Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

TBC EXECUTIVE BOARD PROPOSES NAME CHANGE FOR ITSELF

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Five Objectives 5 ObjectivesBRENTWOOD – Members of the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention approved a name change for itself during their April 20 meeting held at Brentwood Baptist Church.

The name change is only for the Executive Board and does not apply to the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The TBC name will remain the same.

Pending consent from messengers to the 2016 TBC annual meeting in November, the Executive Board will become the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

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MARTHA PITTS ELECTED WMU PRESIDENT

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Martha Pitts of Germantown is congratulated by Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union members after her election as president.

Martha Pitts of Germantown is congratulated by Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union members after her election as president.

GATLINBURG — Martha Pitts, a member of Germantown Baptist Church, Germantown, was elected the 30th president of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union on April 9.

Her election took place during the Tennessee WMU annual meeting held in conjunction with the annual Missions Get-Together and Connection held each year at the Gatlinburg Convention Center. The Get-Together is traditionally the largest gathering of adults in the state.

Pitts follows Bobby Turner of Knoxville who completed her fourth and final year as president.

Approximately 1,710 women and teenagers gathered for the April 8-10 event built on the theme of “Ready. Set. Go!” [Read more…]

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MOVING FORWARD WITH THE IMB

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

Randy C. Davis

It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.

We’ve all heard that sports cliché and frankly it is one I don’t particularly like. Yes, it does matter how you play the game, but the point of playing the game is to win. However, how we deal with setbacks reveals our true character and builds resiliency. Like Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.”

Southern Baptists, it is time to put on our overalls and get back to the hard work that defined us as people who had a passion for sharing the gospel and building great universities, seminaries, hospitals, and mission boards. We did the hard work of sacrificial giving to fuel all these endeavors, often during some of the most economically depressed times in our country’s history. Hard work is in our DNA, and it is time to seize the opportunities that lie ahead. [Read more…]

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THE IMB: WE MUST REFOCUS AS WE RESET

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

Randy C. Davis

Almost everyone has seen the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels perform their amazing aerial acrobatics. These highly skilled pilots are among the best of the best in the world. The “Blues” as they are nicknamed, fly $60 million F/A-18s inches apart at hundreds of miles per hour. There is virtually no margin for error. These pilots strive for perfection every time.

But they are not perfect. Immediately after every “mission,” the Blues debrief every moment and dissect each to the smallest detail. The point is not to dwell on the past but to improve for the future.

In a sense, Southern Baptists need a debrief in the wake of approximately 1,000 International Mission Board missionaries and staffers stepping away from Great Commission work. The purpose of such a rigorous introspection would be to improve for the future. We need to refocus and reset.

In a previous column (“IMB: How Did We Get Here?” in the March 9 issue of the Baptist and Reflector), I offered six observations why I believe Southern Baptists should step back and evaluate our advance of the gospel. My assessment is that we’ve lost evangelism as a priority, that we’re failing at discipleship, that we’ve become financially selfish, that we’ve focused on maintaining the “SBC Machine” more than the mission, that we’ve become prideful, and that we’ve created unrealistic expectations by extending our missions force beyond our financial resources. [Read more…]

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BAPTISTS AND A STRANGE IGNORANCE ABOUT MISSIONS

By Johnnie Godwin
Contributing Columnist, B&R

Johnnie Godwin

Johnnie Godwin

I was born in 1937, which was just 12 years after the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention was born. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offerings for missions were already institutions. For 79 years I’ve known these three factors as the sources for financing SBC missions. I also got educated about Baptist history, the SBC’s birth in 1845, the various SBC agencies and entities, and the beloved Woman’s Missionary Union of 1888. Mother taught me tithing when I was 9. Royal Ambassadors, Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, church, seminaries, etc., did the rest.

A strange ignorance among Baptists today. Most Southern Baptists today are ignorant of what you just read, or, at best, they have minimal knowledge. I’m not here to impress you with how much Baptist history I know or solutions to missionary downsizing in 2016. I am here to testify what I have experienced. [Read more…]

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IMB ADDRESSES BAPTISM NUMBERS

By David Roach
Baptist Press

A decrease in international baptisms reported is due largely to changes in data-reporting methods, the International Mission Board said. -BP photo.

A decrease in international baptisms reported is due largely to changes in data-reporting methods, the International Mission Board said.
-BP photo.

NASHVILLE (BP) — Decreases in the number of baptisms and new churches reported by International Mission Board missionaries during the past decade reflect changes in data-reporting methods and missions strategy, not a lack of evangelistic ministry.

That’s the conclusion of a March 21 IMB news release issued in response to observations that overseas baptisms for 2015 are at their lowest level since 1969 — 54,762, according to the IMB’s 2016 Ministry Report to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, down from a high of 609,968 reported for 2007. [Read more…]

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10,356 FILIPINOS MAKE COMMITMENTS

Baptist and Reflector

Charles Pratt, left, assists a Filipino pastor in baptizing a new Christian in the South China Sea. Pratt directs Cross Partners Ministry.

Charles Pratt, left, assists a Filipino pastor in baptizing a new Christian in the South China Sea. Pratt directs Cross Partners Ministry.

SOMERVILLE — A team of nine missions volunteers serving on the Cross Partners Ministry team recently returned from two weeks in the Republic of the Philippines where they served with more than 30 churches in four different Baptist associations.

The team participated in more than 100 evangelistic crusades with Filipino Baptists across Luzon Island and saw 10,056 professions of faith and 300 other decisions for Christ.

The team was led by Charles Pratt, director of missions for Fayette Baptist Association based in Somerville. Pratt also is president and founder of Cross Partners Ministry, Inc. He has been leading volunteer missions teams on 5 continents for over 26 years to serve on short time missions trips. [Read more…]

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MISSIONS SUPPORT: NO RESERVES, NO RETREATS, NO REGRETS!

Blake Montgomery
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Sneedville

Blake Montgomery

Blake Montgomery

As I began planning for sharing this year’s information on the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering at our church, I recently read the inspiring account of another missionary who God called and used in a unique way. William Borden’s life is a story that should challenge every church and Christian in the areas of missions, leadership, and ministry.

William Whiting Borden was 16 years old in the early 1900s when he graduated high school. He was an heir to the Borden Dairy fortune. Before he started at Yale University, his parents gave him a trip around the world for his graduation present. [Read more…]

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THE IMB: HOW DID WE GET HERE?

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

Randy C. Davis

It was a dark day two weeks ago when International Mission Board President David Platt stepped to the microphone to inform Southern Baptists that 983 missionaries and 149 IMB staffers were stepping away from their involvement in taking the gospel to the nations. Dr. Platt described it best when he spoke of the “heaviness” of the day. I agreed, and wondered, “How’d we get here?”

That’s a question worth exploring. It is important to learn from our past so that we can make necessary changes that positively impact our future. There are lessons here for all of us, and as Christians, we need to pause and take stock in how this applies to us individually and collectively. [Read more…]

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NEARLY 1,000 MISSIONARIES RETURN HOME

IMB ‘reset’ will allow missions agency to have balanced budget for 2016-17

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

IMB staff members Phil Nelson, left, and Terry Sharp, second from right, visit with Tennessee trustees David Miller, second from left, and Phil Mitchell during the IMB trustee meeting held at the International Learning Center near Richmond late last month. Both Nelson and Sharp have strong Tennessee ties. Sharp formerly served on the staff of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and still lives in Hendersonville while Nelson formerly served as missions pastor at First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville.

IMB staff members Phil Nelson, left, and Terry Sharp, second from right, visit with Tennessee trustees David Miller, second from left, and Phil Mitchell during the IMB trustee meeting held at the International Learning Center near Richmond late last month. Both Nelson and Sharp have strong Tennessee ties. Sharp formerly served on the staff of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and still lives in Hendersonville while Nelson formerly served as missions pastor at First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville.

RICHMOND — Trustees of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board were told Feb. 24 that 988 missionaries are leaving the missions field along with 149 stateside staff members.

Last August IMB President David Platt announced that for financial reasons, the IMB needed to cut 600-800 missionary/staff positions. Over recent years the IMB consistently spent more money than it received — a combined $210 million more since 2010, leading to the critical need to balance the organization’s budget.

Missionaries and staff age 50 and above, with at least five years of employment, were given a Voluntary Retirement Incentive (VRI). Those not meeting that criteria were given the opportunity to retire through a Hand Raising Opportunity (HRO). [Read more…]

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