Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

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 Frustration has been replaced by fruitfulness.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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DOM IN MISSISSIPPI DIES AFTER FIGHTING COVID-19

Baptist Press

Allen Stephens
-Photo: Facebook

BRANDON, Miss. — Rankin Baptist Association in Mississippi announced via Facebook  Aug. 11 the death of director of missions Allen Stephens due to COVID-19.

The post said, “It is with a broken heart I share with you the elevation to heaven of Bro. Allen Stephens. He is healed and is seeing first-hand the beauty of the one he shared through his life — our Lord and Savior.” [Read more…]

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MEMPHIS CHURCH THRIVES DURING COVID-19, EYES 2021 FOR ONSITE WORSHIP

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

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.” [Read more…]

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TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY

Nashville FBC spreads happiness with ‘COVID Caroling’ ministry

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Nashville First Baptist Church choir members (from left) Gwenn Fitzpatrick, Zach Williams, Joe A. Fitzpatrick, Bill Chaney, Louis Boyte, and Marilu White sing hymns and worship songs as part of the music ministry’s ‘COVID caroling’ initiative.

NASHVILLE — Nashville First Baptist Church is getting an early jump on caroling season. 

Minus the hot chocolate and mittens, of course. 

Hoping to spread some cheer — and create some socially distanced fellowship — during the pandemic, FBC recently started a ministry called “COVID caroling.” The initiative is exactly what the name implies: A group of FBC church members visiting various houses and other places to sing worship hymns and praise songs from the driveway or in proximity to the doorstep. 

Fittingly, there is even some Christmas music on the “set list,” with Joy to the World being the closing song at many of the stops.  [Read more…]

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WMU ANNOUNCES VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT PLAN AMID COVID FINANCIAL CRISIS

By Julie Walters
National WMU news office

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In response to a decline in sales due to COVID-19, national Woman’s Missionary Union announced Aug. 5 it is offering a voluntary retirement plan to staff. 

“We have worked incredibly hard over the past several years to ‘right size’ our organization based on revenue projections,” said Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of national WMU. “With two difficult back-to-back downsizings and budget cuts, our goal has been to simplify and put limited resources where they can make the most impact for the Kingdom.”

Over the past four years, WMU has cut 34 percent from its budget, which will be $5.2 million beginning in October for 2020-21. Sales of curriculum for missions groups is WMU’s main source of revenue. However, with so much uncertainty related to the pandemic, many churches are not ordering these resources. [Read more…]

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MOST CHURCHES CAUTIOUSLY HOLDING SERVICES AGAIN

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay News Office

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NASHVILLE — Churches are gathering again, but services and programs remain drastically different from the beginning of the year.

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to previous surveys from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, Protestant churches across the U.S. stopped gathering in-person in a matter of weeks.

The latest LifeWay Research survey of Protestant pastors found congregations have slowly and cautiously started to meet again.

“While more and more churches have resumed in-person worship services, it has not always been a straight path back,” said Scott McConnell, executive director LifeWay Research. “Some have had difficulty resuming or had to stop meeting again as things got worse in their area.” [Read more…]

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SMALL GROUP OPTIONS

By Bruce Chesser
President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville.

One of the more difficult challenges that we are all facing these days is in the issue of figuring out how to re-gather in our small groups and maintain social distancing. A classroom that normally holds 50 people would only accommodate about 10 people with true social distancing. The largest classrooms that might hold 100 or more would be limited to 25 or so. The question is: how can you offer enough space for the needs of social distancing?

Here is the approach we are taking at First Baptist Church, Hendersonville. We are offering four options to each of our Adult Connect Groups (Sunday School classes). No option is considered better than the other. No option is preferred over another. Each group should do what works best for them. [Read more…]

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COVID OUTBREAK OF MORE THAN 40 CASES TIED TO REVIVAL AT RURAL ALABAMA CHURCH

By Grace Thornton
Baptist Press

STRAWBERRY, Ala. — James Carson has watched the church he loves go through a lot in the past two years. When its building went up in flames in August 2018, he saw the smoke from his house across the cow pasture. It was a long process, but they rebuilt.

And now he’s watching from home again as his beloved church family at Warrior Creek Baptist Church in Strawberry goes through another crisis — a COVID-19 outbreak.

More than 40 members, including Pastor Darryl Ross, contracted the virus after the church’s annual revival during the week of July 19.

“Right now they say this area is a hotspot,” said Carson, a World War II vet featured in May by The Alabama Baptist. “That was sort of a shocker to us.” [Read more…]

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PANDEMIC HAS FORCED MISSIONARIES, CHURCHES TO ADAPT

By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

hand,Bible, world, missions, map, globeFRANKLIN — “Flexible” has always been the watchword for mission volunteers no matter whether they were preparing for an international trip, a trip to another state or a mission project just down the road.

In a world turned upside down by the COVID-19 virus, the ability to be flexible and to adopt new approaches is more important than ever before, according to a group of mission leaders on a webinar — Missions in COVID Days — held July 7 and sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

The webinar was intended to help Tennessee Baptist churches find creative ways to be involved in missions while dealing with challenges caused by the pandemic, said Bill Choate, collegiate ministries director for the TBMB and host of the webinar. [Read more…]

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