TN Baptists Are Celebrating a Decade With Davis
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis has approached his 10-year anniversary with the TBMB. In the photo above — which was taken nearly three years before racial tensions in the United States reached a peak in recent weeks — a mix of ethnically diverse Tennessee Baptists gathered in a display of unity in a called press conference at the Church Support Center in Franklin to publically denounce the white supremacist movement and racism. It was the first (and only) press conference called by Davis.
FRANKLIN — In August of 2010, just six weeks after becoming the executive director of the Executive Committee of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board), Randy C. Davis reflected on his new role in an interview with the Baptist and Reflector.
“We have incredible opportunities before us to continue to impact our state for the cause of Christ,” he said.
Davis recalled that when he was approached about leaving a pastorate he and his wife Jeanne loved (First Baptist Church, Sevierville) that they prayed for and asked for a clear call from God. “We didn’t want to miss God. We didn’t want to wonder if we’d done the right thing. God did give us a very, very clear call.”
Ten years and more than 400,000 miles of in-state travel later, that call still resonates with Davis.
He has seen the convention move forward but he also affirmed that opportunities still remain to impact Tennessee for Christ.
In a podcast with Radio B&R (see Episode 45), Davis recalled that soon after he began his work with the board he discovered that the number of people in Tennessee who were being saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship had declined “dramatically” over half a century. [Read more…]
