Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

THOMASES LIVE OUT MISSIONS CALLING

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

John and Kaye Thomas, left, of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, who serve as full-time missions volunteers, pause recently in Palmer, Alaska, with Southern Baptist missionaries Gary and Shirley Bearce. The Thomases will assist the Bearces this summer with missions teams coming to serve there.

John and Kaye Thomas, left, of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, who serve as full-time missions volunteers, pause recently in Palmer, Alaska, with Southern Baptist missionaries Gary and Shirley Bearce. The Thomases will assist the Bearces this summer with missions teams coming to serve there.

PALMER, Alaska — John and Kaye Thomas can be found in their Sevierville home about 100 days a year — mostly for Kaye’s part-time job. The rest of the time they are away doing missions work. Even while they are at home they often are found plugging into missions opportunities.

Currently they are based out of their RV in Palmer, Alaska, on an assignment which will extend through July. Then the journey home will require an additional three weeks.

The couple’s job there is something they are looking forward to and experienced at — coordinating missions teams coming to assist Gary Bearce, a Southern Baptist church strategist in Alaska. [Read more…]

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CARSON-NEWMAN PROFESSOR SHOWS HOME TO STUDENTS

By David Crutchley

Editor’s Note: Crutchley, a native of Zimbabwe, Africa, is chair of the religion department at Carson-Newman University. He has led a group of C-N students to Africa for nine years.

David Crutchley

David Crutchley

We arrive in Cape Town, South Africa, after a 12-hour flight from London. Home again … African soil. Table Mountain peers down from her lofty throne and welcomes us. Our group of 21 has traveled 10,000 miles to walk in this breath-taking corner of God’s creation. The heart races with joy as memories and nostalgia surface. A gaggle of wide-eyed students stare with wonder as we drive through the hills and suburbs. I kick into guide mode and for the next two weeks we will share the paradoxes of Africa. The physical beauty of the southern part of the continent makes even the angels marvel and yet the land yearns to exorcise the demons of apartheid and heal from the shackles of its past. [Read more…]

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BELLEVUE’S STEVE GAINES ELECTED TO LEAD SBC

Tennessee Baptists second in number of Southern Baptist Convention messengers with 824

By David Roach
Baptist Press

Editor’s Note: Due to the publication schedule of the Baptist and Reflector, this issue contains a condensed wrap-up of the SBC annual meeting held June 14-15 in St. Louis. Extensive stories were posted on the B&R web site last week.

 

Outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd, left, together with presidential nominee J.D. Greear, center, congratulate Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova after he is elected president of the SBC. Greear withdrew from the race and moved that the convention elect Gaines by acclamation during the SBC’s annual meeting at America’s Center in St. Louis on June 15. — Photo by Bill Bangham

Outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd, left, together with presidential nominee J.D. Greear, center, congratulate Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova after he is elected president of the SBC. Greear withdrew from the race and moved that the convention elect Gaines by acclamation during the SBC’s annual meeting at America’s Center in St. Louis on June 15. — Photo by Bill Bangham

ST. LOUIS — The election of Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines as president on the third ballot and a historic repudiation of the Confederate battle flag were among the highlights of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis.

The convention’s resolution on the Confederate battle flag capped an emphasis on racial reconciliation throughout the meeting that included the election of a 2017 Committee on Nominations with 25 percent of its members drawn from ethnic minority groups and a panel discussion on “racial unity in America” featuring Jerry Young, president of the historically African American National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

The unofficial total of 7,321 registered messengers — up from 5,407 last year — also devoted an entire session to praying for awakening in America, listened to a panel discussion on “pastors and the church in American politics today,” and addressed on multiple occasions whether Baptists should support Muslims’ right to build mosques in the United States.

When registered guests, exhibitors, and others are included, the count of those at the annual meeting was tallied, as of June 15, at 11,581. Tennessee ranked second in number of messengers to the annual meeting with 824, trailing only host state Missouri’s 877 messengers. [Read more…]

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WHY IS MISSIONS WORK WORTH DOING?

Editor’s Note: Kennedy Keltner is 12 years old and is a member of Central Baptist Church, Brighton, where her father, Rusty Keltner, is pastor. Kennedy wrote this essay for a writing competition.

By Kennedy Keltner

Kennedy Keltner

Kennedy Keltner

Motivation is a quality that many people lack. They think “Why do more work than I have to?” In the job I hope to do in the future, this language and thinking is unacceptable. Most of the time, important jobs are very hard, yet they’re worth doing. I’m planning on being a missionary, a difficult but worthy job.

Ever since I can remember, I have been longing to explore the world and have been compassionate for others. When I was 5 years old I felt drawn to China, so all I asked for at Christmas that year was money for China. At summer camp, missionaries came and spoke. It was then that I heard a small voice telling me, “This is you, this is who you’re going to be.” Ever since then, my heart has been set on becoming a missionary. Last Christmas, I felt drawn to Africa, so all I asked for were Bibles to be sent there. [Read more…]

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A LIGHT IN MOUNTAINS OF DARKNESS

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

Lucila Huamani (wah-MAHN-ee) is a widow. She faithfully maintains God’s house every week and puts fresh flowers at the altar. On Sundays, she opens the church, reads her Bible, prays, and sings hymns. Many weeks she’s the only one there. She daily faces ridicule from neighbors for her Christianity. She perseveres. Her prayer request is that the church will one day be filled and that the gospel will spread across the mountains that surround her village of Machahuay (mah-CHAH-why). Pray that God will reward her faith by granting her prayer request.

Lucila Huamani (wah-MAHN-ee) is a widow. She faithfully maintains God’s house every week and puts fresh flowers at the altar. On Sundays, she opens the church, reads her Bible, prays, and sings hymns. Many weeks she’s the only one there. She daily faces ridicule from neighbors for her Christianity. She perseveres. Her prayer request is that the church will one day be filled and that the gospel will spread across the mountains that surround her village of Machahuay (mah-CHAH-why). Pray that God will reward her faith by granting her prayer request.

VIRACO, Peru — Julissa knelt beside her daddy and urged him to get back on the donkey. He’d collapsed by the side of the road, torso in the bushes, legs and feet stretched out into the dusty mountain road.

“C’mon Papi. We need to go home.”

But he was barely conscious and unable to move, a stupor brought on from a morning of heavy drinking.

Julissa’s plight is not that uncommon from many other children living in the isolated Andean Mountains of Peru where there is a high level of alcoholism among men. Much of the bacchanalia centers around the veneration of Catholic saints, such as Saint Ursula, who is the patron saint of the town of Viraco (vee-RAH-co), located in the shadows of the dormant volcano, Coropuna.

Saint Ursula is uniquely recognizable. Most female Catholic saints have crowns atop their heads. Not Ursula. She wears a cowgirl hat. Legend has it that Ursula appeared to the Inca people here in the 1500s to warn them of an impending Spanish ambush. The people rallied and defeated the Spanish, solidifying Ursula’s significance in perpetuity. [Read more…]

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MAYBE OL’ EL LOCO WASN’T SO LOCO AFTER ALL

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

160616el-locoI sized up the donkey standing about 15 feet in front of me; then I casually walked over. I kept my distance because I’m not an equine kind of guy, but I had something to say. I looked the beast of burden square in the eye and decided to keep my comments brief and to the point.

“I’m glad I’m not you the next five days,” I said with equal parts sarcasm, sympathy, and relief.

Soon enough, after about three hours on the trail, I began to call him, “El Loco,” translated, “The Crazy.” He meandered along at his own pace — drifting off from the other two donkeys and the group I was a part of. He wasn’t obstinate, mostly. Let’s just say he was his own donkey.

But that was all to come. For the moment, he stood there with at least 100 pounds of backpacks strapped to his back just staring at me. There was no reaction to what I said. I wondered, was he oblivious to the difficult descent along the rocky trail into the canyon below then up the other side where he’d have to grunt that weight up more than 2,000 feet of elevation change and over a nearly 11,000 foot summit? Or, was he silently sizing me up, plotting payback for what could rightly be perceived as an insensitive comment. [Read more…]

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LOTTIE MOON OFFERING REACHES $165.8 MILLION

By Julie McGowan
Baptist Press

Christian worker Gary Warrior (name changed) leads praise songs and teaches a Bible study in a national's home at night. Providing clean water to communities gives Warrior and his team a welcome reception in people’s homes, and they are often open to the message of the gospel. -IMB Photo

Christian worker Gary Warrior (name changed) leads praise songs and teaches a Bible study in a national’s home at night. Providing clean water to communities gives Warrior and his team a welcome reception in people’s homes, and they are often open to the message of the gospel. -IMB Photo

RICHMOND — Southern Baptists provided resounding support through the 2015 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

Finalized in early June, the 2015 Lottie Moon offering totaled $165.8 million — the highest total in the 127-year history of the offering. The offering surpassed the previous all-time record of $154 million in 2013 by $11.8 million. The 2014 Lottie Moon offering totaled just over $153 million.

Through June 7, Tennessee Baptists have contributed $10,726,904 to the Lottie Moon offering. The amount is approximately 10 percent ahead of last year. The Tennessee Baptist Convention will continue receiving LMCO gifts through November of this year. [Read more…]

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STATE’S MISSIONS FIELD NEEDS A MISSION BOARD

By Jim Collier
Senior Pastor, Kirby Woods Baptist Church, Memphis

jim Collier

Jim Collier

Over the past several years, Tennessee Baptists have grappled with their direction and purpose. Led by Randy C. Davis, we were asked to examine our efforts and determine the way forward. Emerging from this examination, Tennessee Baptists have applauded and embraced our Five Objectives: more baptisms, more renewed churches, more new churches, more cooperation through the Cooperative Program and more investment in reaching our state through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions. These objectives have unified our efforts and increased our awareness of the work yet to be done. We reaffirm, Tennessee is a missions field! [Read more…]

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SO WHY CHANGE THE NAME?

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

Randy C. Davis

Any way you slice it, Tennessee is a missions field.

I’ve known that for years but that really hit me a couple of years ago as I made my way across Tennessee and to all 95 counties. You may recall that yearlong journey as we gathered at county courthouses to pray and ring the bell of salvation. That excursion was an eye-opener to Tennessee’s deep spiritual and physical needs.

Look at our demographic reality. Did you know that we now have more than 145 global people groups living in our state and that more than 40 of those are identified by the International Mission Board as among the world’s most unreached with the gospel? Staggering. [Read more…]

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FOCUS TURNS CHURCH ‘INSIDE OUT’

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Some leaders of Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church, Newport, are, from left, front row, Terri Sawyer and Kathy Regan, Woman’s Missionary Union director; back row, Randy Runions, senior pastor; Heath Chambers, missions and evangelism pastor; and Edwin Franks, executive minister and education.

Some leaders of Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church, Newport, are, from left, front row, Terri Sawyer and Kathy Regan, Woman’s Missionary Union director; back row, Randy Runions, senior pastor; Heath Chambers, missions and evangelism pastor; and Edwin Franks, executive minister and education.

NEWPORT — One way to describe what has happened at Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church is that it’s been “turned inside out,” said Terri Sawyer.

In other words, the church has adopted a focus on what is outside rather than themselves.

The decision of the congregation came as it faced some financial issues recently related to a new building and some decline in membership. It had to decide whether to focus on missions, including giving to missions, or itself. [Read more…]

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