Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

WEST TENNESSEE EVANGELISM RALLY DRAWS 800

By Nathan Handley
Union University News Office

Fred Luter speaks at Union.

Fred Luter speaks at Union.

JACKSON — Fred Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said evangelism needs more emphasis in churches and organizations.

Luter was the keynote speaker at the West Tennessee Evangelism Rally, held Feb. 21 at Union University. The event was sponsored by Union and the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

“We need to understand how critical, how important it is that we make evangelism a priority in this state,” he said. [Read more…]

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DEACONS ARE SERVANTS FIRST, SAYS HENRY

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Tennessee native Jim Henry speaks during a recent conference for deacons at Poplar Heights Baptist Church in Jackson.

Tennessee native Jim Henry speaks during a recent conference for deacons at Poplar Heights Baptist Church in Jackson.

JACKSON – Nashville native Jim Henry has a love for deacons that grows stronger with each passing year.

From the surgeon who shined the shoes of his prayer group members at First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla., to the small group of deacons who “had his back” at a rural church in Mississippi during days of racial tension in the 1960s, Henry knows his ministry has been made easier by deacons who held to the servant model of leadership. [Read more…]

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VBS: A MOST EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM

25 percent of baptisms in Tennessee and nationally result from Vacation Bible School

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

160310VBS-BKCBRENTWOOD — Vacation Bible School has been around for decades, but it is still one of the most effective evangelism tools in the Southern Baptist Convention, according to two Tennessee Baptist Convention specialists.

“In Tennessee Baptist life we know that approximately 25 percent of our professions of faith come either through VBS or Backyard Kids Clubs,” said Steve Pearson, TBC evangelism specialist. [Read more…]

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STEVE GAINES TO BE SBC PRESIDENT NOMINEE

By David Roach
Baptist Press

Steve Gaines

Steve Gaines

ST. LOUIS (BP) — Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Georgia pastor Johnny Hunt announced today (March 9).

“When Steve Gaines shared his prayer journey he and [his wife] Donna had travelled, I was touched by his clear call to allow himself to be nominated,” Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., wrote in a news release stating his intention to nominate Gaines during the SBC annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis.

“Steve struggled with this nomination as he has always believed this office should seek the man,” Hunt continued. “With such a passionate desire for spiritual revival in our churches and nation, and knowing him to be a man of deep intense prayer, it brings joy to my heart to nominate Dr. Gaines.” [Read more…]

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TBC CP GIVING ON THE RISE

Baptist and Reflector

cplogoBRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $3,004,385 through the Cooperative Program in February.

For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $11,964,247.

After the first quarter of the fiscal year, the amount is $834,602 or 7.5 percent above what was given during the same time frame last year, and is $547,580 or 4.8 percent above budget needs. [Read more…]

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SHARING GOD IN SWEDEN TOUGH: MOENCH

By Charles Braddix
IMB Writer

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — What’s the most embarrassing thing you can talk about in your city? Discussions that include God, said a Scandinavian pastor.

The pastor in Denmark told this to sociologist Phil Zuckerman, who spent 14 months interviewing nearly 150 Scandinavians, according to The New York Times.

This can pose a dilemma for Christian workers trying to evangelize and plant churches in countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The key, however, is not leaving God out of spiritual discussions, but knowing how to have an appropriate spiritual conversation with Scandinavians, said International Mission Board strategy leader David Moench, a Tennessean and member of Brentwood Baptist Church, Brentwood. [Read more…]

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BEING FIT MORE THAN DIET AND EXERCISE

Carson Springs camp manager offers tips on being physically and spiritually fit

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Despite the snow, Kevin Perrigan gets his running in during a recent meeting at Linden Valley Baptist Conference Center in Linden.

Despite the snow, Kevin Perrigan gets his running in during a recent meeting at Linden Valley Baptist Conference Center in Linden.

BRENTWOOD — Being fit involves more than eating healthy and exercising, says Kevin Perrigan.

In the world’s eyes, fitness is more about maintaining a certain body shape or weight, observed Perrigan, manager of Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center in Newport.

From the Christian perspective, the reason to be totally fit is to “fulfill God’s purpose for your life,” said Perrigan who teaches a course entitled “Balance Fit” at First Baptist Church, Dandridge, where he is a member. [Read more…]

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PASTOR SERVES IN ADDICTION CENTERS, PRISONS

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Matt Reed

Matt Reed

OLIVER SPRINGS — It might seem to the casual observer that Matt Reed can’t avoid people who have life-controlling issues and/or have broken the law.

Reed has ministered in jails and prisons all of his ministry, which began 14 years ago at age 39, when he preached his first sermon in a jail. Reed felt called to the ministry while he was a fire department captain.

So he wasn’t surprised when in 18 months he saw 20 men make professions of faith in a 1-5-1 Harvest Plants group his church started at the Morgan County Recovery Court in Wartburg. [Read more…]

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CR CONFERENCE SET AT UNION

By Baptist and Reflector

JACKSON — Union University will host a church revitalization conference March 14-15.

The theme of the meeting sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Convention is “Rekindle: Fanning the Flames of Christian Leadership.” [Read more…]

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FORMER TENNESSEANS LEAD PORTLAND CHURCH

Josh and Amy Carter among North American missionaries featured  Week of Prayer

By Jim Burton
NAMB News Office

Portland is a neighborhood-centric city with self-contained communities making up the metro area. Church planter Josh Carter, right, visits with elementary school parent-teacher organization president Stacey Borowick, left, and fourth grade teacher Allyson Dubuque during a project at the school at which Remedy Church members volunteered. To learn more about the Week of Prayer and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, visit anniearmstrong.com.

Portland is a neighborhood-centric city with self-contained communities making up the metro area. Church planter Josh Carter, right, visits with elementary school parent-teacher organization president Stacey Borowick, left, and fourth grade teacher Allyson Dubuque during a project at the school at which Remedy Church members volunteered. To learn more about the Week of Prayer and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, visit anniearmstrong.com. — NAMB photos by Susan Whitley

PORTLAND, Ore. — When Josh Carter and his family migrated 2,700 miles from East Tennessee to the Pacific Northwest, he found his people — mountain people — in Oregon. The move was out of obedience to God’s call on the family.

Carter’s preparation didn’t happen without hardship and a spiritual battle. The product of a broken home, grandparents helped in the raising of Carter and his two siblings in East Tennessee. Under the tutelage of his grandfather, who pastored an 80-member country church, Carter made a profession of faith in Christ.

In college, he became active in ministries and even started a church in East Tennessee with his wife, Amy, whom he had known since kindergarten in Kingsport. Carter was 21, a newlywed, and over his head.

“I had no idea how to lead,” he said. [Read more…]

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