history Archives - Baptist & Reflector

PASTOR DUO TEAMS UP TO REVITALIZE HISTORIC CHURCH

December 31, 2018

By Jessica Tate
Grainger Today

Nick Wright, right, pastor, and Brad Bales, executive pastor, of Mouth of Richland Baptist Church, teamed up earlier this year to help revitalize the 230-year-old congregation.

BLAINE — Mouth of Richland Baptist Church in Blaine celebrated its 230th anniversary with a homecoming celebration on Oct. 28.

The church opened in 1788, eight years before the establishment of the state of Tennessee and Grainger County in 1796. It was the first Baptist church in Grainger County and possibly the 18th oldest church in the state. It is now one of few churches in the area with two full-time pastors. [Read more…]

TBMB WEBSITE HITS ‘THE BIG 2-0’

September 13, 2018

Since its launch in 1998, site has seen upgrades, redesigns and expansion

This photo shows the TBMB’s home page in 2008 — 10 years after its initial launch. At this point, the site had already undergone numerous changes and upgrades, and it has continued to evolve as technology improves.

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — Although there was no cake or balloons to mark the occasion, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board recently celebrated a birthday for one its most important team members: The TBMB website.

With little fanfare but plenty of significance, the site hit the 20-year mark in June. [Read more…]

TANKER EXPLOSION STILL REMEMBERED

July 24, 2018

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

Waverly Mayor Buddy Frazier, a member of First Baptist Church, Waverly, looks over the names of the 16 people killed in a tanker explosion in 1978. Frazier was a 25-year-old police officer at the time and had just left the site minutes before the explosion.

WAVERLY — In the 40 years Tennessee Baptists have responded to disasters in the state and around the globe, countless volunteers have trekked to be the hands and feet of Jesus when people needed a friend and a helping hand.

But the state convention’s first “official” disaster relief response was done with little fanfare and no volunteers or equipment. In fact, the Tennessee Baptist Convention Executive Board didn’t acquire a DR vehicle until after the first response.

On Feb. 24, 1978, a derailed L&N railroad car carrying liquid propane gas exploded, killing 16 people and injuring more than 200 others. Many of the survivors still carry scars from the burns they received. [Read more…]

STATE’S OLDEST CHURCH MOVES FORWARD

July 2, 2018

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

Pastor Jayson Hoagland stands outside the original log building of Sinking Creek Baptist Church in Johnson City.

JOHNSON CITY — Sinking Creek or Buffalo Ridge? Which one is truly the first and oldest Baptist church in Tennessee?

Historians are still unsure. Claims have been made for both Sinking Creek Baptist Church in Johnson City and Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church near Jonesborough.

But, Sinking Creek can definitely lay claim to having the oldest Baptist church building still on its property. What’s more, the church is not resting on its legacy. Sinking Creek is moving forward. [Read more…]

THE PAST IS PAST: LET’S FOCUS ON THE NOW

May 16, 2018

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

I received a press release recently from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., about an address President R. Albert Mohler made during a “Leadership Briefing” on campus. His topic: George Washington.

Mohler had several kind things to say about our nation’s first president. Then he added the “but.” He referred to the fact that Washington owned slaves and observed that his legacy “is polluted by his short-sighted views on slavery and race.” Mohler may be right, but do we need to keep dwelling on our past? It’s not news. Washington and several of our nation’s founders owned slaves. It’s documented. It was part of the culture of the country at that time.

Did that make it right? No. Slavery is wrong in any era, including today when human trafficking is running amuck in our society. [Read more…]

GREAT ADVICE: ‘KEEP WRITING FOR JESUS’

April 18, 2018

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Lonnie Wilkey

I was recently talking to a pastor in Tennessee whom I respect as much as any pastor I have ever known. We discussed a variety of topics and as we were saying our goodbyes, he told me, “Keep writing for Jesus.”

Those words came during the month that I am celebrating my 20th anniversary as editor of the Baptist and Reflector. Actually, I became interim editor on April 1, 1998 (yes, I know it was April Fool’s Day) and was officially elected as editor five months later.

What’s more, in May I will celebrate my 30th anniversary with the B&R and the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

STATE’S FIRST PASTOR REINTERRED

October 27, 2017

by David Dawson
Baptist & Reflector

Pallbearers carry the remains of Tidence Lane to his new resting place at First Baptist Church, Whitesburg. In the foreground are, from left, Allen Payne, pastor, FBC, Whitesburg; Randy C. Davis, president and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board; and Richard Long, pastor, Brown Springs Baptist Church, Mosheim. Photo by Madison Turner

WHITESBURG — The remains of Tennessee pastoral pioneer Tidence Lane have been moved to the grounds of his first church.

The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board joined with First Baptist Church, Whitesburg, for the reinterment of Lane’s remains, along with the remains of several family members, during a ceremony on Oct. 21. [Read more…]

THE PUBLIC SQUARE — LAID BARE BY INTOLERANCE

May 18, 2017

By Kevin Shrum
Pastor, Inglewood Baptist Church, Nashville

We live in interesting days, do we not? With hostile adversaries overseas and serious divisions at home, most of us are looking for a more reasonable and peaceful civility that seems to have escaped us. Cultural unity eludes us. The public square is now naked, laid bare by intolerance. [Read more…]

INTENTIONAL ACTS OF COURAGE

March 7, 2017

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB Executive Director

You’ve probably never heard of Thomas Hart Benton.

Benton was a U.S. senator from Missouri who served with distinction for 30 years, but whose political career crashed to an inglorious end in 1851 because of his opposition to the westward expansion of slavery. Benton, a Democrat and representative of a slave state, stood in staunch opposition to his party, the majority of the constituents in his state, and the powerful John C. Calhoun, a South Carolina senator whose influence and political views eventually led to South Carolina’s secession from the Union. [Read more…]

A DAY AT THE ZOO AFFIRMS CREATION

October 21, 2016

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Former Tennessee Baptist Convention staffer Jennie Rhodes spies a monkey in a tree at the Nashville Zoo with her husband, Justin. The Rhodes, who were attending the TBC Apologetics Conference, live in Clarksville.

NASHVILLE — On a recent Saturday some folks viewing the giraffes at the Nashville Zoo could hold their smart phone up to the area sign and view via video Brent Porter, associate pastor of students, Springfield Baptist Church, Springfield, say, “God created the giraffe on day six and created it as the tallest animal in all of the world. …

“The giraffe has one of the strongest hearts of any animal because it has to have the pressure to push the blood all the way to the brain. …” The giraffe also has very high blood pressure which seems like it would damage his brain when he lowers his head, he explained. [Read more…]

Since its launch in 1998, site has seen upgrades, redesigns and expansion

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