Baptist & Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

UNION TO INCREASE SCHOLARSHIPS FOR MKS

By Suzanne Rhodes
Union University news office

JACKSON — Beginning in fall 2022, Union will offer its highest financial merit scholarship to all students who are dependents of missionaries through the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board or North American Mission Board.

Dan Griffin, vice president for enrollment management, said giving children of missionaries more opportunities to attend Union is invaluable.

“Really, the benefits are endless with diversifying our undergraduate population and exposing our current students to other cultures and experiences,” Griffin said.

Children of IMB or NAMB missionaries will receive a Union merit scholarship of $17,750 and will be eligible to receive any additional Union scholarships, partnerships and grants they are qualified for.  [Read more…]

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TENNESSEE MISSIONARIES THANKFUL FOR COOPERATIVE PROGRAM, LMCO SUPPORT

Editor’s Note: Many churches across Tennessee observed the Week of Prayer for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions last week and are in the process of collecting the 2021 Lottie Moon offering. IMB missionaries Andy and Michelle Milam are on stateside assignment at Blue Mountain (Miss.) College. They traveled to Jackson recently for an interview with the Baptist and Reflector.

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

Andy and Michelle Milam, who serve as missionaries in Portugal for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, recently returned for a visit at Union University, where the couple first met and felt the call into ministry, and eventually, the mission field. The Milams were appointed in 2008 to serve in Porto, Portugal, where they have worked as church planters for the past 13 years.

JACKSON — A recent trip to the Union University campus in Jackson brought back a flood of memories for Andy and Michelle Milam, missionaries in Portugal for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

Milam, the son of former Tennessee Baptist pastor Jerry (now deceased) and Nancy Milam, met his future bride, Michelle Sarratt, of Tupelo, Miss., during their freshman year of college at Union University. The two had similar interests, especially in the area of missions. They dated and eventually were married and lived in Union’s married student housing before their graduation in 1992.

While there, they met Ramona Mercer, an IMB missionary who was in her first year as Union’s first missionary in residence during that time. Milam recalled asking her, “How do you know God is calling you to missions?”

He noted that Mercer replied, “In His time, He will show you, if that’s His will.” [Read more…]

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UNION TRUSTEES APPROVE NEW PROGRAM

Union University news office

JACKSON — Union University trustees welcomed five new members to the board and received a clean audit report during their Dec. 3 meeting on the university campus.

Beginning their tenure as Union trustees were Adam Dooley, senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson; Kay Griffin, a Union graduate and retired English teacher with the Jackson-Madison County School System; Willie McLaurin, vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee; and Ramona Yates, a Union graduate and retired owner of Machine Tool and Supply Corp. 

Jeff Perkins, a Union graduate and business and ministry leader from Greenfield, returned to the board after a year’s hiatus following nine years of service.  [Read more…]

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UNION STUDENTS HELP WAVERLY FLOOD VICTIMS

By Suzanne Rhodes
Union University news office

Katherine Anne Thierfelder, sophomore at Union University, helps remove ruined flooring in disaster relief efforts. — Photo by Kristi Woody

JACKSON — Since the deadly floods that hit Waverly in late August, Union University has sent multiple groups of volunteers to assist Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief with flood relief efforts. 

One of these students is Kathryn Anne Thierfelder, a sophomore communications and creative writing double major. As she helped remove the ruined flooring from a local resident’s house, Thierfelder observed there is much hurt and need right now. She felt called to help Waverly flood victims because as a native of nearby Jackson, it was important for her to help “those in my own backyard.”    [Read more…]

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LEWIS DONATES MOST OF PASTORAL LIBRARY TO UNION

By Grace White
Union University

Lewis

JACKSON — Pastor Frank Lewis of First Baptist Church, Nashville, has donated approximately 2,000 books from his personal library to Union University to be used by students and faculty. 

Lewis’ collection is expansive, including various Bible commentaries and devotionals as well as books that he inherited from the two pastors who served before him at FBC Nashville. 

As part of Union’s library, Lewis’ collection will be used to help train the next generation of pastors. His collection includes books that had belonged to his mother and books bought with money that his uncle had given him while he was a seminary student.

“What’s the possibility that some student from Union is going to write a sermon and preach it in a youth camp, and a kid is going to give their heart to Christ?” Lewis asked. “And it may be from an illustration that was provided by a book that my uncle gave me. That’s amazing!”

Lewis, who has been pastor of FBC Nashville since 1997, is not the only FBC Nashville pastor to donate his personal library to Union. Franklin Paschall, who served as the pastor there from 1956-1983, gave his library to Union. Also included in this donation was the library of Paschall’s predecessor, William Francis Powell, who served from 1921-1956. [Read more…]

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ANOTHER ‘FIRST DAY’ FOR STUDENTS, STAFF

By Todd E. Brady
Vice President for University Ministries; Union University, Jackson

Tuesday (Aug. 17) was the first day. It started again. We did it last year and we’ll do it again next year. For almost 200 years (Union celebrates its bicentennial in two years.) Union University has been starting school every fall. After the summer of an empty campus, the lifeblood has come back into this place.  Students have returned.  The hallowed halls are again teeming with what makes this place tick — students.

In our weekly meeting on the first day of school, several of us who work at Union shared about how many “first days” we have experienced as employees at an institution of higher education. One shared that he had experienced 32 first days. Another colleague said that this is her sixth first day. For me, it was was my 22nd first day. [Read more…]

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UNION NAMES JEFF PALMER AS 2021 DODD AWARD RECIPIENT

By Suzanne Rhodes
Union University news office

Jeff Palmer, founder and former CEO of Baptist Global Response, has been named Union University’s 2021 M.E. Dodd Award recipient.

JACKSON — Union University has named Jeff Palmer, founder and former CEO of Baptist Global Response, as the 2021 M.E. Dodd Award recipient, the highest denominational service award given by the university.

Union President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver presented Palmer with the award June 15 at First Baptist Church in Nashville during Union’s alumni and friends dinner as part of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. 

“Through his work as an international missionary, as the director of a global relief organization and now as a transitional pastor for a local church, Jeff’s ministry has been faithful and compassionate and has touched literally millions around the world,” said Todd Brady, vice president for university ministries at Union. 

“Union University and Southern Baptists are grateful for God’s work through Jeff Palmer,” he said.

Attaining a bachelor’s degree in biology at Union and a master’s degree in agriculture at Murray State University, Palmer has used his education to serve as an International Mission Board missionary in Southeast Asia for over 20 years. In 2006, Palmer and his wife, Regina, were asked to head the formation of Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist international relief and development organization.  [Read more…]

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SBC: MISSION, TRUST, TRANSPARENCY, UNITY

By Todd E. Brady
Vice President For University Ministries, Union University, Jackson

In mid-June, I was one of the 15,726 Baptists who attended the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville — the most attended convention since 1995 and the first large gathering in Nashville since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having done research this past year in high school for a research paper and learning about the SBC’s deliberations at an earlier convention, my son Jack asked to attend with me. In all the years of going to Southern Baptist Conventions, I learned that it is a much better experience when your son goes with you. [Read more…]

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UNION TRUSTEES APPROVE $95M BUDGET

Union University news office

JACKSON — Union University trustees celebrated the 25th anniversary of the McAfee School of Business, approved a $95 million budget and granted tenure and promotions to several professors during their April 9 meeting on the Union campus.

In his report to trustees, Union President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver updated them on the status of the university’s “United in Spirit. Grounded in Truth.” strategic plan, which was adopted in 2015. 

Oliver shared success stories from each of seven strategic themes that the plan emphasizes: bearing witness to the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, expanding enrollment across the university, enhancing operational effectiveness and efficiency to advance the mission, revising the liberal arts core curriculum, supporting meaningful research among faculty and students, developing leaders for the future, and bolstering student life and building community. [Read more…]

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UNION, SOUTHERN SEMINARY LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP FOR MBA, M.DIV. DEGREES

Union University president Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver, right,  and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. sign a partnership agreement between the two institutions at a March 16 signing ceremony. Certain credits earned by students in Union’s Master of Business Administration program will also count toward a Master of Divinity degree at SBTS. Likewise, students in the Master of Divinity program at SBTS can earn credits toward their MBA degree at Union. The partnership essentially reduces the time it takes for students to complete both degrees. — Photo by Kristi Woody.

JACKSON — Union University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have signed an articulation agreement in which certain credits earned by students in Union’s Master of Business Administration program will also count toward a Master of Divinity degree at SBTS.

Likewise, students in the Master of Divinity program at SBTS can earn credits toward their MBA degree at Union. The partnership essentially reduces the time it takes for students to complete both degrees. 

Union president Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver and SBTS President R. Albert Mohler Jr. officially signed the agreement on the Union campus March 16.   [Read more…]

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