Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

PASTORAL LEADERSHIP IN THE COVID-19 STORM

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

I loved being a pastor. It was my joy and honor to spend 34 years as a pastor in a local church, so obviously I have a special place in my heart for the men who faithfully labor behind the pulpit serving God and His people.

I never saw myself in any other vocational capacity this side of heaven other than in a pastorate serving churches. God had other plans and serving churches has taken a different look. For almost 10 years, it’s been my privilege to lead the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board to serve the 3,200 churches that are part of the network of churches that comprise the Tennessee Baptist Convention. [Read more…]

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PASTOR ‘INVIGORATED’ AFTER KIDNEY TRANSPLANT

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Chad Ball

ADAMSVILLE — March is “National Kidney Month” and will feature many awareness campaigns and benefits across the nation to promote and encourage kidney donors.

For Chad Ball, every day is a promotion for the cause. And a celebration of it.

Ball, the pastor of First Baptist Church, Adamsville, underwent a kidney transplant last August. Six months later, he is feeling on top of the world. [Read more…]

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RETIRED PASTOR INTENTIONALLY CHOSE TO BE BIVOCATIONAL

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

John Davis displays a copy of his book on bivocational ministry that he worked on from the computer in his home in Baxter.

BAXTER — As a pastor for more than 65 years, John Davis, now 82  years old, served both full time and bivocational churches.

When he had a choice, Davis took the bivocational route. Now retired, Davis shares why in a recently released book, From Glory to Glory to Glory to Glory to Glory (based on II Corinthians 3:18).

Davis observed that he never accepted a pastorate without following the leadership of the Holy Spirit through prayer. “Each move was made with God’s clear leadership and accompanied with His evident blessing,” Davis affirmed. [Read more…]

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HOW TO PREACH TO AN EMPTY ROOM

Baptist Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) — I have been pastoring and preaching for 28 years, and I’ve spent more than 20 years as a preaching professor. Until very recently, I’ve never really given any thought about how to preach to an empty room. My goal has always been that the church would be as full as we can get it when it comes time to preach! But in light of the coronavirus and the reality of providing online Sunday services, I’ve been asked by a few leaders, “What are some tips for preaching to an empty room?”

Here are some thoughts that I’m keeping in mind as I preach for video. I hope they’ll be of help to other preachers: [Read more…]

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THE QUIET HEROES OF THE TBC AND SBC

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

Let me tell you about my friend Scott Helton.

Scott is a schoolteacher. He is also a pastor. He isn’t “part time” at either.

I’ve known Scott since he was a teenager and I was honored to be his pastor. He’s had a heart for ministry for a long time. He first served as a worship leader, then a few years ago, he served in his first pastorate. The entire time he’s also been teaching. It isn’t necessarily an easy road he chose, but then again, God chose it for him. I’ll let Scott tell the story.

“I was scared to death to begin pastoring. Moses had a burning bush experience, but I had my own bush experience while sitting on my back deck and praying about accepting the call to pastor. God drew my attention to a beautiful bush that was taller than the deck, and I felt God reminding me of how that bush began. It was a gift from my father-in-law. It was an old, dried-up and withered shrub from the woods behind his house. He handed it to me in a five gallon bucket where it had obviously been for days. I planted it, and now here it was flourishing just a few years later. [Read more…]

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MOST-READ STORIES OF 2019 COVER WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS

Stories about Lifeway’s change to pension plan and the “I Stand for Life” initiative had the most views on the B&R website

Baptist & Reflector Staff

FRANKLIN — The Baptist and Reflector website serves multiple purposes for the newspaper.

The website not only runs stories that are published in the print edition of the B&R, but also is the go-to place for breaking news pertaining to Tennessee Baptists.

This past year, the B&R website experienced several significant increases in readership (see chart). In looking at the year-ending numbers, it is interesting to note that the most-read stories of 2019 involved a wide range of topics, from economics to abortion to elections.

Listed below is a look at the most-read stories (based on website views) from the past year:

1. Lifeway to freeze pension plan for pension-eligible employees

• Date posted: July 31, 2019 • Written by: Lonnie Wilkey • Position: B&R editor

This story focused on LifeWay Christian Resources announcing changes to its retiree life insurance and pre-65 retiree medical benefits, including freezing its LifeWay Pension Plan (effective Jan. 1, 2020) for current pension-eligible employees. LifeWay shared the changes in letters to current and future retirees on June 29. The changes were approved by LifeWay trustees at their February meeting. [Read more…]

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PASTORS LESS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ECONOMY’S IMPACT

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay News Office

NASHVILLE — As retail stores hope the holiday shopping season gives their bottom line a lift, American Protestant pastors are less sure the economy is helping their congregations this year.

Around two in five pastors of Protestant churches in the United States (41 percent) say the economy is having no impact on their church, according to a new survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

The rest are nearly split on whether the effect is positive (30 percent) or negative (26 percent).

“Fundamentally, the U.S. economy is in a similar place that it was a year ago,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “Yet pastors are less optimistic about this outside influence on their church than they were in 2018.” [Read more…]

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SUMMIT SUMMARY: EVANGELISM AT FOREFRONT

TBC leaders, messengers focus on how to ‘Win TN, by all means’ during 145th annual meeting

Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, preached the final message of the Tennessee Baptist Pastors Conference on Nov. 18. He encouraged pastors to gather at the altar for prayer for each other and their churches.
– Photo by James Wilson

Editor’s Note: See stories from the 2019 Summit in Knoxville throughout this issue.

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

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Baptist Convention messengers gathered at First Baptist Concord, Nov. 17-20 for four days of inspirational worship, fellowship and to conduct business during the 145th annual meeting held during The Summit: A Gathering of Tennessee Baptists.

The Summit drew 998 registered messengers from 444 churches and 117 registered guests. The total is the highest since 2016 when 1,228 messengers from 501 churches gathered at the Sevierville Convention Center. Last year’s Summit drew 994 messengers from 409 churches to West Jackson Baptist Church, Jackson.

Convention messengers demonstrated focus, excellence and unity, observed Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

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IT’S ALMOST GATHERING TIME

Tennessee Baptists will meet in Knoxville for Summit in mid-November

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

FRANKLIN — In less than three weeks, Tennessee Baptists will descend upon Knoxville to attend the Summit which includes the 145th annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The theme of Summit is “By All Means, Win TN.”

The week begins on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church, Concord, in Knoxville with a “Tennessee Reunion.” The evening worship service features Rick Barnes, head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee who is known for his Christian testimony and witness. [Read more…]

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RETIRED PASTORS SATISFIED, SEE ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay News Office

NASHVILLE — Most retirement age pastors and missionaries say their current life is close to ideal, but some who have entered retirement say they could’ve been better prepared.

In a survey sponsored by Shepherd’s Fold Ministries, Nashville-based LifeWay Research asked 2,451 pastors, ministers and missionaries who were retired or at least 67 years old about their life, health, relationships, reflections on ministry, and how they’ve adjusted to their current life stage.

“Our number one goal is to provide relevant resources to help retired ministers,” said Brent Van Hook, director of Shepherd’s Fold Ministries. “The results of this study show specific ways retired ministers can experience genuine higher well-being related to social, spiritual, physical and financial health.” [Read more…]

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