Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

PIERSON: EFFECTIVE PRAYER REQUIRES INTIMACY WITH GOD

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

FLINTVILLE — Perhaps no one knows better than Don Pierson how desperately the United States needs to be intimately connected with God through prayer during this point in the nation’s history.

In a nation filled with fear over COVID-19, increasing racial turmoil and divide and a country divided by politics, God is the only answer, said Don Pierson, pastor of Stewart’s Chapel Baptist Church, Flintville.

Prior to accepting the pastorate at Stewart’s Chapel, Pierson served as a Southern Baptist missionary in Belize, a director of missions for William Carey Baptist Association and for about 12 years as the prayer specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

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PANDEMIC BRINGS POSSIBILITIES

By Paul Fries
DOM, Salem Baptist Association, Liberty

In Enterprise, Ala,, at the corner of College and Main Streets, stands a 13-foot tall monument to the Boll Weevil. This monument was placed their on Dec. 11, 1919 with the following inscription: 

“In profound appreciation of the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity, this monument was erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama.”

The back story to this monument is the arrival of the boll weevil from Mexico in 1915. In just a few short years farmers were losing their entire crop of cotton to the boll weevil. An area businessman saw this as an opportunity and convinced a local farmer to convert his farm to peanut farming. The first year this paid off the farmers debts and ultimately led to great prosperity to the Enterprise area farmers. Today, if you travel to the Enterprise area you will see large fields of both cotton and peanuts.  It took a disaster to cause the farmers to change and to diversify. [Read more…]

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MEMPHIS CHURCH THRIVES DURING COVID-19

Online attendance, giving have surged; on-campus gatherings to resume in 2021 

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Pastor Michael Ellis of Impact Baptist Church in Memphis and his congregation hosted the 2020 Best in Blue program in appreciation of local law enforcement officers just weeks before the worldwide pandemic struck in March. — Submitted photo/BP

MEMPHIS — Impact Baptist Church & Ministries of Memphis has so thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic that pastor Michael Ellis Sr. sees no reason to resume onsite worship before 2021.

“I get this call from pastors all the time asking me what we’re going to do, and I say, ‘Hey look, our attendance is up and our offering is up. You tell me what you think we’re going to do,’ ” he said. “My word to everybody is we’re going back when it’s safe for our people, and it’s not safe for them now.

“I don’t think we’re going to go back before the new year. I really don’t. I think we’re going to continue to worship online,” he said.

Impact Baptist, which drew about 200 people to Sunday worship before the pandemic, has received as many as 2,300 or more Facebook views of individual worship services and an additional $600 a month in offerings, has launched three new outreaches and has continued established ministries, Ellis told Baptist Press.  [Read more…]

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PANDEMIC PROMPTS CHURCHES TO CONSIDER PERMANENT CHANGES

By Tess Schoonhoven
Baptist Press

Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., has begun meeting in person again, but the church’s online presence remains strong. —Submitted photo

HENDERSONVILLE — Every church has adjusted some aspects of ministry since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. But even as the effects of COVID-19 continue to press into the modern landscape of the evangelical church, some congregations are already turning from the question of how to shift from the current moment toward changes for the long-term future.

Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church, Hendersonville, said he views the impact of COVID-19 on ministry not as an interruption, but instead as a disruption to the way things have typically been done in the local church.

Long Hollow staff see changes that track with larger changes in culture and life as necessary for faithful stewardship of the ministry God has given them. The most immediate, tangible change, according to Gallaty — and this is something he doesn’t anticipate turning around anytime soon — is attendance at church gatherings. [Read more…]

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SUMMIT 2020 ‘POSTPONED INDEFINITELY’

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — In an historic action, directors of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, officers of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the convention’s Committee on Arrangements voted overwhelmingly Aug. 27 to “postpone indefinitely” the annual meeting scheduled for Nov. 8-11 at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood. [Read more…]

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SUMMIT POSTPONED — WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Baptist and Reflector 

FRANKLIN — Here are some questions (and answers) that Tennessee Baptists may have following the indefinite postponement (cancellation) of the 2020 Summit at Brentwood Baptist Church, Brentwood in November.

How will the business of the Convention be conducted if the annual meeting is not held?

Convention Constitution Article VII. TENNESSEE BAPTIST MISSION BOARD (TBMB) [Read more…]

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CALIFORNIA DISASTER RELIEF STYMIED DURING FIRES AS COVID-19 IMPACTS RESPONSE PROTOCOL

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

Screen capture from CBS news.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, Calif. — As monster fires displace tens of thousands of Californians, Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers are stymied by changes in response protocols necessitated by COVID-19.

Before the pandemic, volunteers in relief efforts were able to provide food and chaplains’ assistance to displaced residents housed at American Red Cross shelters.

“With COVID rules the Red Cross is not putting people up in congregate shelters,” said Mike Bivins, disaster relief director with the California Southern Baptist Convention (CSBC). “Feeding and chaplaincy work was done in the shelters, and they are not setting up any overnight congregate shelters.”

Instead, those forced to flee the flames are being given vouchers for hotel housing in multiple locations. [Read more…]

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CHALLENGES BECOME OPPORTUNITIES

Student pastors, leaders finding new ways to “do ministry” amid pandemic

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — When the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic first began impacting daily lives, many youth pastors were sent scrambling.

The entire landscape of youth ministry changed almost overnight. Trips and events were postponed or canceled. On-campus gatherings were suspended. Things that were once considered “routine” parts of youth ministry had to be altered or even temporarily eliminated. [Read more…]

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STUDENT MINISTRY IN MCMINNVILLE THRIVING DESPITE COVID-19

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

John Templeton

McMINNVILLE — As John Templeton reflects on the past few months, he is awed by the way God has used these hard days as a time of transformation.

Exhaustion has turned into excitement. Frustration has been replaced by fruitfulness.

Despite the difficult circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Templeton has seen the Lord do a tremendous work in the student ministry at First Baptist Church, McMinnville, where Templeton serves as associate pastor and student pastor. [Read more…]

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BREAKING NEWS: TBC COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS RECOMMENDS POSTPONEMENT OF SUMMIT

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org 

FRANKLIN — The Committee on Arrangements of the Tennessee Baptist Convention unanimously recommends that the 2020 Summit, scheduled for Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood in November, “be postponed indefinitely” until next year.

The decision was made Aug. 20 during a Zoom meeting of the arrangements committee which also included TBC president Bruce Chesser, TBC vice presidents Chuck Groover and Corey Cain, and Clay Hallmark and Glenn Metts, chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, along with TBMB staff members. [Read more…]

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