Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

TENNESSEE BAPTIST STEPS OUT IN FAITH

Editor’s Note: In September, the International Mission Board hosted Baptist state paper editors in London to introduce its new media network and to explore its Global Cities Initiative, a part of IMB President David Platt’s desire to introduce a “limitless” missionary force of Southern Baptists.

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

161115londonLONDON — As soon as Amanda McCoy speaks, her new coworkers in London know that “she’s not from around here.”

“The people here love my Southern accent,” said McCoy, who hails from Knoxville. “I have an instant segue into having conversations with people,” she noted.

In August McCoy began a job in London and became the first business professional to participate in the Southern Baptist International Mission Board’s Global Cities Initiative as a “mobilized Christian.” [Read more…]

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CITY REACH MINISTRY TOUR PLANNED

Baptist and Reflector

cityreach_knoxvilleKNOXVILLE —  A City Reach Knoxville Ministry Tour is planned for Nov. 16-17.

During the annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention held during The Summit next week in Sevierville, messengers will vote on City Reach, a plan to reach the five metro associations in the state. The first effort would be in Knoxville. [Read more…]

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SPREADING THE GOSPEL REQUIRES YOU AND ME

By Billy Hoffman
Stewardship Development Specialist, TBC

crowd-of-people-illustrationIs God leading you and your church to share Christ where He is not known? I ask it this way because spreading the gospel is both an individual as well as a Christian community activity. In Acts 13 we continue to discover the pattern of the call and empowerment of the first missionary team from the church at Antioch.  From this we see there were three things in play which led to moving the gospel into new territory — spiritual resources, human resources, and tangible resources.  [Read more…]

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DR VOLUNTEERS DRIVE ‘MILES FOR SMILES’

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Volunteers with Appalachian Miles for Smiles provide dental care for patients in East Tennessee.

Volunteers with Appalachian Miles for Smiles provide dental care for patients in East Tennessee.

KINGSPORT — Jim Ramey is a busy cattle farmer here who also is disaster relief director of Sullivan Baptist Association, based here.

Recently he served a week in Savannah, Ga., leading a feeding unit operation for victims of Hurricane Matthew.

Before that he served with the Appalachian Miles for Smiles mobile dental clinic at Sullivan Baptist Church, Kingsport. Right after being a disaster relief volunteer in Savannah he drove the dental clinic to another church in Kingsport and the next day to Elkview, W.Va.

Ramey and several other Baptist disaster relief volunteers are very involved with the dental clinic ministry. It was the idea of Frank Waldo, one of the DR volunteers, though he had never seen one. He has heard of one for children operating on the west coast.

About 20,000 people in this area “have access to inadequate or no dental care,” said Waldo, a member of Blessed Hope Baptist Church, Kingsport. [Read more…]

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MISSIONS LEADER JAMES H. SMITH DIES

Baptist Press

James H. Smith

James H. Smith

MEMPHIS — James H. Smith, former executive secretary of the Illinois Baptist State Association and later the fifth Southern Baptist Brotherhood Commission president, died Oct. 21 in Memphis. He was 95.

Smith spent nearly 50 years in Southern Baptist leadership. At the time of his retirement in 1991 from the Brotherhood Commission where he served 12 years, the agency accounted for more than 530,000 men and boys involved in missions.

“He was acknowledged by his staff as a leader who placed the role of the local church in the prominent position of providing manpower to reach the world for Christ, and he saw himself as a pastoral leader to his staff,” said Jack Childs of Memphis, former Brotherhood Commission vice president of support services, who served the agency 36 years. [Read more…]

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CHURCH LEARNS OF IMPACT 77 YEARS LATER

By Linda Lawson Still
Contributing Writer, Baptist and Reflector

161104impact-77-years

Woo Jaeo, left, recently traveled from South Korea to Nashville to visit Pastor John Garner and Belmont Heights Baptist Church. Belmont Heights was instrumental in helping the young man’s grandfather become the first missionary to Korea more than 75 years ago. — Photo by Linda Lawson Still

NASHVILLE — After an intense, two-week pilgrimage to Nashville, Woo Jaeo returned to South Korea Oct. 19 with greater insights about the grandfather he never knew.

He arrived knowing that Woo Tai-ho, a Presbyterian minister, had studied theology at Vanderbilt  University divinity school in 1939, became a Baptist and a member of Belmont Heights Baptist Church in the city, and went on to become the first missionary to Korea.

Woo Jaeo, 40, a Seoul book publisher, said his aunt had often told him, “You are like your grandfather.” Part of the reason he wanted to retrace the elder Woo’s steps in Nashville was to better know the man who died in 1954, 22 years before he was born. But he was also searching for a better understanding of himself and his faith in God.  [Read more…]

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TBC CHURCHES BOOST AAEO

Baptist Press, B&R Reports

annie-armstrong-aaeoALPHARETTA, Ga. — The nearly $59 million given to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering in 2016 ranks second highest in the offering’s history, the North American Mission Board announced Oct. 12.

Southern Baptists gave $58,860,553 in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to the offering named for noted missionary Annie Armstrong, second only to the $59,463,281 given in 2007, NAMB said. [Read more…]

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DENVER’S BEAUTY, SPIRITUAL NEED SEEN BY NAMB TRUSTEES

Mike Ebert
Executive Dir. of Public Relations, NAMB

"What could God do with the North American Mission Board? What could God do with the Southern Baptist Convention if we would realize that the primary thing we are to do before we do anything else is pray?" SBC President Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., challenged North American Mission Board trustees as they met in Denver Oct. 4-5. Photo by Hayley Catt/NAMB

“What could God do with the North American Mission Board? What could God do with the Southern Baptist Convention if we would realize that the primary thing we are to do before we do anything else is pray?” SBC President Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., challenged North American Mission Board trustees as they met in Denver Oct. 4-5. Photo by Hayley Catt/NAMB

DENVER (BP) — Set against a backdrop of freshly snow-capped mountains on the front range of Colorado’s Rockies, North American Mission Board trustees saw firsthand how Southern Baptist church planters are countering spiritual darkness in the midst of a recreational paradise.

On the Monday before their Oct. 4-5 meeting, trustees loaded onto buses to visit church planters at their places of ministry. One, Kevin Hasenack, is planting Calvary Church Denver in one of the most diverse communities in the area. [Read more…]

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REACHING THE 94 PERCENT IN NYC

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Members of Belmont Heights Baptist Church, Knoxville, and Swerve Church in NYC pause this summer during their missions work painting over graffiti on a building. Tennesseans include, from left, first row, Karen Foy and Breanna Foy; and Abigail Lethgo, second from right; and Barry Lethgo, right; back row, Mike Foy, second from left; and Andy Minton, third from left.

Members of Belmont Heights Baptist Church, Knoxville, and Swerve Church in NYC pause this summer during their missions work painting over graffiti on a building. Tennesseans include, from left, first row, Karen Foy and Breanna Foy; and Abigail Lethgo, second from right; and Barry Lethgo, right; back row, Mike Foy, second from left; and Andy Minton, third from left.

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. -— “If you reach somebody in New York City you have the potential of reaching the world,” said Kevin Cabe, former Knoxvillian who is now a Baptist missionary in New York City.

“People move here for fame, fortune, film, finance, food, and everything in between. Many Tennesseans are moving here too as we speak. … Then people often move on,” he explained, adding that though 22 million people live within 75 miles of Times Square, the population is transient. Eight and a half million people live in the city. Many are originally from other countries. [Read more…]

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CITY REACH TO IMPACT METRO COMMUNITIES

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

cityreach_knoxvilleBRENTWOOD — Reaching Tennessee for Christ will involve reaching the largest metropolitan areas in the state, according to leaders within the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

To help accomplish that goal, City Reach will be launched during this year’s Summit Nov. 13-17 at the Sevierville Convention Center, pending approval from messengers at Summit. City Reach was approved by members of the TBC Executive Board during their Sept. 14 meeting at Brentwood Baptist Church. [Read more…]

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