Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

COOPERATIVE PROGRAM: IMPACTING THE NATIONS

By Lyle Larson
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Goodlettsville

I have never been a member of Evansville Baptist Church but that congregation will always hold a special place in my life, having had a significant impact on my understanding of the Cooperative Program.

Evansville Baptist is in a small community in northwest Tennessee near Dyersburg. When I was a teenager who had been called to ministry, that church allowed me the privilege of leading my first Sunday morning worship service. [Read more…]

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TENNESSEE’S BECKY SUMRALL HONORED BY WMU

By Grace Thornton
WMU Writer

Becky Sumrall, right, a Tennessee Baptist who has spent the past 40 years mentoring women from all walks of life, receives this year’s Dellanna West O’Brien Award for Women’s Leadership Development from Vickie Anderson, executive director of the Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union, at the morning session of the national Woman’s Missionary Union annual meeting in Phoenix June 12. — Photo by Van Payne

PHOENIX — Becky Sumrall, a Tennessee Baptist who has spent the past 40 years mentoring women from all walks of life, is the recipient of this year’s Dellanna West O’Brien Award for Women’s Leadership Development.

The award, presented annually by Woman’s Missionary Union since 1998, comes with a $2,500 grant from WMU Foundation that will go to further Sumrall’s ministry at Begin Anew, Middle Tennessee’s branch of Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps. [Read more…]

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SMALL CHURCHES CAN MAKE BIG DIFFERENCE

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Vonore Baptist Church, Vonore, held a special worship service on Easter Sunday with missions teams around the world viewing via Skype.

VONORE – Former Tennessee Baptist Convention president Doug Sager is the first to admit that he has never been a person to “stay inside the box.”

And neither have most of the churches he served during his 62-year ministry.

Upon retiring as pastor of First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville in April of 2013, Sager began later that year as interim pastor of Vonore Baptist Church, a rural church in Monroe County. [Read more…]

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GOD USES LAYPEOPLE: JOE AND LINDA LEDFORD

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Joe and Linda Ledford, retiring Mission Service Corps missionaries after 20 years, pause in the prayer garden of Black Mountain College near Ridgecrest, N.C.

TOWNSEND — Joe and Linda Ledford and other Baptists were in the parking lot of the only grocery store in this small resort town in East Tennessee.

They were standing at a table giving out free ice cream cones, Bibles, and Bible storybooks to people.

As the couple and other Baptists explained that the ice cream was free, they told the people that another gift was free — God’s love and eternal life. [Read more…]

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PAUSING FOR POIGNANT MOMENTS

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

There are moments in life that are so obviously important that they need not scream to be recognized. The magnitude of their presence halts the daily hustle and quietly demands that we notice, and reflect, and determine that the nostalgic moment becomes a prelude to something greater.

I believe God has granted to Tennessee Baptists such a poignant moment and we must pause to understand its significance to our past, but more importantly, to our future.  [Read more…]

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SOUTHWESTERN TO HOUSE BILL WALLACE PAPERS

By Julie Owens
Baptist Press

FORT WORTH, Texas — Southern Baptist medical missionary and martyr Bill Wallace suffered profoundly in his last weeks on earth, but he had long been prepared. “There is no sacrifice in all the world too great for a man to make for the Lord Jesus Christ,” he wrote in an emotional letter shared with his home congregation just before he left for his fateful mission to China in 1935. [Read more…]

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SIMPLE STEPS FOR HIGH IMPACT MISSIONS TRIPS

By Brian Frye
National Collegiate Strategist, North American Mission Board

If you’ve grown up in the church, you’ve likely been on and heard about all kinds of missions trips. If you’re new to following Christ, missions trips are a great way to grow in your faith, to develop confidence in sharing Christ, and to grow deeper in community with other believers. Here are a few pointers on planning and leading a high-impact missions trip. [Read more…]

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TENNESSEE BAPTISTS: CALLED TO BE MISSIONAL

By Michael Sams
Chair, TN Baptist Mission Board

Mike Sams

Following last week’s meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, I drove to Bardwell, Ky., to be with my 85-year-old father who was at the point of death.  Thankfully, I made it in time to spend the last few hours of his time on earth with him.

Early on Wednesday morning (April 26), I watched as my dad opened his eyes wide and looked with amazement toward the ceiling. It was if he saw something or someone standing there before him. As his eyes fixed on whatever was before him, a peaceful look covered his face. He then took his last few breaths and that was it. [Read more…]

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WMU GIVES SECOND GRANT TO FIRE RELIEF

Baptist Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As the Smoky Mountain resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge continue to recover from last year’s devastating wildfires, a second $5,000 HEART (Humanitarian Emergency Aid for Rebuilding Tomorrow) Fund grant from the national Woman’s Missionary Union and the WMU Foundation will assist workers struggling due to the decline in tourism. [Read more…]

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TBMB HOLDS ‘FIRST’ OFFICIAL MEETING

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

BRENTWOOD — Directors of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board met April 25 for their first official meeting since a name change last November.

Messengers to the Summit in Sevierville last November overwhelmingly voted to change the name of the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention to the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

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