Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
You may be overrun with Christmas activities and see a busy 2019 blowing in like a thunderstorm racing across a Kansas prairie. Last minute gifts, parties, travel to be with loved ones, and on it goes. We get to this point of the year and it seems we try to squeeze about six months of activity through the funnel of a couple weeks. We seldom slow down or stop long enough to remember. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
Time passes, transitions happen, and generations come and go, but I pray we as Southern Baptists never lose the missionary spirit of Charlotte Digges “Lottie” Moon.
Lottie Moon stood no taller than 4 feet 6 inches tall, but she cast a shadow that’s stretched for more than 100 years. Lottie left for China in the early 1880’s and gave 39 years and her life – literally – to the Chinese people as a teacher and evangelist. Among her monumental Kingdom contributions was the foundation she laid for support of international missions among Southern Baptists through a special offering. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
In 1873, a young Dwight L. Moody stood in the vestry of a Baptist church in Dublin, Ireland, talking with Henry Varley, an influential British revivalist preacher. During the course of that conversation, Varley uttered words that rocketed through Moody’s soul and altered the course of Moody’s future ministry.
“Moody,” he said, “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him.”
Moody said he left that meeting with the words written on his soul. He saw them written on the planks of the ship that returned him to America and on the cobblestone streets of Chicago. On a return trip to England, Moody told Varley, “Under the power of those words I have come back to England, and I felt that I must not let more time pass until I let you know how God had used your words to my inmost soul.” [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
It’s just two words but they are incredibly powerful when flowing from a heart genuinely filled with gratitude. They can be delivered a number of ways; a text, an e-mail, or better yet, a handwritten note. Think what it means if you receive a call and the person on the other end simply says, “I wanted to call and just say thank you.”
And then there is the ultimate. Someone who gives you a hug or a handshake, looks you in the eyes and sincerely says, “thanks” for something you’ve done.
You know the Bible instructs us to “Devote [our]selves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2). Simple. Straightforward. Impactful: “Thank You.” [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
We have a problem and we can’t ignore it any longer.
It’s time we were honest with ourselves and with each other. To pretend we don’t face a serious issue would be a life-threatening mistake. I’m talking about depression among pastors and ministers (and everyone else). Depression is a reality, and I can’t bear the thought of losing one more pastor, one more person, to depression that ends in suicide. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
Randy C. Davis
Everybody has their love language. Granny Tate expressed hers by twisting your ear.
Hard.
Granny Tate was a tiny lady, but she was a giant to me. She really did twist your ear as an expression of love. I wouldn’t have minded if she had been a hugger. She was my Sunday School teacher at Shiloh Baptist Church, Saraland, Ala., when I was 11 years old. Even as a 6-foot plus senior in high school, I’d bend down so she could twist my ear. If Granny wasn’t twisting your ear, you weren’t cool. We loved that woman. [Read more…]
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $2,766,596 through the Cooperative Program in July.
For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $26,029,445. The amount is $504,905 or 2 percent over the amount given at the same time last year. After nine months of the current fiscal year, the gifts are $154,445 or 0.60 percent above budget needs. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
Aparna had no idea what to expect when she arrived in America and on the campus of East Tennessee State University. Johnson City couldn’t be more culturally different from her home in Northern India.
She didn’t know anybody when school started. One day she saw a group of people standing around and wandered over to see what was going on. It was the Pop-Tart Cart, a ministry of the ETSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry. Sure, it is a place to grab a pack of Pop-Tarts and a cup of coffee, but it is really a connecting point for BCMers to share the love of Jesus and the gospel with fellow students. One of them struck up a conversation with Aparna and invited her to the BCM. That invitation changed her life.
She made lots of new friends in the following weeks and frequently heard the gospel. It wasn’t long before she realized her need for a Savior and gave her life to Jesus. Awesome!
But the story gets better. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
Davis Walker, 4-year-old grandson of Randy C. and Jeanne Davis, enjoys the beach for the first time in Florida.
I always love going home. The beauty astounds me.
I grew up on the Alabama Gulf Coast and love it. But it’s a little more than just loving it, it’s in my blood. The majority of my earliest memories are of water skiing up and down the canal, fishing off the coast of Orange Beach, shrimping in Perdido Bay, and sitting at the end of our pier drinking coffee and watching beautiful sunsets with my family.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a beach fix in years. Like many of you, our family loves the surf and sand, so we’ve been anticipating a vacation to Blue Mountain Beach, Fla. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
Transitions and changes are not the same. That’s important to keep in mind when considering the Southern Baptist Convention.
The 2018 SBC was a watershed convention for Southern Baptists. Most of the national news related to Southern Baptists was not good prior to the convention. It would be easy to gravitate toward the negatives, but I choose to focus on the positives.
And that’s where transition and change come in. [Read more…]
