Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
By David Dawson
Baptist & Reflector
MOUNT JULIET — Although there are many different components that go into Disciple Now weekend, John Oliver essentially captured the essence of the ministry in just one sentence.
“The students are getting saturated with the Word of God,” he said. [Read more…]
By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
CROSSVILLE — When “Celebration Sunday” rolled around at Central Baptist Church in Crossville, there were indeed many reasons to celebrate.
In just over a month’s time, the church experienced praise-worthy results from the “Connect>1” campaign — an initiative designed by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board to engage church members in personal evangelism through small groups and Sunday School.
While taking part in the six-week, church-wide campaign, the members of the Crossville Baptist congregation prayed for 2,825 lost people, invited 194 individuals to church, and shared the gospel 151 times. A large number of participants also learned multiple methods of how to give a gospel presentation.
Lewis Taylor, the Sunday School director at Central Baptist, said the success of the program was the result of the church body working in harmony and members of all ages being on the same page. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Earl “Butch” Duty died in November.
Unless you are a member of Tulip Grove Baptist Church in Old Hickory or a lifelong resident of the Donelson-Hermitage-Old Hickory-Mount Juliet area, you’ve probably never heard of him.
He would likely have referred to himself as “just a layman.” Butch was much more than “just a layman.” He was a Christian who modeled what it meant to be a disciple of Christ. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Betty Clot gets a hug from Kathy Henson, a resident of The Discipleship House in Mount Pleasant.
MOUNT PLEASANT — After serving in the ministry for 35 years, including 26 as a pastor, Walt Clot (pronounced Clo) and his wife Betty moved from Virginia to be near their children who were living in Middle Tennessee.
Instead of having hours upon hours of carefree time the Clots soon embarked in a ministry that would have them working nonstop and provide only three weeks of a vacation longer than five days in a 12-year span. [Read more…]
By Tom Strode
Baptist Press
Messengers raise their ballots Tuesday, June 13, to approve a request by the Resolutions Committee to present a resolution on “the anti-Gospel alt-right white supremacy movement” at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, on the last day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Phoenix Convention Center.
-Photo by Philip Bethancourt
PHOENIX (BP) — Messengers to the 2017 Southern Baptist Convention passed resolutions Tuesday (June 13) repenting of prayerlessness and calling for leaders to practice biblical morality before deciding late at night to vote Wednesday on a previously rejected proposal denouncing the “alt-right.”
The approved resolutions covered some hot-button theological and moral issues, but the proposed resolution on the “alt-right” — a movement that supports white nationalism — gained the most attention.
The Resolutions Committee chose not to report out the proposal to messengers. An effort by the resolution’s author to bring the “alt-right” measure to the floor failed in the afternoon session, and a motion by another messenger in the evening session also fell short. Each motion required a two-thirds majority, and the evening vote received only 58 percent approval. [Read more…]
State Youth Bible Drillers were, front row: Zeke Turner, Harvest Church, Memphis; Kayla Hill, Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory; Abigail Parks, New Market Baptist Church, New Market; and Harrison Sampson, Northport Baptist Church, Newport; back row, Hannah Williams, Calvary Baptist Church, Union City; Caitlyn Crook, Auburntown Baptist Church, Auburntown; Josiah Brooks, Holston Baptist Church, Strawberry Plains; Hope Bone, First Baptist Church, Columbia; and Paige Meeks, Zion Baptist Church, Brownsville. The winner was Hope Bone and the runner-up was Caitlyn Crook.
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
MOUNT JULIET — Four teens were winners or runners-up in the 2017 State Youth Bible Drill and High School Bible Drill held May 6 here.
Hope Bone of First Baptist Church, Columbia, won the Youth Bible Drill and Caitlyn Crook of Auburntown Baptist Church, Auburntown, was runner-up. In the High School Drill, Brittany Forrest of Prospect Baptist Church, Hollow Rock, won and Lindsey Hedrick of Alder Branch Baptist Church, Sevierville, earned the runner-up spot. [Read more…]
By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
The leaders of Kairos Communities, Ooltewah, pause at Wired Coffeehouse, Ooltewah, recently. They are, from left, Shane Mitchell, founder and elder/pastor; Kel Trudgian, elder/pastor; and Steve Gervasi, elder/teaching pastor.
CHATTANOOGA — Just two years ago Shane Mitchell was a worship and creative arts pastor of a traditional church who enjoyed riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Then he felt called by God to build relationships at a coffeehouse.
Since then his work-a-day world has shifted — from spending most of his time at Oakwood Baptist Church, Chattanooga, where he led worship, to managing a thrift store while leading a new congregation.
His personal life has been rocked — from living in a nice traditional home in Chattanooga to a small apartment in Ooltewah. [Read more…]
By Bruce Edwards
Youth Ministry Specialist, TBMB
Preparing to teach youth Bible study is a great responsibility and privilege! I think the time we spend in preparation to teach teenagers is the most important part of any Bible study lesson. We must teach out of the overflow of what God teaches us in the preparation.
Here are five steps that will help you in preparing for your next lesson:
(1) Prepare yourself through prayer. A prepared youth Bible study leader will spend time early in the week praying for next Sunday’s lesson, praying for students, and praying for God to show you exactly how to start your lesson and end your lesson with application the next Sunday! There are no shortcuts to prayer! [Read more…]
By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press
Robby Gallaty
NASHVILLE — A group tasked with encouraging and teaching disciple-making among Southern Baptist churches will extend its work an additional year, task force chairman Robby Gallaty told Baptist Press.
Gallaty, hosting a task force meeting here March 9, said the group will not issue a report at the 2017 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Phoenix. The task force will instead seek an additional year to evaluate discipleship and strategize. They plan to give their report at the 2018 SBC annual meeting in Dallas. [Read more…]
By Daryl Cornett
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hazard, Ky.
Today I saw your empty seat as I stood to welcome the people to worship. I wondered to myself what it was this week that had kept you away once again from gathering with other believers on the Lord’s Day.
I love being your pastor, but I must admit that I experience sadness every time I see your empty seat. I visit the older members of our church in their homes because age and sickness has taken from them their independence and mobility. They long to be able to do what you so easily seem to give up most Sundays. [Read more…]
