Shane Pruitt of the North American Mission Board address the EQUIP Apologetics Conference at Union University. — Photo by Lyla Dietz / Union University

JACKSON — Most cultural debates today are rooted in an attack on God’s original design for His creation, Shane Pruitt told a group of high school students at Union University on Sept. 7.

“At the end of the day, God is the originator, designer and inventor of it all,” said Pruitt, national Next Gen director for the North American Mission Board. “And if God is the original designer, inventor and creator of it all, He also gets to define what things are.

“A lot of cultural agendas and a lot of cultural issues that we’re trying to navigate today are really an attack on God, and it’s mankind wanting to prop itself up as God instead of letting God be the authority, letting God be the definer.” [Read more…]

Sam Leslie, minister of music at South Harriman Baptist Church, leads a combined associational choir during Big Emory’s recent “Night of Worship” following simultaneous revivals from 34 of the association’s 51 churches.

HARRIMAN — Approximately two-thirds of the 51 churches in Big Emory Baptist Association joined together Aug. 25-28 to plant gospel seeds in their communities.

The 34 churches that participated were divided into 10 different groups, said Matt Cannon, director of missions for the association.

From Sunday through Wednesday nights, each group held a revival service at one of the churches in the group with a pastor from a different church bringing the message, Cannon explained.

On Thursday night, all the groups gathered at South Harriman Baptist Church for an association-wide “Night of Worship” led by Roc Collins, director of strategic objectives for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and a combined choir from members of the association’s churches.  [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — Continuing their response efforts after Hurricane Helene’s devastating output, Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief will be setting up two incident command posts in the coming days.

One post will be stationed at First Baptist Church, Dandridge, and Tennessee volunteers will be working out of that area covering Jefferson and Cocke counties. TBDR will be feeding with Salvation Army, and Tennessee chain saw and flood recovery teams will be working out of that site.

An additional incident command post will be set up in Johnson City, covering Washington and Unicoi Counties. Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is still working on determining the location for this post. Texans on Mission will operate that incident command and the feeding area, and the Salvation Army will also be working with the feeding team. Tennessee chain saw and flood recovery teams will be working out of that site also. [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — Some Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams are already in action (see story HERE), but more are needed in the efforts to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene. 

Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, sent out an email Saturday morning, asking that all TBDR teams and volunteers be on standby.

“East Tennessee has been hit hard,” Jones said in the email. “The worst damage is from Newport to Bristol with major flooding and wind damage. Local teams are already responding, but we will need teams to respond for some time to come.” [Read more…]

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 28.

NEWPORT — Eastern Tennessee experienced significant and widespread damage Friday afternoon due to torrential rains and high winds from Hurricane Helene.

Helene made landfall in the Florida Panhandle late Thursday and forcefully progressed through Eastern Georgia into Tennessee along the Appalachian Mountains, causing severe flooding and wind damage in numerous East Tennessee counties. Newport, Irwin, Hampton and other cities have been affected.

“It has been a catastrophic afternoon,” said Randy C. Davis, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board executive director, on Friday afternoon. “Our hearts are broken for the people in Cocke, Washington, Unicoi, Greene and other counties that may be eventually affected by the severe weather and its aftermath. [Read more…]

Hurricane Helene is seen in a NOAA satellite image captured at approximately 6 a.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (NOAA)

MOUNT JULIET — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams have been placed on alert for possible response to Hurricane Helene.

As of 2 p.m. EST on Sept. 26, Helene is currently a Category 2 hurricane with wind speeds of 110 mph. It is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Big Bend this evening as at least a Category 3 hurricane, bringing the risk of devastating damage, according to an NBC News report. Some news outlets have reported that it could reach Category 4 status. [Read more…]

Four ministers at Central Baptist Church have served on staff for a total of 115 years. From left are Terry May, marriage and family pastor, 17 years; Billy Kemp, legacy pastor, 32 years; Roland Smith, senior pastor, 39 years; and Scott White, executive pastor, 27 years.

CROSSVILLE — Search across the Southern Baptist Convention and you will find churches with pastors who have long tenures and even other ministers who have been at the same church for a number of years.

In a society, however, where the average stay of a minister at a church is normally less than six or seven years, it would be hard pressed to find a church that matches Central Baptist Church in Crossville. The church has four ministers with a combined 115 years of service with the congregation.

Roland Smith, senior pastor, will celebrate his 40th anniversary with the congregation next spring. What makes that even more unusual is that three of the church’s six other ministers have been with him 17 years or more — Billy Kemp, legacy pastor, 32 years; Scott White, executive pastor, 27 years; and Terry May, marriage and family pastor, 17 years.

In addition, many of the office’s staff have long tenure as well, including Rhonda Andrews who has served as Central’s office manager for 27 years. [Read more…]

Tennessee Baptist disaster relief volunteers Guy Patterson and Dick Rollins speak with homeower Earline Gaskin about a tarping job that the DR team was about to do for her.

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist disaster relief volunteers are accustomed to hard work and sweat.

This week, there’s been plenty of both for a team from Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville.

Traveling to Morgan City, La., to assist victims who are recovering from Hurricane Francine, the DR team is dealing with oppressive humidity while completing various tasks for homeowners in the area.

Steve Brock, who is leading the team, said the volunteers have needed to constantly change shirts because they are “sweating out” their clothes each day.

Through Sept. 19, the team had completed 14 jobs, including tarping several rooftops and performing a number of chain shaw jobs. The team has also had many opportunities to share their faith, Brock said. [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — Lonnie Wilkey’s tenure as editor of the Baptist and Reflector is coming to an end, but his columns will continue to be read for years to come. 

Wilkey, who has been with the B&R since 1988 and has served as editor since 1998, has put together a collection of his columns in a book titled Faith, Family and Life’s Lessons: Reflections of a Christian Journalist. 

Wilkey’s columns have won a stream of awards through the years, including a number of first-place honors in the annual Baptist Communicators Association publications contest. The new book includes more than 70 of Wilkey’s columns. 

“During my career, God has allowed me to write countless news and feature articles, but the personal columns I wrote always seemed to draw the most attention,” said Wilkey. “I tried to keep them real, drawing from lessons I was learning ‘on the job’ in life as a husband, parent, layman in my local church and in my career as a writer.”  [Read more…]