Randy C. Davis Archives - Baptist & Reflector

THE QUIET HEROES OF THE TBC AND SBC

February 4, 2020

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…]

STAYING FOCUSED ON OUR PASSIONATE PRIORITY

December 10, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

There are two distinctives that bind Southern Baptists together. The first is our shared biblical belief system. Unfortunately, the Bible can be mishandled in many ways and our Southern Baptist forefathers recognized that, so in 1925, they took the providential step to clearly define what Southern Baptists believe about the Bible.

That document is known as the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) and became our “statement of the historic Baptist conception of the nature and foundation of confessions of faith in our religious and denominational life.” The BF&M was updated in 2000 and reaffirms what we believe theologically and why we believe it.

The second distinctive that binds Southern Baptists together is our Great Commission calling to missions, and specifically our historic commitment to rally around international missions. We have always been, and we must always be, a “going” people. [Read more…]

SUMMIT SUMMARY: EVANGELISM AT FOREFRONT

November 26, 2019

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…]

SUMMIT IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A MEETING

November 26, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

My No. 1 desire is to see the spiritually lost people of Tennessee won to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and it is weeks like last week that give me hope that together as Tennessee Baptists, we might see that happen.

Summit, our annual gathering of Tennessee Baptists, is so much more than just a meeting. It has become a rich time of worship, challenge, fellowship, focus, business and celebrating what God is doing across Tennessee to bring people to salvation through Tennessee Baptists and their churches.

Personally, I need it. I need the concentrated reminder of God’s faithfulness, and I need to see each of you, together, focused on the work our Savior has given us to do. I draw encouragement and energy from seeing co-laborers I love gathered with focus, excellence and unity, working cooperatively for the advancement of the gospel. [Read more…]

‘WE SERVE CHURCHES’ — IT ISN’T JUST A SLOGAN

November 13, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

You shared your concerns.

We carefully listened.

And now I want to prayerfully respond on behalf of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Several of us from the TBMB have recently engaged with over 500 Tennessee Baptists during nearly two dozen listening sessions across our state. We initiated these sessions with the sole purpose of learning from you and using what we heard to shape how we as a mission board serve your churches. For us, “We serve churches” is more than just a mission statement that hangs on a wall. It is our mission. [Read more…]

LISTENING SESSIONS — TWENTY TOWNS, TWO EARS

October 8, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Step off the elevator on the second floor of your Church Support Center in Franklin, turn right and you’ll be looking straight at this large reminder: “Tennessee Baptist Mission Board is a Christ-centered, field-focused, Great Commission organization created by Tennessee Baptists to serve Tennessee Baptist Churches. We value relationships, innovation, stewardship and excellence.”

Our mission statement for many years has been, “Making Christ Known by Serving Churches.”

What does the TBMB do? Simply put, we serve churches. [Read more…]

YOUR GOTM GIVING AND YOUR KINGDOM IMPACT

September 10, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

I spend a lot of time crisscrossing the state on Interstate 40, so much so that I jokingly call it “Randy Davis Boulevard.” The landscape constantly passes, but rarely changes. It’s the people, however, who make Tennessee special.

And the people change. One way we change is our increasing numbers. Our population is rapidly growing. People are relocating here from around the country and around the world bringing racial, ethnic, economic, religious — and non-religious — diversity. There are more dissimilar people now living in Tennessee than ever before.

However, as significant as our diversity is, it is more important to focus on what we have in common. People need Jesus — to be saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship. Our population is growing faster than the gospel is advancing. The result is that every year our state is becoming more spiritually lost. The reality: any way you slice it, Tennessee is a mission field.

I’ve been saying that for the past several years. It’s a belief based on what I see as I travel Tennessee’s interstates and backroads. [Read more…]

TENNESSEE BAPTISTS RALLY FOR THE CAUSE

August 20, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

We really can do more together. That isn’t just a catchy phrase tossed around to describe the Cooperative Program. Last week I experienced it in the form of tangible support.

Throughout 2019, our Tennessee state legislature has wrestled with proposed “heartbeat bills” in the hope of protecting unborn children in Tennessee and creating a law that would overturn Roe v. Wade. [Read more…]

DAVIS SET TO ADDRESS SENATE TODAY

August 12, 2019

Baptist and Reflector

Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis speaks at a press conference.

NASHVILLE — Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is scheduled to address the Tennessee Senate this afternoon (Monday, Aug. 12). The senate committee hearings start at 1 p.m., and live streaming can be found HERE. [Read more…]

LISTENING SESSIONS BEGIN ACROSS STATE

July 26, 2019

Baptist & Reflector

FRANKLIN — A series of listening sessions with Tennessee Baptist pastors and leaders with Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, has begun across the state.

“Over the next six weeks, I will be in 24 different locations across our state in what we are calling Collaborative Listening Sessions,” Davis said. [Read more…]

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

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