the Axis members. [Read more…]

HENDERSON POLICE OFFICER NOW ADDS CHAPLAIN TO HER LONG LIST OF TITLES

September 17, 2021

By Ashley Perham
Baptist and Reflector

Enville Baptist Church recently commissioned member Danielle Cook as a chaplain. She is presented a plaque by pastor Ron Davidson.

ENVILLE — From police officer to church trumpet player to volunteer fire department chaplain to mother of six children, Danielle Cook, a member of Enville Baptist Church, does it all.

Cook, who is originally from Iowa, moved to Tennessee with her family in 2011. She worked in childcare until her youngest child began school.

Then, she began working at the prison in Clifton, but she quickly realized that the prison environment was not for her, she said.

Her supervisor suggested she become a police officer. For the past three years, she’s been an officer with the Henderson Police Department. [Read more…]

TBMB DIRECTORS APPROVE BUDGET, PARTNERSHIP RECOMMENDATIONS

September 16, 2021

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

NASHVILLE — The directors of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board approved a $35 million Cooperative Program budget for 2021-22 and a partnership with the Hawaii/Pacific Baptist Convention during its Sept. 15 meeting at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville.

The directors also voted to extend the City Reach partnership for another year so that volunteer mission work can be emphasized in the Clarksville area in a joint effort with the Cumberland Baptist Association. The bulk of City Reach Clarksville was scheduled last year but it was interrupted by COVID-19. The extension will run through Dec. 31, 2023.

City Reach was approved by Tennessee Baptist Convention messengers in 2016 to reach the urban areas in the state’s largest metropolitan areas — Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Clarksville. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE BAPTIST DR TEAMS ARE ON THE MOVE

September 15, 2021

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — While numerous Tennessee Baptist disaster relief volunteers are continuing to assist the flood recovery efforts in their home state, other DR teams are being dispatched to Louisiana to serve those impacted by Hurricane Ida.

In both places, people are hurting. And in both places, Tennessee Baptist DR teams are meeting needs — physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Over the past few weeks, a large number of DR volunteers have played pivotal roles in Humphreys County, where severe flooding left a trail of destruction on the morning of Aug. 21. The towns of Waverly and McEwen were among the hardest hit by the storm, and parts of Johnson County also experienced extensive damage. The flooding resulted in at least 20 deaths according to published reports. [Read more…]

2021 GOTM GIFTS EXCEED $1.7 MILLION

September 14, 2021

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptists gave $1,721,190 through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions in 2020-21.

Though the total was the lowest total since 2014-15, it was still “an amazing amount given by Tennessee Baptists during a pandemic year when many churches weren’t meeting in the fall of 2020, the time of year most churches give to the offering,” said Vickie Anderson, executive director of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union.

“While the amount received for the state missions offering may be less, Tennessee Baptists were very active in prayer and doing hands-on missions and ministry in their community, association and across the state,” Anderson added.

“It is exciting that more than $1.7 million was given through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions in a year of COVID 19-created challenges,” agreed Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD: 2021 SUMMIT PREVIEW

September 14, 2021

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

FRANKLIN — “Forward Together with One Heart” is the theme of the 2021 Summit to be held Nov. 14-17 at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood.

“I believe our theme for Summit reminds us of the great unity to be found in the Lord’s Great Commission calling” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

“Our theme serves both as a reminder of who we are called to be while compelling us forward to reach Tennessee and the nations for Jesus Christ,” Davis added.

The TBMB leader expressed excitement about the upcoming meeting. “I am so looking forward to Tennessee Baptists coming together in November for Summit. It feels like years since we have gathered together so I believe this year’s celebration will be a great encouragement for all of us after 18 challenging months,” he said. [Read more…]

LEWIS DONATES MOST OF PASTORAL LIBRARY TO UNION

September 8, 2021

By Grace White
Union University

Lewis

JACKSON — Pastor Frank Lewis of First Baptist Church, Nashville, has donated approximately 2,000 books from his personal library to Union University to be used by students and faculty.

Lewis’ collection is expansive, including various Bible commentaries and devotionals as well as books that he inherited from the two pastors who served before him at FBC Nashville.

As part of Union’s library, Lewis’ collection will be used to help train the next generation of pastors. His collection includes books that had belonged to his mother and books bought with money that his uncle had given him while he was a seminary student.

“What’s the possibility that some student from Union is going to write a sermon and preach it in a youth camp, and a kid is going to give their heart to Christ?” Lewis asked. “And it may be from an illustration that was provided by a book that my uncle gave me. That’s amazing!”

Lewis, who has been pastor of FBC Nashville since 1997, is not the only FBC Nashville pastor to donate his personal library to Union. Franklin Paschall, who served as the pastor there from 1956-1983, gave his library to Union. Also included in this donation was the library of Paschall’s predecessor, William Francis Powell, who served from 1921-1956. [Read more…]

FOOD PANTRY HELPS CHURCH REACH COMMUNITY, SHARE GOSPEL

September 7, 2021

By Ashley Perham
Baptist and Reflector

Riverview Baptist Church pastor Mike Parker puts up a sign to welcome guests to the church’s food pantry.

KNOXVILLE — Mike Parker had never pastored before coming to Riverview Baptist Church, Knoxville, in January 2020 to help with church revitalization.

“You hired a missionary, and so we’re going to do missions,” he told the congregation of around 20. “That’s how we’re going to get this thing going.”

Six weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Parker knew the church needed to start doing outreach so he started a food pantry as an opportunity to help the community.

Parker, who is bivocational, has run a food pantry in Guatemala since 2008. Clubhouse Guatemala is still his full-time job.

Parker described East Knoxville as a working class community that doesn’t have a lot of money. In April 2020, he applied for a Compassion Ministries grant for $2,000 to start the pantry. The grant money came from the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions. [Read more…]

CHURCHES PARTNER TO PROVIDE VBS/SPORTS CAMP

September 3, 2021

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

Ben Baxley of First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, leads a sessions during a VBS/sports camp at First Baptist Church, Fairfield Glade. The two churches partnered for the event.

FAIRFIELD GLADE — In what could only be described as a divine appointment, two ministers were brought together by God and a partnership was formed that was a blessing to both churches.

Bruce Raley, senior associate pastor of First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, and Doug Elders, pastor of First Baptist Church, Fairfield Glade, were the arrangements committee for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention earlier this year. The two ministers had never met before, but they sat together and began a conversation about their respective ministries.

As they talked, Elders related that his congregation, which for many years had held a sports camp to minister to unreached children in the community, was unable to do so this year. FBC, Fairfield Glade, is a medium-sized and primarily senior adult congregation in a resort community near Crossville, Elders noted. In the past, the church had worked with a non-profit ministry to provide the camp, but that was not really an option this year, he said.

As he talked with Raley, the two men began to consider the possibility of a partnership. “Maybe that’s why God put us together,” Raley said. [Read more…]

TBMB JOINS AMICUS BRIEF IN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY CASE

September 2, 2021

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

FRANKLIN — The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board announced plans Sept. 2 to join an amicus (a strong interest in the case but not a party to the case, commonly referred to as “friend of the court”) brief in a certiorari (request to review a lower court decision) filed before the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of “New Life in Christ Church v. City of Fredericksburg, Virginia.”

“The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board was approached about joining the amicus brief by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB.

According to attorney Ryan Tucker of ADF, the case “involves denial of a tax exemption for parsonage housing and issues related to church autonomy.”

The case involves “church staff who live in and conduct their college ministry from the house on church property,” Tucker explained in a letter provided by Davis. [Read more…]

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