Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

DAVIS ADDRESSES ISSUES FACING SBC

By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

Randy C. Davis

FRANKLIN — Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission, said he needed a “mulligan.”

During last week’s “Ask Randy” webinar, hosted by the TBMB, Davis was asked the question: “What is going on with the Southern Baptist Convention?”  Davis answered the inquiry, but later said he felt his response was inadequate.

On Thursday, Davis issued a “follow-up” response, in which he addressed the question again.

“If you remember — and I remember it — last (week) when I attempted to answer that question, I really pivoted very quickly to everything going on in the Southern Baptist Convention that is good. And I did not spend enough time going into the things that are troubling us the most about our larger family, the Southern Baptist Convention. So, I want to come back and just address that and that alone today,” he said in the new video.

Davis said one of the reasons for the current conflicts in the SBC revolves around the personalities who were recently in SBC leadership positions, specifically Russell Moore, former president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Mike Stone, former chairman of the Executive Committee; and Ronnie Floyd, former president and CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. All three men have recently left their respective positions.  [Read more…]

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THE SBC’S NEHEMIAH MOMENT

By Randy C. Davis
President & executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

The Southern Baptist Convention is facing a Nehemiah moment. 

Put your sandals on and let’s take a walk through the rubble known as Jerusalem. Nehemiah wasn’t a preacher, or evangelist or any other type of vocational minister. He was a godly layman who heard the distant city was in ruins and the effort to rebuild the walls and reestablish the Jewish center of life was stalled. There appeared to be no hope that the nation of Israel would return to prominence and be the testimony to God’s greatness that the Lord had called it to be. 

Nehemiah was broken hearted. He was crushed, and he wore his devastated spirit on his sleeve. The Babylonian king noticed and through Nehemiah’s humility, repentance, boldness, faith and determination, God used him to restore the nation.  [Read more…]

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WHAT’S THE SBC’S FUTURE? IT’S UP TO US

By Randy C. Davis
President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

What will become of the Southern Baptist Convention?

That question hangs above our denomination like an ominous cloud. The question is especially germane given the unprecedented decision by SBC Executive Committee Board members to waive attorney-client privilege in the third-party investigation of how the EC handled sexual abuse claims. 

The discussion has become strained at times. People have gotten aggressively hostile on social media to the point nothing in their comments resembles the Christian love we are commanded to extend to one another. Attitudes toward board members have become like chum in the Amazon River, feeding a frenzy of piranha. These EC board members are people; brothers and sisters in Christ who stepped out from our churches to serve. They are not the enemy.  

The issue at hand, sexual abuse, is a serious matter that deserves rigorous consideration and a thoughtful response guided by the Holy Spirit whose counsel must be sought through rigorous prayer. And not just prayer by EC board members and members of the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force.  [Read more…]

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PRACTICING THE POWER OF PRESENCE

By Randy C. Davis
President & Executive Director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

We were at a deacons retreat on the Mississippi Gulf Coast when we got news that a granddaughter of one of the deacons had been taken to the hospital gravely ill. Holly soon died from a brain aneurysm.  

I was the beautiful nine-year-old girl’s pastor. The deacons and I loaded up, left the retreat and headed to the hospital. The only thing we could do was “be there.” Why cut the retreat short and all of us head to the hospital? Because that is what brothers and sisters in Christ do: we show up.  [Read more…]

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A SHOT OF GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE

By Randy C. Davis
President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

Let’s get real for a moment. There is a relentless barrage of daily bad news circulated through news outlets and social media. It is saturated with a great deal of misinformation, rumor, innuendo and flat out lies born in the pits of hell. 

A lot of it lands on my desk, or at least in my inbox. Unfortunately it tends to also bleed over into congregations which is why I welcome the opportunity to dialog with anyone about issues that concern TBC churches and their leaders.

Such was the case when leaders from Wheelerton Baptist Church (WBC) asked to meet with me. The church is in a small community not far from the Alabama-Tennessee state line. 

The pastor and deacons were concerned about issues related to the Southern Baptist Convention. We blocked two hours at the TBMB Church Support Center here in Franklin to have some frank conversations. [Read more…]

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OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SBC MEETING

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

-Photo: Adam Covington, Baptist Press

We wanted to gather, and we did … in droves.

After a year without an annual Southern Baptist Convention because of the pandemic, and with much on our minds, Nashville hosted the largest gathering of Southern Baptists since 1995 with more than 20,000 messengers and guests.

Prior to the convention, I put out a call for Tennessee Baptists to show up and show why we are known as the Volunteer State. You did it.

I am extremely proud of the servant leadership and kind hospitality Tennesseans provided as the SBC gathered under the banner, “We Are Great Commission Baptists.” From those who served as ushers and greeters, to disaster relief volunteers who coordinated childcare, to our friendly Tennessee Baptist Mission Board staff who spent an enormous amount of time extending a red-carpet welcome to folks from all around the globe, Tennessee Baptists did a great job helping to host the SBC. [Read more…]

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I LOVE BEING A TENNESSEE BAPTIST

By Randy C. Davis
President and executive director, TBMB

I love being a Tennessee Baptist, and there are countless reasons why, beginning with our rich history and continuing with our very bright future. 

Just a few years ago, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board exhumed the remains of Tidence Lane, the first Baptist pastor to journey over the Appalachian Mountains and into East Tennessee to invest his life in church planting, the pastorate and actively participating in associational ministry. 

His remains were in a family plot in the middle of a pasture on land he received for distinguished service during the Revolutionary War, just a couple hundred yards from the spring near where he planted Bent Creek Church in the 1780s. That’s a decade-plus before Tennessee even became a state. 

His remains, along with that of his wife and other family members, were reinterred about a mile away, at Whitesburg Baptist Church, which is the direct descendant of Bent Creek.  [Read more…]

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DAVIS WELCOMES SOUTHERN BAPTISTS TO TENNESSEE

The following is a letter from Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. This letter was published in the June 13 print edition of the Baptist and Reflector:

It is my joy and honor to welcome you, SBC messengers and guests, to the Volunteer State.

Tennessee is home to Little Debbie, Dolly Parton, the Grand Ole Opry, Rock City (you’ve got to see it), Graceland, rich delta farmland and the beautiful Smoky Mountains. 

Tennessee is also one of the fastest growing homes to internationals in North America. As a matter of fact, one national publication titled Nashville “Little Kurdistan” because of the high number of Kurds who now call Tennessee home. More than 145 global people groups are represented in our state’s population, many from among the world’s most unreached with the gospel.  [Read more…]

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THE RISING HOPE FOR DAYS AHEAD

By Randy C. Davis
President & Executive Director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

Sometimes all people need to press forward is a sliver of hope. Last week we got it. 

Dr. Rochelle Walensky delivered that hope when the director of the Center for Disease Control stepped to the microphone during a press conference and said, “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or socially distancing.”

That simple pronouncement was like turning the corner at the end of the long driveway and seeing the Biltmore Mansion for the first time. 

Her declaration is a monumental, long-awaited signal that light is dawning after plodding through the dark night of the coronavirus pandemic.  [Read more…]

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COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS

By Randy C. Davis
President and executive director, TBMB

It’s Thursday while I’m writing this and I’m thinking about what Friday represents for the world on this week we recognize as Holy Week. By the time you read this column, we will have had our first in-person Easter gathering in two years. I’m certain I will be hearing reports about how the day was an honoring celebration to a resurrected Christ across Tennessee and around the globe.

I think about the substantial joy of a risen Savior in contrast to our world — and even our denomination — mired in attitudes and cultures of cancelation, agitation, and aggravation. What if we turned our eyes toward Jesus and celebrated His preeminent glory, remember the great thing He’s done on our behalf? That takes intentionality and focus but the lesser things that so easily distract will fall away and be exposed for their worthlessness by comparison. [Read more…]

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