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‘COME AS YOU ARE’ APPROACH HELPS CHURCH CONNECT WITH COMMUNITY

December 21, 2018

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Bert Spann has helped lead First Baptist Church, Hohenwald, to a new era of evangelism and outreach.

HOHENWALD — Since his arrival at First Baptist Church, Hohenwald, roughly five years ago, pastor Bert Spann said he has seen the church undergo a change in culture.

And it started with a change of clothes.

Before Spann’s arrival, FBC had essentially been operating as a white-collar church in the heart of a blue-collar town. But over the past half decade, the church has become more focused on finding ways to connect with the community — and the results have been seen, week after week, in the baptismal pool. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: baptisms, evangelism

WAYS TO WIN

November 26, 2018

With creative methods of evangelism, Tennessee Baptists are finding new ways to win…

As Tennessee Baptists, we have Five Objectives, but the First Objective — “To see 50,000 people a year saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship by 2024” — is the key one.

We want to see people come to Christ and if that isn’t happening, then the spiritual condition of our state slides ever into the darkness of spiritual lostness.

The theme of Summit 2018 was to WinTN. Normally, a convention speaker would share a “Theme Interpretation” sermon, but this year we wanted to show the theme.

The stories represented on this page are vignettes of the videos shown throughout the Summit. They are the stories of people who shared the gospel and the people who received it and had their lives transformed by the Living Christ.

Please take a few moments to read the abbreviated versions here but it is worth a few minutes of your time to watch and download each of the videos. You’ll be encouraged by how God is moving in the lives of people across Tennessee.

— Chris Turner
TBMB Director of Communications

 

Snatching life from death

Brian Cantrell (pictured) has a fascinating story to tell about being brought back to life after a drug overdose. But Cantrell’s personal story isn’t the one he is most interested in sharing.

Cantrell — a former “strung-out street junkie,” as he puts it — has come to know the Lord, and is now sharing the gospel with virtually everyone who comes in his path. Cantrell’s main mission field is Buffalo Valley Inc., a recovery center that helped Cantrell get over his addiction.

Cantrell, a member of First Baptist Church, Hohenwald, returns to the rehab facility on a regular basis, and is leading the recovering addicts to Christ in a remarkably rapid manner.

“So many things are happening, man,” Cantrell said. “God is putting my family back together and these other families. I just know all things are possible through Christ. So, that’s the reason I’m so passionate about it. Just the joy of God and Jesus Christ in my life. It’s only by His grace, that I’m here today and I know that.”

Cantrell’s desire to share the gospel began to develop when he started attending an evangelism class taught by Tommy Hart, a member at FBC Hohenwald. Cantrell wasn’t exactly an expert in theology — to say the least — but he had a burning desire to share the good news that had changed his life.

“Here is a guy who turned from knowing nothing about the Bible — I mean, he couldn’t find Genesis or Revelation either one — but he knew what had happened to him,” said Hart. “And that was all he needed.”

Hart estimates that Cantrell has helped lead nearly 100 men to Christ.

Bert Spann, pastor of FBC Hohenwald, said the act of witnessing can be contagious, and that’s what is happening to Cantrell.

“The Lord is a living Lord who has personally changed lives,” said Spann. “And whenever I see and hear Him, changing my life and the lives of those around me, I can’t help but to share that story with somebody else. … And, that’s what’s going on at Buffalo Valley right now. These men are seeing and hearing Jesus Christ, and they’re telling their story to the next guy, who in turn tells their story to the next guy.”

“And, that’s how we win Tennessee for Christ,” he said.

 

Journey to Christ

To say that Aparna Roy Thompson’s life has been impacted by Baptist Campus Ministries would be a gigantic understatement.

It was through the BCM — at East Tennessee State University — that Aparna met her future husband. More importantly, it is also where she met Jesus.

Aparna (pictured above) was born and raised in India. She came to the United States to attend college and get a degree. But she actually received a lot more than that.

After arriving at ETSU, a friend of Aparna’s invited her to BCM, and she began learning about the Lord from ETSU BCM campus minister Jonathan Chapman.

“The thing that moved me the most were Jonathan’s words, and I believe that God spoke to me through Jonathan,” she said. “I was so overwhelmed — like how was I living all my life without knowing Jesus? And now I want more and more people to know how my life changed. I want everyone to know Jesus.

At the same time that the Lord was working in Aparna’s life, He was also working in the life of Mark Thompson, who had recently made a profession of faith through the BCM.

It was at the BCM where Thompson met Aparna — and there was an immediate attraction. The two fell in love and got married.

They likely didn’t realize that God was using their relationship in a special way, but that soon became obvious.

“When my family came to the US for my marriage, that’s when my pastor (Luke Temaj, the pastor of Faith Fellowship Baptist Church) met my dad,” Aparna said. “He took him out to Cracker Barrel and they talked a lot. And who knew a breakfast at Cracker Barrel could end up with my dad accepting Christ in his heart? That was amazing.”

Temaj said the sequence of events that led to Aparna and Mark’s relationship — and the lives that have been forever changed — is a display of God’s remarkable plan.

“Through that act of God’s gift, we see Aparna’s family come and visit the United States, and we, as the children of God, responded to the call,” he said. “We reached out to Aparna’s family, her dad received the Lord. That right there shows us how we need to respond, how urgent it is for us to share the gospel. The most important thing is that we need to win Tennessee for Christ.”

 

Hope in the midst of tragedy

Jibrell Jackson, a freshman football player at East Tennessee State University, experienced a life-changing series of tragedies last summer. He lost two of his sisters in the span of only a few weeks when they each were killed in separate car accidents.

But in the midst of his grief, Jackson found Jesus.

Jackson, who did not grow up in church, had started attending Bible Study and worship services just before the tragedies took place. And as he searched for peace in the situation, he learned more and more about the Lord — and ultimately became a believer.

“The first time we ever met Jibrell, you could tell he was searching and asking questions about Jesus,” said Jessie Tucker, a friend of Jibrell’s who played a key role in getting Jibrell involved in Bible Study. “And then tragedy struck him — twice.”

Jackson (pictured above) admits that he blamed God for the loss of his sisters. But his friends stayed close by his side, and the Lord continued to work in Jackson’s life.

One night, after Bible study, one of Jackson’s new friends, Amanda Tucker, felt the Holy Spirit leading her to talk to Jackson.

“The feeling was so overwhelming, I knew it was the presence of God,” she said. “So, I asked Jibrell if he knew Jesus and his answer was no. Well, he ended up accepting Jesus Christ that night.”

Jackson said he immediately felt a peace and a joy that had been missing from his life.

“The night when I decided to ask Jesus in my heart, it felt like I was so relieved,” he said. “It felt like I could just float off my feet. It felt like everything was just gone that I had held in for a long time.”

Jackson is now spreading his joy around campus, sharing the gospel with other football players and ETSU students essentially everywhere he goes.

“The last couple of months, me and my friends have been going all over campus, sharing our testimonies, bringing more people to faith and trying to win more people to Christ.”

 

Gospel multiplication

Lynn Walker, who has been a pastor for 50 years, views evangelism somewhat similar to the mathematical format of exponential numbers. It’s all about telling one person, who tells another, who tells another and so forth.

“That’s always been in my mind from the very beginning, and I have shared from the pulpit many times,” said Walker, pastor at Rock Hill Baptist Church. “You win a person to Christ, and then that person wins others to Christ, and it’s an unending chain of events.”

Walker has seen this formula work in dramatic ways in the life of Fady Al-Hagal (pictured above).

Fady was a college student at UT-Martin when he first visited Walker’s church in the early 1980s.

Walker shared the gospel with Fady, and when Fady became a Christian, it set off a perpetual wave of salvations that remains on-going several decades later. Fady went on to become a pastor, and has led countless people to the Lord. And many of those people are now leading others to Christ.

“Had Fady not led us to the Lord, my wife and I, we would have continued down the destructive road that we were on,” said Brian Gass, the pastor at First Baptist Church, Howell. “We would not have come to faith, we would certainly not have been led into ministry, our children probably would not have grown up in a Christian home and been saved. And we would not have reached the dozens and dozens that we’ve reached through local church ministry, and certainly we wouldn’t have shared the gospel across Central Asia the way that we had the opportunity to do.”

Fady’s story of multiplication is a perfect example of how the perpetual sharing of the gospel can serve as the key to reaching Tennessee for Christ.

“We have a great opportunity to win Tennessee for the Lord Jesus Christ, and if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen because a story like ours can be repeated over and over and over again,” said Fady, pastor of The Shepherd’s Field Church. “A faithful man, carrying a burden to share the gospel, with a student, with a next-door neighbor, with somebody that may visit the church, or they may meet out in a Walmart somewhere.”

“That individual receiving the gospel, and the modeling of the gospel, they share it with somebody else,” he added. “I believe the ground is tender for us to win Tennessee because this story can be repeated over and over again, and many can come to Christ.”

 

From refugee to missionary

As a child, Thi Mitsamphanh (pictured above) benefited from others who were serving as the hands and feet of Jesus. Now, he is making sure he is doing the same.

Mitsamphanh is the pastor of an international church, and he is reaching the nations for Christ right here in the heart of Tennessee.

Mitsamphanh’s family came to the United States when he was four years old as refugees from the country of Laos. His family was “adopted” by a local church, and his life — as well as the lives of his family — were forever changed.

“We came here, with nothing but the clothes on our back,” he said. “We didn’t know any English, and had never heard of Jesus. … My parents were Buddhists, and when we came to the US, we settled in Nashville, and a local church reached out to my family, and loved on us, and helped my parents to learn English, helped them to find jobs, helped us to really get started.”

Mitsamphanh said the church “loved us well” — and through that, his family began to understand the life-changing details of the gospel.

“Through their act of kindness and love towards my family, my parents became followers of Christ, and began to take us to church, and each one of us came to know Christ in our own time.”

Mitsamphanh got saved at age 13 while attending All-Nations camp.  Now, as the pastor of an international church, he says he is seeing the same wonderful events that happened to his family take place in the lives of others.

“The last few churches that I’ve pastored have had people from Nepal, from Bhutan, people groups from Burma,” he said. “And so many of them have come as refugees. We’ve seen many families give their lives to Christ. Many families have turned from Buddhism, from Animism,from spirit worship, and see them now serve the Lord.”

Mitsamphanh has a firm understanding that — as Tennessee Baptist Mission Board executive director Randy C. Davis often says — “any way you slice it, Tennessee is a mission field.”

“We can reach the nations (here) because the nations have come to the state of Tennessee,” Mitsamphanh said. “We have an opportunity to be able to love on, and share the gospel with,  people from countries where it is difficult to get missionaries in there, where the gospel is not accessible. God, in His sovereignty has brought them here to our doorsteps.”

-By David Dawson
Baptist & Reflector

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: baptisms, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, BCM, ethnic, evangelism, missions, refugees, tragedy

FROM CALIFORNIA TO TENNESSEE VIA TEXAS

October 15, 2018

Non-typical Southern Baptist pastor leads church to impact community

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

Pastor Donnie De La Cruz leads a Bible study between skateboarding sessions at Dumplin Baptist Church in New Market.

NEW MARKET — Donnie De La Cruz would be the first person to tell you that he’s not your typical, everyday Baptist preacher in East Tennessee. And, most people who know him would agree wholeheartedly.

But, those who know him well would also say he’s totally sold out on telling lost people about the love of Jesus Christ and leading Dumplin Baptist Church in New Market to reach its community for Christ.

What makes De La Cruz different from most of his colleagues in Jefferson County Baptist Association? [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: baptisms, church revitalization, sports, youth

HOW YOUNG CAN BELIEVERS GET BAPTIZED?

September 28, 2018

By Johnnie Godwin
Contributing Columnist

In the Baptist & Reflector earlier this summer, I wrote a two-part series on the age and stage of accountability for salvation. My conclusion was that God alone knows that for each individual.The spiritual understanding and decision-making ability of each person may vary because of context. I got saved and baptized when I was 7.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: baptisms

WORSHIP ATTENDANCE RISES, BAPTISMS DECLINE IN SBC CONGREGATIONS

July 10, 2018

By Lisa Cannon Green
LifeWay Christian Resources

NASHVILLE — The Southern Baptist Convention expanded by more than 270 churches in 2017. More people showed up for weekly worship services, and congregations gave more generously in a strengthening economy.

However, reported baptisms and membership declined as fewer churches participated in the SBC’s Annual Church Profile (ACP). [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, SBC Tagged With: baptisms, LifeWay

STATE’S OLDEST CHURCH MOVES FORWARD

July 2, 2018

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

Pastor Jayson Hoagland stands outside the original log building of Sinking Creek Baptist Church in Johnson City.

JOHNSON CITY — Sinking Creek or Buffalo Ridge? Which one is truly the first and oldest Baptist church in Tennessee?

Historians are still unsure. Claims have been made for both Sinking Creek Baptist Church in Johnson City and Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church near Jonesborough.

But, Sinking Creek can definitely lay claim to having the oldest Baptist church building still on its property. What’s more, the church is not resting on its legacy. Sinking Creek is moving forward. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: baptisms, history

LEAVELL: DESIRE NEEDED TO SHARE GOSPEL

June 12, 2018

Editor’s Note: You can listen to David Leavell in Episode 15 of Radio B&R, the official news podcast of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

David Leavell

FRANKLIN — Although there are countless teaching tools and training seminars on the subject, there is actually only one requirement to be an effective sharer of the gospel: The desire to do it.

That’s the message that David Leavell, president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and pastor at First Baptist Church, Millington, is using as he encourages Christians to engage in “personal evangelism.”

Leavell believes all Christians — introverts and extroverts alike — can be effective in witnessing to their family, friends and neighbors. He likes to say that sharing the gospel “is a conversation, not a presentation,” and he is using that motto as the basis for his emphasis on evangelism.

“The reality is we have the army to attack the gates of hell with the good news of Jesus Christ,” Leavell said. “But we don’t have an active army. (We need to) mobilize the pews for the purpose of evangelism.” [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, Tennessee Tagged With: baptisms, evangelism, Five Objectives

TBMB APPROVES $2.1 MILLION GOTM BUDGET

May 3, 2018

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Five Objectives 5 ObjectivesFRANKLIN — The board of directors of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board unanimously approved a $2.1 million goal for the 2018-19 Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions.

The goal is an increase of $250,000 or 13.5 percent over the 2017-18 goal of $1.925 million. The projected income is $1.85 million.

The Golden Offering for Tennessee Baptist Missions is a cooperative effort of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union and the TBMB. The goal also was approved by the Tennessee WMU Executive Board.

The Golden Offering “is an important part of what we do,” affirmed Martha Pitts, president of Tennessee WMU. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: baptisms, Cooperative Program, evangelism, Five Objectives, Golden Offering, missions, money

A NORMAL TENNESSEE BAPTIST CHURCH

April 17, 2018

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Normal is good. I’m a fan of normal.

I recently found normal in Howell, about an hour and 15-minute drive straight south from our house in Nolensville. The weather was nearly perfect for an early morning drive with my bride, Jeanne, and we wound our way along country roads through the beautiful rolling hills of Middle Tennessee.

Howell is a small community located between Lewisburg and Fayetteville. We pulled into the parking lot of First Baptist Church Howell and the thought came to my mind. First Baptist Church and the town of Howell are, well, normal.

According to the last census, if you draw a ring around Howell about eight miles from the center of town, the population of Howell is about 8,800. That’s not many folks, but it’s normal. And the church — First Baptist Howell — has between 75 to 100 people of all ages in worship, but that’s normal. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: Annie Armstrong, associations, baptisms, Cooperative Program, Golden Offering, Lottie Moon, Randy C. Davis

REASONS TO CELEBRATE THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM

April 3, 2018

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

I’m amazed at what God is doing across Tennessee through His people and through the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

In Dandridge, 15 more boys were recently saved, baptized, and set on the road to discipleship at a detention facility. These precious younger brothers in Christ add to the harvest of more than 100 new believers who have come to Jesus over the past three years at the facility through the ministry of Swannsylvania Baptist Church.

Just last year we saw 95 college students come to faith in Christ through our Baptist Collegiate Ministries on university campuses across our state. More than 4,700 students are involved in BCM and 152 of them are preparing for church-related vocations. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: baptisms, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, BCM, compassion ministries, Cooperative Program, evangelism, Randy C. Davis, youth

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  • 10-YEAR-OLD ADVANCES SBC MINISTRY DAY
  • FAYE PEARSON, FIRST WOMAN TO SERVE AS IMB AREA DIRECTOR, DIES
  • FOUR SIMPLE WAYS TO BRING DIVERSITY TO YOUR CHURCH
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  • STATE CONVENTIONS RALLY BEHIND SBC’S STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES ON ABUSE
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abortion baptisms Baptist Collegiate Ministries Bible: Acts Bible: Genesis Bible: Matthew Bible: Psalms Carson-Newman University childhood Christmas church revitalization collegiate Cooperative Program Disaster Relief education election evangelism family Five Objectives Golden Offering homosexuality IMB international LifeWay Lonnie Wilkey Lottie Moon missions money NAMB new churches pastors prayer racial reconciliation Randy C. Davis SBC SBC annual meeting sports Steve Gaines Summit TenneScene Union University volunteers WMU Woman's Missionary Union youth

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