Thanksgiving will be observed today in home all across Tennessee and our nation. 

For some, the main emphasis will be food and football, mixed with a little bit of family.

Christians, however, should always keep God at the forefront of all we do, including our holiday celebrations. This is especially true on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

For Christians, every day should be “Thanksgiving.” 

God has given us so many blessings; more than any of us could possibly count. Each day, we can look around and see limitless things for which we are grateful. 

So, as you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, be especially mindful to give God all the thanks and glory He deserves. Remember these words from Jesus in John 15:5: “… because you can do nothing without Me.”

Even when our circumstances in life seem unbearable, we can still give thanks because of Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving! B&R — Lonnie Wilkey

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Hollie Miller, retired pastor and former TBC president, leads a prayer prior to preaching the convention sermon on Nov. 20 at First Baptist Concord. — Photo by James Wilson

KNOXVILLE — Considering the negative numbers and troubling trends that are prevalent in today’s church culture, the challenge of “winning Tennessee for Christ” seems incredibly daunting, perhaps even impossible. 

Hollie Miller sees it differently. 

Preaching the convention sermon at the 145th annual meeting of Tennessee Baptists, Miller, a retired pastor and former TBC president, said he is confident that Tennessee Baptists can reach their No. 1 objective of seeing at least 50,000 Tennesseans annually saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship by 2024.  [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Baptists overwhelmingly adopted a resolution denouncing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and intersectionality during their 145th annual meeting Nov. 19-20 in Knoxville.

Messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention acted on the resolution during the final session on Nov. 20. The resolution defined CRT as “a secular worldview used by some in social sciences to analyze marginalized populations by categorizing differences among peoples, especially race and gender.” The resolution noted that intersectionality “arises from dialogue regarding CRT and focuses on the overlapping categorizations within CRT.”

The resolution presented to TBC messengers was originally written and presented by Shawn Allred, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kenton. The TBC Resolutions Committee rewrote the resolution that was presented for a vote by messengers. [Read more…]

Baptist and Reflector

Bruce Chesser

KNOXVILLE — Hendersonville pastor Bruce Chesser has been elected president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Chesser was elected without opposition Nov. 19 during the afternoon session of the 145th annual meeting of the TBC.

He was nominated by Bruce Raley, executive pastor of First Baptist Church, Hendersonville. A former pastor in Arkansas, Alabama and Texas, Chesser has served as pastor of First Baptist, Hendersonville for the past 10 years.

Raley described Chesser as a pastor/shepherd and an “anointed preacher and teacher of the gospel. He has a passion to see people come to Jesus and to grow in Christ.” [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

Pastor Jaeho Kim, left, of the Korean Baptist Church of Knoxville and William Burton of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, welcome Lucas Hicke, left center, and Seeing Hyun Baik to the family of God. The two boys made professions of faith during the All Nations Worship Celebration Nov. 17 at Black Oak Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Baptists attending the All Nations Worship Celebration received a glimpse of what heaven will look like.

About 700 people representing 60 ethnic groups gathered at Black Oak Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville Nov. 17 for a night of worship. It was the third All Nations Worship Celebration held in conjunction with the opening night of Summit, but the first one held in Knoxville, said William Burton, ethnic church planting and evangelism specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Burton was pleased with the turnout in East Tennessee. “I didn’t know what to expect. The largest concentration of ethnic groups is in Nashville and Middle Tennessee,” he observed.

The large crowd is a confirmation that “Tennessee is a missions field from Mountain City to Memphis,” he affirmed. [Read more…]

FBC Cleveland hosts ‘multi-generational’ service-day ministry

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Virtually every demographic at FBC Cleveland was represented during the church’s one-day service project ministry. In this photo, a group of volunteers spreads mulch while working on one of the 100-plus projects that were completed.

CLEVELAND — Jordan Easley, senior pastor at First Baptist Church, Cleveland, has developed a radical, visionary, outside-the-box evangelism strategy at his church. 

It’s called — the Great Commission. 

“Revolutionary, right?” said Easley.

Although Easley was being tongue-in-cheek about the newness of the concept, he is completely serious when it comes to making sure that the Great Commission — found in Matthew 28:16–20 — is the anchor point for all outreach ministries and events at First Baptist. 

An example? Last month, when FBC mobilized more than 2,000 people to participate in a church-wide “acts of service day”  that spanned throughout the Bradley County area. The one-day ministry included more than 100 service projects — all with the purpose of spreading the Good News of Jesus.  [Read more…]