Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
February 1, 2016
GuideStone News Office DALLAS — GuideStone Financial Resources, along with LifeWay Research and Baptist state conventions, including the Tennessee Baptist Convention, has opened the biennial SBC Church Compensation Survey in 2016. Ministers and church employees are invited to participate in the survey, a resource used by churches of all sizes to determine fair wages and […]
February 1, 2016
By Lisa Cannon Green LifeWay News Office NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No sabbatical. No help with counseling. No clear picture of what’s expected. Hundreds of former senior pastors say these were the crucial elements missing from the final churches they led before quitting the pastorate. A recent study by LifeWay Research points to ways churches can encourage […]
January 29, 2016
Baptist Press MILL VALLEY, Calif. — Construction is progressing rapidly at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary’s two new campuses, and more than 40 new jobs have been posted on the seminary’s website, President Jeff Iorg reported in mid-January. Iorg, speaking to the seminary’s staff and students, said the new campus in Ontario, Calif., is still […]
January 28, 2016
Baptist Press IRAN — American pastor Saeed Abedini and three other prisoners have been released from prison in Iran, according to news reports. Abedini was detained in 2012 for organizing house churches and later sentenced to eight years in prison. The 35-year-old pastor suffered beatings and harsh punishment during three-and-a-half years in prison in Iran, […]
January 26, 2016
Baptist Press ALEXANDRIA, La. — The homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign has targeted 23 institutions of higher learning with Southern Baptist ties in a report that also names 35 other colleges and universities with distinct Christian identities. Among the schools targeted are Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, and Union University, Jackson. Released just before the […]
January 19, 2016
By Roy Hayhurst GuideStone Financial Resources News Office DALLAS — After a volatile start to the first week of trading in the 2016 calendar year, some investors are understandably concerned about their portfolios, but long-term investors should continue to consider their objectives and time horizons. David S. Spika, global investment strategist at GuideStone Capital Management, […]
January 14, 2016
By Julie McGowan IMB news office RICHMOND — The International Mission Board is in a position, financially, where no missionaries will be required to leave the field as the organization wraps up its two-phase reset, IMB President David Platt announced Jan. 14. The majority of the IMB’s Richmond Communications Center, however, will lose their positions, […]
January 13, 2016
By Julie Walters WMU News Office BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –– Wanda Lee announced a search committee will be appointed to seek her successor as executive director/treasurer of national Woman’s Missionary Union. Though no date is set for her departure, Lee shared her intentions to retire during her report at national WMU’s board meeting on Jan. 11 […]
January 13, 2016
By Lisa Cannon Green Baptist Press NASHVILLE — When Americans make New Year’s resolutions, a better relationship with God ranks almost as high as better health, according to a study by LifeWay Research. And for many groups, faith actually outranks health. Older Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Christians are all more likely to say they’ve made […]
January 13, 2016
Door wide open for churches to minister as non-traditional families increase By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector BRENTWOOD — Wally and Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver were blessed six decades ago and they didn’t even know it. Of course, the Cleavers were a fictional television family (“Leave It To Beaver”) first popular in the late 1950s […]
January 8, 2016
Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Nearly half of the background checks requested by churches through LifeWay’s program with backgroundchecks.com reveal some type of criminal offense. Most of those are minor incidents such as speeding tickets, but 21 percent of inquiries discovered misdemeanors or more serious crimes, LifeWay’s Jennie Taylor said. Since 2008, when LifeWay began its […]
December 18, 2015
Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Bill Sumners, a Tennessee Baptist and director of Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives since 1988, will retire from his post next July, he recently announced in a letter to the Council of Seminary Presidents, which governs the organization. “It has been my pleasure and joy to serve in this position, […]