Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

THE CHILDLIKE AWE AT THE WONDER OF GOD

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…]

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REMAINING UNCHANGED DURING A SEASON OF TRANSITION

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…]

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WHY I AM THANKFUL FOR STEVE GAINES

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Steve Gaines
-Photo by Morris Abernathy

Messengers to the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention stand at the threshold of two watershed days in our denomination’s history this week as the annual meeting convenes in Dallas. More importantly, these representatives from our network of churches play a central role in the outcomes that lie ahead. [Read more…]

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DR: A STORIED HISTORY AND BRIGHT FUTURE

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

An EF5 tornado dropped from the skies five years ago and roared across Oklahoma’s open spaces at 200 mph. It locked on Moore, Okla., then slammed into the modest Oklahoma City suburb filled with middle-class, salt-of-the-earth people. It bulldozed an elementary school. It was over a mile wide and ripped a 17-mile path through the heart of that city. The devastation was comprehensive: 24 people killed, more than 200 injured, and more than $2 billion in damage.

And within hours, Oklahoma and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams swooped in to serve people. Among them were nearly 40 chaplains caring for the emotional and spiritual hurts of people. But the great thing about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers is that every person goes as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, even if they are running a chain saw. [Read more…]

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THE GIFT OF CAMP (AND PRAYER)

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

One of the greatest gifts you can give your child or teenager is the opportunity to attend church camp.

It was a gift for me and it had a significant place in my spiritual growth. I was a new believer as a teenager when I attended Citronelle Baptist Assembly (CBA) about 60 miles inland from the Alabama Gulf Coast. That opportunity to get away from the distractions of life allowed me to hear from the Lord in ways that have profoundly impacted the course of my life. My brother, Rob, is a pastor and also had his life and calling shaped at CBA where he served as a counselor for several years. [Read more…]

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A NORMAL TENNESSEE BAPTIST CHURCH

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Normal is good. I’m a fan of normal.

I recently found normal in Howell, about an hour and 15-minute drive straight south from our house in Nolensville. The weather was nearly perfect for an early morning drive with my bride, Jeanne, and we wound our way along country roads through the beautiful rolling hills of Middle Tennessee.

Howell is a small community located between Lewisburg and Fayetteville. We pulled into the parking lot of First Baptist Church Howell and the thought came to my mind. First Baptist Church and the town of Howell are, well, normal.

According to the last census, if you draw a ring around Howell about eight miles from the center of town, the population of Howell is about 8,800. That’s not many folks, but it’s normal. And the church — First Baptist Howell — has between 75 to 100 people of all ages in worship, but that’s normal. [Read more…]

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REASONS TO CELEBRATE THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

I’m amazed at what God is doing across Tennessee through His people and through the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

In Dandridge, 15 more boys were recently saved, baptized, and set on the road to discipleship at a detention facility. These precious younger brothers in Christ add to the harvest of more than 100 new believers who have come to Jesus over the past three years at the facility through the ministry of Swannsylvania Baptist Church.

Just last year we saw 95 college students come to faith in Christ through our Baptist Collegiate Ministries on university campuses across our state. More than 4,700 students are involved in BCM and 152 of them are preparing for church-related vocations. [Read more…]

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IN PURSUIT OF THE PERFECT PASTOR

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Let me go ahead and say it: Pastors aren’t perfect.

Surely that isn’t new information for anyone, but I can almost hear you saying, “Well thanks for that news flash Captain Obvious.” But let me ask, if we already know that why do we expect different from our pastors?

Ironically, I’m not just talking to the dear brothers and sisters who gather each week in our pews. I’m also talking to the men who stand in the pulpit in front of those pews. Both groups know the truth yet too often live in the world of unmet expectations rather than reality. [Read more…]

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B&R’s TOP-10 MOST READ STORIES OF 2017

Based on analytics from the B&R Website, here’s a list of stories that garnered the most views in the past 12 months:

1. PLATT APOLOGIZES TO SOUTHERN BAPTISTS

David Platt

Posted: Feb. 17, 2017
Written by: Lonnie Wilkey, B&R Editor

ONTARIO, Calif. – David Platt, president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, issued an apology to Southern Baptists on Feb. 15 for the IMB’s involvement in an amicus brief last summer. Platt apologized during a meeting of the Association of State Baptist Publications held in Ontario, Calif. He also apologized to Baptist state convention executive directors during their session on the same day. In May of 2016, the IMB, along with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, signed an amicus brief in support of a mosque to be built in New Jersey. The action, which was done without the knowledge of IMB trustees, led Tennessee pastor Dean Haun of First Baptist Church, Morristown, to resign as a trustee. “I grieve how the amicus brief in the recent mosque case has been so divisive and distracting,” Platt told editors, adding that his purpose in bringing it up “is not to debate religious liberty” but to say he wants the IMB to remain focused on its mission. [Read more…]

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DOES PRAYER STILL CHANGE THINGS?

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

“… That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words” (Colossians 2:2-4).

London was overrun with orphaned children in the 1830s. Children lived on the streets and those that found shelter often found themselves in squalid conditions subject to harsh treatment by adults who viewed the children as slave labor. It was an abusive, graceless, and dangerous environment.  [Read more…]

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