STEVE GAINES EXHORTS SOUTHERN BAPTISTS TO PRAY
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
NASHVILLE — In Nashville all of 24 hours while his wife Donna was home in Memphis, Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines had already spoken with her four times, he said, because he loves her and simply loves to hear her voice.
The conversations with his wife served as an analogy to encourage Southern Baptists to talk with God and tell others about our Savior, the theme of his sermon on the first evening of the SBC Executive Committee meeting in Nashville Feb. 20-21. [Read more…]
THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF WITHHOLDING COOPERATIVE PROGRAM GIVING
By Lonnie Wilkey and Chris Turner
Baptist and Reflector
BRENTWOOD — For the past few years, giving through the Cooperative Program has been on an upswing in Tennessee and throughout the Southern Baptist Convention.
Recent developments across the Southern Baptist Convention, however, raise questions about whether the upswing in Cooperative Program giving will continue. [Read more…]
SMALL CHURCHES MAKE BIG IMPACT IN DR
By Carolyn Tomlin
Contributing Writer, B&R
BROWNSVILLE — When the call came a few years ago from Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief to assist people who had been affected by an ice storm in Missouri, Woodland Baptist Church here responded.
In the summer of 2016, the team once again loaded up trucks and equipment and headed to Louisiana to help flood victims when the mighty Mississippi River overflowed. [Read more…]
LIFE IS TRULY A ‘GIFT FROM GOD’
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
HUNTINGDON — “We had probably what everybody thought was an impossible rescue,” said Retired United States Air Force Col. Jim Harding of one of his experiences during the Vietnam War.
Harding, a member of First Baptist Church, Huntingdon, and one of the top 25 most decorated veterans in U.S. history, used the event as an illustration of the importance of saving one life in a session of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board staff recently. [Read more…]
RCBA PROVIDES ELL FOR 18 YEARS
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
SPRINGFIELD — Robertson County Baptist Association (RCBA), based here, has offered an English for Language Learners ministry for 18 years.
The ELL program of RCBA, draws about 100 people weekly from Spanish-speaking countries, Iran, Egypt, Brazil, and China to Springfield Baptist Church, said Judy Hurst, member of Springfield Baptist, who is ELL director.
Students attend Thursday evening classes which are offered simultaneously with the RCBA’s HiSET classes, or Thursday morning classes. Aspects of the program that make it popular are that childcare is provided and five levels of classes as well as a citizenship class are offered, Hurst added. [Read more…]
MINISTERING AMONG HISPANICS, ETHNICS
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
SPRINGFIELD — With only two Hispanic Baptist congregations in this area and about 10,000 Hispanic residents, opportunities abound to reach Hispanics here with the gospel, said Luis Lopez of the Robertson County Baptist Association (RCBA).
Also the Hispanic population here is expected to grow 30 percent in the next five years — to 13,000, added Lopez, coordinator for Hispanic work of RCBA.
“The harvest is here. We just need to reap it,” he stated. [Read more…]
MCLAURIN REFLECTS ON BLACK CHURCH GROWTH
Editor’s Note: You can hear Willie McLaurin discuss the growth of African-American churches during Episode 5 of Radio B&R, the official news podcast of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
BRENTWOOD — Two events stand out in the mind of Willie McLaurin as they relate to the growth of African-American churches across both the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.
The first happened in 2012 when Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., became the first African-American to be elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“It meant so much to me to see Bro. Fred elected that tears came streaming down my eyes,” recalled McLaurin, special assistant to the president and director of black church development for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]
FOOTBALL PRAYER LEADS TO EMPLOYEE TRAINING
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
CHATTANOOGA — A public school system has agreed to update employees on applicable constitutional law after a special interest group complained of a Tennessee Baptist minister’s impromptu prayer over an injured player at a high school football game.
The Hamilton County Department of Education (HCDE) will “provide additional training to its employees on the application of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses in public schools,” HCDE attorney D. Scott Bennett told the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) Jan. 30. [Read more…]
DR HELPS 253 FAMILIES AFTER FIRES
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
GATLINBURG — Disaster relief fire response “is so different … . We can’t go door to door saying, ‘Hey, we’re here for you,’ because there are no doors,” explained Kaye Thomas of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief, referring to the hundreds of homes destroyed here by fires three months ago.
“But our yellow hats and blue shirts out on the mountains have really impressed people,” she added.
The Nov. 28 fires in Sevier County took 14 lives, left 160 people injured, and destroyed or damaged 2,800 structures including three Tennessee Baptist churches. [Read more…]
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