Thousands of messengers are anticipated to gather June 10–11 for the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, being held this year in Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

DALLAS — Southern Baptists will be gathering soon in Dallas for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting (June 10–11), which is expected to draw well over 10,000 people.

North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley appears to be running unchallenged — at least for now — for a second term as SBC president.

Other officer positions also only had one nominee announced at press time.

Still, plenty of questions and opportunities for debate concerning the Convention’s future are anticipated at the annual meeting under the theme, “Hold Fast: Confession and Cooperation,” inspired by Hebrews 10:23–24. [Read more…]

‘Miss Susan’ says she ‘loved coming to work every day’

Susan Mason has been a fixture at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center in Newport for 28 years. — Photo by Brighton Tietz

NEWPORT — An era comes to an end on May 30 when Susan Mason retires after nearly three decades on the staff of Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center.
Mason joined the staff in March of 1997 when the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board property was then known as Camp Carson.

She was employed to handle reservations for the camp. Prior to her arrival, reservations had to be made through the TBMB (formerly the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention) office in Brentwood. TBMB is now headquartered in Franklin. She has been the only person to serve in that role.

“It was a thrill to watch the conference center being built and open in 2000,” recalled Mason now office coordinator for Carson Springs. [Read more…]

DALLAS — Randy C. Davis is hoping for a big Tennessee turnout in Texas.

Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is inviting all Tennessee Baptists who are attending the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting — being held in Dallas — to a dessert fellowship on Monday, June 9. The free event will cap off the first full day of the convention, which runs June 9-11.

“The fellowship is always like a mini-family reunion,” said Davis. “In years past, we have visited with each other, enjoyed delicious King Cake and laughed until we were chased from the room by servers needing to reset the room for another event.”

The fellowship will be held in the C4 ballroom inside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center — the host site for this year’s meeting — and is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m.

“We’d like to invite all Tennessee Baptists who are in Dallas to come join us for this special time,” said Davis. “We’ve had record-breaking attendance at this event in recent years, and we’d love to break the record again.” B&R

Disaster relief volunteers finish their work on one of the newly rebuilt bridges at a resident’s home in East Tennessee. “This is a team effort involving many volunteers from all over Tennessee who come to do God’s work,” said Dale Moles, who leads and volunteers with the Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief team. — Photo by Katie Shaw

TBDR builds a way home for families after Helene  

MOUNTAIN CITY — Last September, Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding ravaged East Tennessee’s mountains, destroying not just homes and roads but thousands of private bridges, leaving families isolated on their own property.

[Read more…]

Cecily Berry with her father Michael Berry on graduation day from Union University. Photo by Karley Hathcock

Cecily Berry got a unique gift from her father Michael when she graduated from Union University on Saturday with her Master of Business Administration degree.

Michael had secretly been working on his own MBA degree and made the May 3 ceremony extra special by graduating with her.

Michael, who works as senior plant director for Corelle Brands in the Memphis area, had been thinking about completing an MBA for years. He completed his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

In the fall of 2023, with his wife working as a realtor and no children left at home, he decided the time was right to move forward. Then the thought hit him: “What if I keep it secret from Cecily and try to graduate with her?”

Michael reached out to Union with his idea, and they helped him pull it off.

“It’s been a little challenging,” he said. “Naomi Van Nes has been hugely instrumental in helping me plan my classes, so that’s really where it started.”

Van Nes, graduate and adult admissions counselor, knew what Cecily’s course schedule would be, so she helped Michael work around that and ensure that they were never in the same class. Even in an online program like Union’s MBA, students can see the names of every other person in the class.

Throughout his studies, Michael had to work with professors – and other students he knew were friends with Cecily – to make sure they kept his endeavor a secret.

One of Michael’s biggest challenges came last summer when Cecily spent several weeks at home while interning with a wealth management company. He had to figure out how to get his coursework done without completing it at home.

“I would stay late in my office, or I’d come to work on Saturday and just tell her I was working on a project or whatever,” he said. “I knew if I could make it through the summer that I was home free.”

At the commencement ceremony on May 3, Michael and his wife, Niki, made sure that Cecily was already lined up with all the graduates prior to the service. Then he casually walked up to her wearing his cap and gown and revealed the news – he was going to be graduating with her that day.

“And you somehow missed all of my classes, too,” Cecily told her dad upon hearing his news. “We could have had a group project together.”

Cecily said she was completely surprised by the revelation.

“It makes me so proud. I cried when I saw him in his robe,” she said. “He’s been my example in everything that I do.”

Cecily completed her bachelor’s degree in economics from Union in December and through an accelerated program was able to finish her master’s degree just one semester later. She plans to pursue a career in financial advising.

Her older sister Gabrielle is also a Union alumnus and is attending seminary at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina. As members of Bellevue Baptist in Cordova, Michael said Union was a great fit for his daughters.

“Both of my daughters really appreciate the biblical worldview of an education, of preparing themselves to step out into the real world,” he said.

Union Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Kingston, Tenn. Photo Provided.

KINGSTON — Eight women sat around a table, their laughter filling Union Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Kingston, Tenn. Flour flew in all directions as Janice Poland instructed the group of 70- to 82-year-old women on how to make fried apple and peach pies. They have a hefty goal of making 2,000.

Technically, that’s just phase one of their overall goal to support and send International Mission Board missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission. After this, there’s selling the pies for 21 weeks in the local farmer’s market. Then, it will be time for the holiday craft bazaar. Everyone in the community knows all proceeds go to missions and the task of taking the gospel to places that might not know Jesus’ name.

“We aren’t going, so we need to be sending,” Poland said, explaining the reason the women’s group worked year-round to raise money for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®. 

Mary Lane Moore added that many in their small church of 50 members cannot go to the mission field due to health or work, but that didn’t stop God from calling them to be a part of it in some capacity. 

“We all can’t serve the same way. This is where we are meant to be,” Moore said. “We can give, pray and send missionaries.” 

Pastor David Acres never imagined the impact the IMB’s Church Connections initiative would make on his congregation. The church has always given to missions, but they went from it being a line item in the annual budget to being actively engaged year-round. 

It started with an email from IMB missionaries Jon and Betty Loving. They described their ministry in Europe, introduced their family and asked the church to pray for specific requests. The small Tennessee church did not have a missionary sent directly from their congregation, so as part of IMB’s Church Connections, they were matched with the Lovings. The goal of Church Connections is for all 47,000 Southern Baptist churches to connect and engage on a personal level with the missionaries they cooperatively support. 

Acres read the Lovings’ email aloud to the small church and prayed for the family. Their requests went on the church’s prayer list. With each new ministry update, Acres followed the same procedure. As the church got to know the Lovings’ struggles and life highlights, like one of the Loving kids winning a soccer match or a refugee coming to faith in Jesus, a subtle shift happened. 

They regularly prayed for other missionaries. The Woman’s Missionary Union group that went dormant after the COVID years began meeting again as women’s ministry. The biggest shift, though, came when the church discussed the 2024 budget and their annual $750 gift to international missions. One church member stood up and proclaimed, “We can do better!” 

No one knew what that might look like, but the whole church got involved. The women’s group gathered donations from church members and prepared crafts for a holiday bazaar. Poland made fried pies to sell. Another woman made Italian cream cakes, while someone else made full-sized Christmas wreaths. A 13-year-old made bookmarks and other crafts. Even Moore’s 3-year-old grandson helped with simple projects. After months of work, the church hosted a holiday bazaar with people coming from as far as 50 miles away to help the cause. 

“I think it was us just stepping out in faith,” Moore said. “We never imagined the kind of results we’d get; we just knew God wanted us to do what we could.” 

When Poland and Moore tabulated the results of the church’s efforts, they increased their 2024 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering from $750 to $9,200. 

The church hasn’t stopped. The group of eight women meet every two weeks to make pies and plan out the 2025 bazaar. They know they can top last year. In fact, they are expanding their efforts to include the community food bank while increasing their Lottie Moon giving. 

The bottom line, Acres said, is because of getting to know the Loving family and praying for their work, the church took ownership of cooperatively supporting and sending missionaries. They discovered a small congregation is part of the big picture. 

“Thank you for your work,” Acres wrote back to their missionaries in Europe. “Thank you for inspiring us to do better. I pray this is only a beginning for our church to understand our partnership in missions.” 

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by the International Mission Board. 

NASHVILLE — Anthony Burdick, director of pastoral care at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, delivered an update on the medical system’s operations during the April Board of Directors meeting for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Baptist Memorial Health Care is one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the United States. They operate 24 hospitals across Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas with 1,100 employed providers. The system manages 3,860 licensed beds and collaborates with 6,000 affiliated physicians and licensed providers, employing a total of 22,000 team members.

“I believe to date, we are the largest healthcare provider in the state of Mississippi,” Burdick noted. [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board directors approved a new collaborative ministry model, examined financial reports, and voted to maintain a two-day schedule for this year’s Summit during their spring meeting at Judson Baptist Church on April 29.

The board also celebrated several ministry milestones while addressing the implementation of organizational changes following a recent 13% staff reduction that has created financial flexibility for the new operational approach.

Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB, explained how the staffing changes support the new ministry direction. [Read more…]

BCM students from Tennessee spend spring break on mission field

COOKEVILLE — “All God needs from me is obedience and a willingness to serve,” said Hayden Giuttari, a Baptist Collegiate Ministry student from Tennessee Tech University.

Guittari joined other TTU BCM students to assist with disaster relief in East Tennessee during their spring break.

Across Tennessee, BCM Collegiate ministry specialists mobilized over 100 students to follow Jesus’ call to reach “Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” Students from Austin Peay State University, Belmont University, Cleveland State Community College, Lee University, Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee Tech University, and University of Tennessee Chattanooga were sent out to serve on BCM spring break mission trips to East Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, Argentina, England, and Puerto Rico.

The trips were a example of the gospel-sharing focus of the BCM, which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2025.

“One of the things we are passionate about is introducing college students to missions,” said Steven Johnston, collegiate ministry specialist at UTC. “This year, Baptist Collegiate Ministries of the Chattanooga region had the opportunity to offer four mission trips of various levels, costs, and types of work.”

Johnston’s approach creates valuable experiences for students to serve and to explore their potential call to missions.

The various mission projects “allowed students the opportunity to jump in at their own comfort zone,” Johnston added.

Reaching Judea: East Tennessee

Ben Maddox, collegiate ministry specialist at TTU, led one team to BeachReach in Panama City, Fla., while sending 23 students to assist with the Arise and Build disaster relief projects in East Tennessee.

“BCM students took their fifth trip during their spring break to help with rebuild efforts in northeast Tennessee. They helped families with insulation installation, installing steps to homes, and other rebuild efforts,” said Maddox.

Jacob Rambo, a TTU Agricultural Engineering major, was impacted from this experience. “It was hard to leave the disaster relief work to return home with so much more work to be done. I really saw God move on the trip after we finished a lady’s insulation and crawl space,” he said.

“Seeing how God was working through so many generous full-time volunteers showed me how doing things of eternal significance should be our goal,” said Callie Roper, a TTU Agribusiness major.

The BCMs from UTC and Cleveland State Community College partnered to mobilize more students for missions and prepare a team to serve with disaster relief in Elizabethton.

Elizabeth Head, a UTC Communications major, shared, “We were able to help at many more locations than we had planned, and we got to complete more assignments than we had expected.

“Our team built lifelong connections with one another and learned ways we can help lead each other towards Christ,” Head added.

Reaching Samaria: Missouri, Ohio

BCM leaders and students from Austin Peay and Belmont felt a great need to organize mission trips to cities not far from Tennessee.

APSU BCM partnered with First Baptist Church of Mt. Healthy near Cincinnati, Ohio, while Belmont BCM traveled to Ferguson, Mo., to aid a Send Relief “drop-in center” for the homeless.

“We built relationships with the homeless community through the drop-in center,” said Cole Rogers, collegiate ministry specialist associate at Belmont. “We helped process them so they could shower, wash clothes, and relax.”

They worked at the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, Salvation Army, and various sites throughout Ferguson. Additionally, Rogers add they encouraged the missionaries that serve with Send Relief by giving them gift baskets and notes of encouragement.

APSU BCM’s work in Cincinnati also included reaching University of Cincinnati students.

“It was a blessing to connect with pastor Ken Dillard, who was also the Baptist campus minister at the University of Cincinnati for more than 30 years,” said Stacy Murphree, collegiate ministry specialist at APSU BCM. “We served with the church as they are working hard to be a gospel presence in the community.”

They provided block parties at local elementary schools, served in ministries offering meals and clothing, and prayer walked the University of Cincinnati campus, connecting students with a local SBC ministry called H2O.

Maddie Holt, a sophomore Communication Sciences and Disorders major, said, “Cincinnati was a special time as the Lord truly taught me the importance of doing all things with the love that comes from Him.

“I learned to lean on the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead the conversations. Even if the conversation didn’t go how I planned, it went how God wanted it to — which is the best way,” she said.

Every mission trip provides opportunities to grow.

Matthew Rollings, a junior Business Management major, shared, “I spoke with pastor Dillard about how we are all simply called to make ourselves available to God. By evangelizing in the community, working at food banks, and doing service projects around the church, the team was able to live out this call to availability.”

Reaching the Ends of the Earth: Argentina, London, Puerto Rico

Grace Johnson, collegiate ministry specialist associate at Cleveland State Community College, led a team of seven to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to support missionaries and local churches through encouragement, service, and evangelism.

The team focused on visiting churches, ministering to local believers, prayer walking, and conducting spiritual surveys while utilizing various ways to share Jesus with others.

“One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching my students use every opportunity to point others to Jesus, whether in an Uber ride or walking through a souvenir shop,” Johnson added.

Despite language and cultural barriers, Kate Brown, a junior elementary education major at Lee University and a campus missionary at BCM Cleveland, saw God’s work in Buenos Aires. “It was powerful to witness people from diverse nations and backgrounds united in proclaiming God’s greatness and advancing His kingdom,” she said.

Shelby Hall, collegiate ministry specialist associate at Middle Tennessee State University, took 12 BCM students to London, England, where they worked with IMB missionaries Scott and Dana Belmore engaging university students. This was the first international trip MTSU BCM had taken since January 2020.

“Our students engaged in conversations with many international students attending university, many of whom had never heard of Jesus or the gospel,” Hall explained. The team also prayer walked campuses the missionaries hadn’t yet reached.

“The students were challenged in new ways with the diversity in religious views present, but they met these challenges with a resilient attitude of completing the mission without discouragement,” Hall explained.

College provides an ideal time for mission opportunities. Students often come home with motivation to see their own campus as their mission field.

“I love when students return from a mission trip excited to put into practice what they learned while serving on the mission field,” said Johnston. B&R