Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — In 2016-17, Tennessee Baptists gave a record $1,843,511.03 through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions.
A year later, Tennessee Baptists followed that record amount with the second highest total ever given — $1,797,423.72
“While falling short of our goal of $1,925,000, Tennessee Baptists still have a lot to celebrate with the 2017-18 Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions,” said Vickie Anderson, executive director of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union.
In addition to record giving to GOTM for the past two years, the number of churches giving to the offering increased to 1,248 during this past year, Anderson said.
The offering total also includes $14,000 which comes from an endowment established for GOTM approximately two years ago, she added.
The second highest total also came during one of the busiest hurricane seasons last fall as Tennessee and Southern Baptist disaster relief teams responded to three different hurricanes.
In addition to funds given through GOTM, Tennessee Baptists also gave more than $1 million for DR efforts, Anderson said.
Randy C. Davis, executive director/treasurer of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, observed that “any way you slice it, Tennessee Baptists are seeing our state as a mission field.
“How else do you explain the generous growth of the Golden Offering over the last several years? The Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions is so vitally important to financially supporting church revitalization, church planting and compassion ministries across Tennessee,” Davis observed.
As the 2017-18 year ends, the emphasis on the 2018-19 offering has begun. The suggested date for churches to observe the Week of Prayer is September 9-16. The 2018-19 Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions goal is $2,100,000 and will be collected from Sept. 1-Aug. 31, 2019.
In a column in the Aug. 29 issue of the Baptist and Reflector, Anderson observed that “Tennessee Baptists contributing through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions provide invaluable financial support for Tennessee ministries.
“The annual offering sustains ministries not funded through the Cooperative Program. The eternal impact of this offering in the lives of others is immeasurable,” she wrote.
Anderson stressed that Tennessee “is our mission field. If Tennessee is going to be reached, it will require the efforts of all Tennessee Baptists working together, having gospel conversations and meeting needs through the love of Christ,” she wrote in the column.
