Bill Keen, of Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church, Knoxville, and Larry Russell, of Lyons Creek Baptist Church, Strawberry Plains, discard materials stripped from a house in Newport. Knox County Association of Baptists disaster relief teams took several houses down to wall studs to enable water damage to dry and to prepare houses for mold eradication.

NEWPORT — Johnny and Sharon Hill heard neighbors shouting and looked outside to see what the commotion was about. It was water rising — and quickly — from the Pigeon River overflowing its banks more than 200 yards away and charging toward the Hills’ neighborhood.

“We’ve lived here 29 years and I’ve never seen it like that,” Johnny said. “Nowhere close. By the time we grabbed a few things, the water was gushing in.”

The Hills made it to safety, but just barely. The water level inside their house was about five feet by the time the river finally crested. Neighbors between them and the river had to be rescued from the roofs of their houses. One was airlifted by helicopter from the roof of a wooden shed that lodged itself against a power pole. [Read more…]

Phil Young, director of prison ministry at Carson-Newman University, shares a light moment with his faculty team during a fall planning meeting. The university’s prison ministry enters its second year this fall.

JEFFERSON CITY — Phil Young’s morning routine in preparing for class looks a bit different than most college professors. He arrives on site around 7:45 in the morning. 

“We go through all the normal screening that all the staff goes through to make sure we’re not bringing anything in we shouldn’t,” says Young. “We get to the classroom between 7:45 and 8 a.m. Prepare the room for the day. Students begin arriving around 8:15.” 

It’s a structured routine that the Carson-Newman University director of prison ministry and the students have become accustomed with since the university launched its prison ministry last fall in coordination with Morgan County Correctional Complex. 

Fourteen inmates comprise the group, which began its second year this fall. Each student had to apply to the program designed to offer a bachelor of arts degree in Christian studies, with an emphasis in Christian ministry. Along with applying, each student had to meet certain criteria.  [Read more…]

MURFREESBORO — Tennessee Baptists will have an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ in the city where the Tennessee Baptist Convention was established in 1874. 

Two outreach events, sponsored by Concord Baptist Association and Tennessee Baptist Mission Board will be held in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County Nov. 9, the day before The Summit: The Gathering of Tennessee Baptists begins at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro and later Embassy Suites. 

The Saturday event is similar to Crossover which is held in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention each year, said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.  [Read more…]

The damage done by flooding from Hurricane Helene created a ‘total loss’ at Enon Baptist Church in Jonesborough. — Photo submitted by pastor Keith Malone

JONESBOROUGH — Enon Baptist Church weathered the storm, even though their building did not. 

Less than one week after Hurricane Helene ravaged Enon’s facilities, the church members gathered for their Wednesday night activities as normal, albeit in a different location. They met at a nearby Methodist church, where the pastor had graciously invited the Enon members to hold their services. 

Enon pastor Keith Malone said he felt it was vital for his church to continue moving forward in the immediate aftermath of the storm. 

“I told our members that I didn’t want there to be any lag,” Malone said. “I told them right away — we are going to meet somewhere. And then things all worked out with the Methodist church.” 

That is not to say, however, that the Enon members aren’t dealing with great sadness after their building was deluged with nine feet of water in the sanctuary.  [Read more…]

Jennifer Lewis (front of the line on the right) and other TBDR volunteers form an “assembly line” while making sandwiches at First Baptist Church, Dandridge.

FRANKLIN — The response by Tennessee Baptists disaster relief volunteers in recent days can best be summed up in one word: Extensive. 

That word applies to almost every aspect of the ongoing relief efforts — including the amount of time that the projects are going to take, the range of the impacted areas and the variety of assignments that the volunteers are being asked to do. 

Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, said this is one of the most wide-spread responses he has seen in his tenure at the TBMB. 

“It rivals Katrina, maybe even ‘beats’ Katrina, in terms of its reach and its impact,” Jones said.  [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — The 2024 Summit: The Gathering of Tennessee Baptists is just around the corner and it promises to be one of the most unique annual meetings in recent years. 

Summit will take place Nov. 10-12 at Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro, the city in which the Tennessee Baptist Convention was established in 1874. 

The annual meeting will be unique in several ways, acknowledged Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “It is our 150th anniversary and rather than just acknowledging it, we have made it a big deal,” he said. 

Davis also noted another unique aspect of this year’s meeting is that Summit will end on Tuesday night rather than its traditional conclusion at midday on Wednesday.  [Read more…]

Union University president Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver addresses attendees at the Pastor and Wives event.

JACKSON — Union University president Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver encouraged local pastors and their wives to focus relentlessly, love deeply and commit completely as they shepherd their churches. 

“Brothers and sisters, what you do is great,” Oliver said. “It’s truly great, so remind yourself of that, and don’t ever forget it.”

Oliver was the featured speaker at the university’s annual Pastors and Wives Appreciation Banquet Sept. 10 in the Carl Grant Events Center. 

He told pastors that the more they attempt to accomplish, the more some people will stand in their way.  [Read more…]

Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, speaks with attendees at a Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief training session held on the campus of East Tennessee State University on Oct. 3. More than 400 people attended the event. — Photos courtesy of BCM, ETSU

JOHNSON CITY — A simple phone conversation between Jonathan Chapman, collegiate ministry specialist at East Tennessee State University, and Troy Rust, director of missions for Holston Baptist Association, led to one of the largest-ever disaster relief training events in Tennessee.

What’s more, the event at the ETSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry center on Oct. 3 was planned, promoted and executed in three days.

Four hundred-plus participants registered for the training led by Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. It was the largest single training event he has led during his nine years with TBMB, he affirmed.

Events are normally planned weeks or months in advance but with the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in northeast Tennessee, Rust contacted Jones on Monday, Sept. 30, to see if he could lead an event three days later. [Read more…]

Bobby and Wanda Mullins, pictured here with their grandchildren in 2021, died from injuries sustained in a car crash Sept. 4. Bobby died on impact, and Wanda died the following day at the hospital. — Facebook photo

PIPERTON — Pastor Bobby Mullins posted these words on Facebook on Aug. 27, — “What if you only had one month to live? … What would you do to make the rest of your life really matter?”

He had no idea he and his wife, Wanda, would lose their lives in a car accident just over a week later.

In the days since, that Facebook post — which includes a link to a video of one of his sermons from 2008 called “Living Like You’re Dying” — has more than 91,000 views.

“If you live like you’re dying, you’re going to give God your last breath and you’re going to keep giving it for Him until you have your last breath,” Bobby Mullins said in that sermon. [Read more…]