Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

CITY REACH TO IMPACT METRO COMMUNITIES

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

cityreach_knoxvilleBRENTWOOD — Reaching Tennessee for Christ will involve reaching the largest metropolitan areas in the state, according to leaders within the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

To help accomplish that goal, City Reach will be launched during this year’s Summit Nov. 13-17 at the Sevierville Convention Center, pending approval from messengers at Summit. City Reach was approved by members of the TBC Executive Board during their Sept. 14 meeting at Brentwood Baptist Church. [Read more…]

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UNION HONORS DOCKERYS WITH LECTURE SERIES

Baptist and Reflector

David & Lanese Dockery

David & Lanese Dockery

JACKSON — Union University will launch a new lecture series in the spring that honors its former president and first lady and celebrates the school’s Baptist history and heritage.

The Dockery Lectures on Baptist Thought and Heritage, named for former Union President David S. Dockery and First Lady Lanese Dockery, will be an annual event designed to examine the importance of the Baptist heritage, the distinctives of Baptist thought, and the influence of the Christian intellectual tradition. [Read more…]

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NASHVILLE LIGHTENS UP ON MARIJUANA PENALTIES

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

marijuanaNASHVILLE (BP) — Nashville and surrounding Davidson County have joined a lengthy list of governments giving law enforcement officials the option of issuing civil citations to persons possessing small amounts of marijuana.

Marijuana possession and use in the city and county are still considered crimes. But under the new measure passed Sept. 20 by the Nashville Metropolitan Council, law enforcement officials may choose whether to charge a person with a civil offense or a criminal misdemeanor for knowingly possessing a half-ounce of marijuana or less. [Read more…]

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C-N SEES RECORD FALL ENROLLMENT

Carson-Newman News Office

carson-newman-logo2JEFFERSON CITY — Carson-Newman University is experiencing its third year of record enrollment with 2,659 students. Last fall’s enrollment was 2,528. In addition, the college has been cited by U.S. News & World Report.

The total enrollment represents a cumulative 35 percent growth over the last five years. The university also experienced a six-year high in the number of incoming freshmen with 506.

The increase includes undergraduate enrollment growth of 1,812 this fall, up from 1,752 last year. The university’s graduate programs are also trending upwards with an enrollment of 847 students, 71 students over last year. [Read more…]

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DOM USES MECHANICAL SKILLS TO REACH ESKIMOS

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Tennessee Baptists from New Duck River Baptist Association, based in Shelbyville, relate to Eskimo children in Ambler, Alaska, this summer outside the Baptist cabin.

Tennessee Baptists from New Duck River Baptist Association, based in Shelbyville, relate to Eskimo children in Ambler, Alaska, this summer outside the Baptist cabin.

SHELBYVILLE — This summer Tim Key found a new way to minister to the Eskimo or Inupiat people in Alaska he has grown to love.

He repairs their four-wheelers or ATVs.

Key, director of missions, New Duck River Baptist Association, used to be a motorcycle mechanic.

There are many needs in the four villages he and other Tennessee Baptists minister in, explained Key. He and others would see many four-wheelers sitting around unused and in non-running condition, but he never found the time to try to repair one. The association has ministered in Alaska for four years. [Read more…]

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TBC’S RICKMAN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Baptist and Reflector

Gary Rickman

Gary Rickman

BRENTWOOD — Gary Rickman, director of strategic relationships for the Tennessee Baptist Convention, will retire Dec. 31 after 25 years as a member of the TBC staff.

Though born in Arkansas, Rickman considers Watertown his hometown. Prior to joining the convention’s staff in 1991, Rickman served as pastor of Ridgeview Baptist Church, Chattanooga.

He also has served as pastor of two other Tennessee Baptist congregations (Burt Baptist Church, Woodbury, and Powell’s Chapel Baptist Church, Murfreesboro) as well as a church in  Zebulon, N.C., while attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned both the master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees. He also is a graduate of Belmont University, Nashville.

Rickman will continue with the TBC staff on a part-time basis after his retirement. He will be involved with ministers-church relations and work related to GuideStone Financial Resources. [Read more…]

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GAINES ADJUSTS TO ROLE AS SBC PRESIDENT

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

(Left to right) Outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd together with presidential nominee J.D. Greear congratulate president-elect Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., after he is elected president of the SBC by acclamation after Greear withdrew from the race and moved that the convention elect Gaines by acclamation during the SBC's annual meeting at America's Center in St. Louis Wednesday, June 15. -Photo by Bill Bangham

Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, is congratulated by outgoing SBC President Ronnie Floyd, left, and J.D. Greear, center, after Gaines was elected president of the SBC in June. After two ballots failed to produce a winning candidate, Greear withdrew in favor of Gaines.
— Photo by Bill Bangham

CORDOVA — After what may have been one of the most unusual presidential elections in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, reality has sunk in for Steve Gaines.

Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June during the annual meeting in St. Louis. After two elections failed to produce a winning candidate, both Gaines and J.D. Greear made the decision to withdraw from the race.

Gaines noted he decided soon after the second vote he was going to withdraw his candidacy. “I did not want to be divisive.” Greear had decided the same thing — he would yield to Gaines.

After a meeting between the two men and mutual friends, Gaines noted that Greear insisted he would be the one to pull out. “That’s what we went with. When we walked out on the platform, it was a sweet time,” he recalled. [Read more…]

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PRAY FOR AND LOVE STUDENTS: SRO OFFICER

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Officer Joseph Rigsby, left, school resource officer for the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department, based in Murfreesboro, stands with Matt Harris, pastor, Holly Grove Baptist Church, Lascassas. Harris is a bivocational pastor who works at a middle school as an educational assistant with Rigsby.

Officer Joseph Rigsby, left, school resource officer for the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department, based in Murfreesboro, stands with Matt Harris, pastor, Holly Grove Baptist Church, Lascassas. Harris is a bivocational pastor who works at a middle school as an educational assistant with Rigsby.

LASCASSAS — School Resource Officer Joseph Rigsby of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department asked members of Holly Grove Baptist Church here to pray for and show love to students — at his middle school and in all schools and communities.

Rigsby, who works at a middle school, spoke during the church’s morning worship service Sept. 11.

He sees many children in dire circumstances and the society “in tough times,” he explained.

He told of being approached by a student at his middle school, which is for students in grades 6-8. The boy told Rigsby some information about his family. As a result, that same day the child was removed from his family, said the SRO. [Read more…]

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CHURCH ACCEPTS MISSIONS WORK AT HOME

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Dan Parker, pastor, Parkway Baptist Church, Smyrna, holds the small towel presented to each new member of the church to symbolize the ministry focus of the church. Each new member is invited to join one of Parkway’s 38 ministry teams.

Dan Parker, pastor, Parkway Baptist Church, Smyrna, holds the small towel presented to each new member of the church to symbolize the ministry focus of the church. Each new member is invited to join one of Parkway’s 38 ministry teams.

SMYRNA — Missions work is never easy but Parkway Baptist Church here is ready for challenges, said Pastor Dan Parker recently.

In fact, Parkway Baptist sees God work the most when it accepts the greatest or most unusual challenges, he explained.

“It’s crazy,” said Parker.

So when he learned that a church in nearby Shelbyville needed to be revitalized, he prayed about it and soon a new ministry team of Parkway — the Macedonia Team — was organized to help revitalize El Bethel Baptist Church.

And, just like a lot of occurrences at Parkway, which are “crazy,” the Sunday morning attendance has doubled from about 35 people to about 80 and one person has been baptized. El Bethel didn’t have a pastor until recently when it called an interim pastor. [Read more…]

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GAINES: RHETORIC CAN INHIBIT EVANGELISM

By David Roach
Baptist Press

Steve Gaines

Steve Gaines

NASHVILLE — Conviction and kindness are the prescriptions of Southern Baptist leaders for the final eight weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign.

With early voting by mail having begun in North Carolina and in-person early voting slated to begin in three states this week, Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines, joined other well known Baptists (Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., and Cedarville University President Thomas White) in weighing in with ethical and spiritual advice for voters.

Gaines, pastor of Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, told Baptist Press “biblical convictions” should guide Christians “in all areas of life, even the way they vote for a president. [Read more…]

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