Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

GAINES ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON SEVERAL TOUGH TOPICS

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

MEMPHIS — Loving your neighbor as yourself is a sure path to overcoming racial prejudice, Southern Baptist women’s minister Donna Gaines said in the March cover article of Today’s Christian Living magazine.

“When we love our neighbor, that erases racial prejudice,” Gaines said in the cover story. “If we were all actually doing that, we’d be able to turn the world upside down just like the early disciples.”

Expounding on what Jesus described as one of the two greatest commandments, the wife of Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines gave an example from her own life in an interview with Baptist Press on March 21.

In 2017, she befriended a 32-year-old African American mother of eight who is now a baptized believer and every Sunday attends Bellevue Baptist Church, where Gaines’ husband is pastor. She and her ARISE2Read ministry have helped the mother find housing and secure a van large enough to transport the mother’s children ranging in age from three months to 14 years. The mother and her oldest child made professions of faith in February after Gaines began influencing their lives. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

SHINGLETON REJOICES IN YEC’S FAR-REACHING IMPACT

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector

NASHVILLE — Sitting in the corner booth of the breakroom at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s Church Support Center, Kent Shingleton occasionally scratched his goatee and broke into a chuckle while reflecting on his two-decade tenure as the coordinator of the Youth Evangelism Conference.

Shingleton said he had a deep drawer of stories he could share — some funny, some touching and some truly miraculous. But Shingleton, who is passing the coordinator baton to TBMB evangelism event specialist Jay Barbier, said his biggest takeaway from his involvement with YEC has been seeing how many lives have been touched by the event.

“It’s pretty mind boggling,” said Shingelton. “Not only has it impacted me as a dad, in regard to my own kids, but the fact that the same story has played out across churches and families statewide is just amazing.”

Shingleton is the pastor of a church plant, Hope Fellowship Church in LaVergne, that he started roughly seven years ago. He and his wife, Shawnah, have four children. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

STAYING TRUE, STAYING STRONG

YEC celebrates 50 years of life-changing decisions, remains focused on gospel

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector

NASHVILLE — Keith Watson has seen the Youth Evangelism Conference from almost every angle. He first started going to the event as a boy in the 1970s, and has rarely missed the annual gathering in the years since.

Watson, 53, traveled to downtown Nashville again this year to be a part of the conference, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on March 9-10 at Municipal Auditorium.

Watson, pastor of Council Baptist Church in Charleston, said he enjoys the conference now as much as ever. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

SUNDAY SCHOOL LEADS TO SHARING THE GOSPEL

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector

connect 1, connect>1CROSSVILLE — 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…]

Facebooktwittermail

5,954 FILIPINOS MAKE SALVATION DECISIONS

Baptist and Reflector

SOMERVILLE — A team of seven missions volunteers recently returned from two weeks in the Republic of the Philippines, where they served with about 40 churches in two different Baptist associations.

The team participated in more than 100 evangelistic crusades with the Filipino Baptists on Luzon Island and saw 5,954 professions of faith and more than 300 other decisions for Christ.

The team was led by Charles Pratt, director of missions for Fayette Baptist Association, based in Somerville, president and founder of Cross Partners Ministry, Inc., which sponsored the trip.   Pratt has been leading volunteer teams on short-term missions trips for 29 years.  [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

MORE THAN 800 ATTEND WEST TENNESSEE EVANGELISM RALLY

Union University News Office

James Merritt addresses participants at the West Tennessee Evangelism Rally held March 4 at Union University.
– Photo by Kristi Woody

JACKSON — Christians must ask everyone to follow Jesus and willingly associate with those who don’t follow Jesus, Georgia pastor James Merritt said at Union University March 4 during the West Tennessee Evangelism Rally.

“The business of the church, and the business of every follower of Jesus Christ, is to find missing people and invite them to follow Jesus,” said Merritt, pastor of Crosspointe Church in Duluth, Georgia. “If we are not in that business, we are out of business.”

Merritt was the keynote speaker at the third annual evangelism rally that drew more than 800 people to the Union campus for a worship service, dinner and breakout sessions. The event included for the first time a women’s track and a student track. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

THE JOHN 3:16 CHALLENGE AND PRAYER

By David Leavell
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention

I don’t know a Southern Baptist who wouldn’t say that prayer is important. I think we would also agree that we talk more about prayer than actually pray. Prayer requires an intentional “quieting down both physically and spiritually” — a time to adore the Lord’s character, confess sin, thank Him for His goodness, and present our requests to Him. It is so comforting to know that we serve the God of the universe. He cares for us. He is attentive to our needs. God is so good. He answers our prayers.

Many of us can remember being in a prayer “meeting” during Sunday School or on Wednesday night when the request time turned into a gossip session. Or, it went so long that it eclipsed any meaningful time to actually pray. We can get so caught up in talking about our needs to each other that we actually forget to talk to the One who can answer our requests! I recently heard one pastor say that when we do pray, “most Christians spend more time praying fellow Christians don’t die and go to heaven than we do praying the lost come to Jesus and avoid hell.”  [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

EXERCISE ROUTINE BECOMES MINISTRY TOOL

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Pastor Justin Randolph of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Sevierville, leads a devotion prior to a workout at The Fit Factory in Sevierville. Randolph and his wife, Stephanie, joined the fitness center more than a year ago and it has opened doors of ministry for them both.

SEVIERVILLE — When Justin Randolph signed up more than a year ago for a month’s membership at a fitness club, he thought he was doing it in order to spend time with his wife and get some exercise.

Little did he know that the membership would not only accomplish that goal, but it also would lead to an opportunity for Christian ministry and witness.

Randolph, pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Sevierville, actually bought the membership as a Christmas gift for his wife Stephanie. “We were looking for something to do as a couple while wanting to get in shape and lose a few pounds,” he recalled. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

SENIOR ADULT CONVERSIONS ON THE RISE?

By David Roach
Baptist Press

NASHVILLE — When evangelist Phil Waldrep agreed to preach a revival at a nursing home, he didn’t expect a huge response. After all, he reasoned, aren’t most older people already Christians?

But of the 40-60 nursing home residents who attended the services, 21 made a profession of faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior, and about 10 were later baptized at a local church. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

THE 3:16 CHALLENGE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

By David Leavell
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention

I’m a list maker. I find that I get much more accomplished when I list the things I need to get done each day. I get great joy when I check something off my list. When I don’t get everything finished (which is usually the case), I transfer my unfinished tasks to the next day. [Read more…]

Facebooktwittermail

Address

4017 Rural Plains Circle
Franklin, TN 37064

Contact Information

Mail: Baptist & Reflector, P.O. Box 682789, Franklin, TN 37068
Physical Address: 4017 Rural Plains Circle, Franklin, TN 37064
Email: bandr@tnbaptist.org
Phone: 615-371-2003

2025 © The Baptist and Reflector. All Right Reserved.