LEADERS
Joe Lovell
Joe Lovell joined the staff of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board July 8 as chief financial officer. He formerly served at the International Mission Board where he has spent the last 23-plus years. Most recently he served as senior finance director where he was responsible for accounting, investments, payroll, tax and treasury functions. Lovell was reared in Knoxville and graduated from Carson-Newman University. After passing the CPA exam, Joe worked as tax accountant, auditor and budgeting specialist before being appointed as a missionary with the IMB in 1998. He served with the IMB in the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand before moving to the home office in Richmond. Joe and his wife, Ann, have two adult daughters.
ASSOCIATIONS
A team from Fayette Baptist Association in West Tennessee recently ministered to Native Cherokee Indians in east Oklahoma. The team led four revivals and two VBS clubs each day. Director of missions Charles Pratt reported at least three adults accepted Christ in the revivals. Pratt noted that “our Cherokee friends are so open to the proclamation of the gospel every time we go.” He added that they were able to minister with two churches they previously had not served before.
CHURCHES
Antioch Baptist Church, located at 2807 Old Alabama Road in McDonald, about two miles north of Apison, will commemorate its 180th anniversary on Saturday, Aug. 27, with homecoming. The church was founded in 1842 with 22 charter members by pioneer settlers. The church will celebrate on Saturday this year in order for surrounding churches and the community to participate in the special homecoming which features preaching, singing, testimonies from older members, fishing around the pond and an old-fashioned dinner on the grounds. The church is one of the oldest Baptist churches in Bradley County. The invitation is open for anyone who would like to attend.
Williams Chapel Baptist Church, Springfield, will celebrate its 136th homecoming on Sept. 25. The 11 a.m. worship service will feature guest speaker John Rushing, special music and lunch to follow. A special offering for the cemetery fund will be collected. The church also called retired pastor Steve Pendley to serve as interim pastor.
DEATHS
Marilyn B. Harbin, 98, died July 23. She was the wife of the late J. William Harbin, a long time Southern Baptist pastor who served as director of church ministers relations for the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board) from 1976 until his retirement. As a minister’s wife she actively supported her husband in every aspect of his ministry. She was a soloist, choir member, children’s music leader and Bible study teacher. After her husband passed away, she became a member of Brentwood Baptist Church, Brentwood, where she served as a children’s Bible study teacher and was a member of the senior adult choir. She is survived by her son, two daughters-in-law and two step-grandsons.
Breonus Mitchell, lead pastor of Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville, preached from Malachi 3 on the refiner’s fire during the 2022 Black Church Leadership and Family Conference held July 18-22, at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. He noted the book of Malachi serves as a type of court case in which the people of Israel charge God with being unfair. “Do we really want God to be fair?” he asked. “Where would you be, what would you have, if God was fair? God is not fair, but He is faithful.” Mitchell encouraged listeners that the fires of testing demonstrate God is working in their lives. “When we are in the fire, we have God’s undivided attention and unconditional affection.” The event drew more than 400 registered participants and is the largest national gathering of African American Southern Baptists and brings together pastors, leaders and their families for times of training, refreshment and connection, according to Mark Croston, national director of Black church ministries at Lifeway Christian Resources.
— Lifeway photo by Aaron Earls
