CHURCHES
Pleasant Heights Baptist Church, Columbia, will host a weekend to honor Maury County First Responders Sept. 9-11. Activities will include a barbeque luncheon for first responders and they will be recognized and prayed over during the Sunday morning (Sept. 11) worship service. For more information, call 931-388-6453 or contact Pastor R. Maurice Hollingsworth at mhollingsworth@pleasantheights.com.
LEADERS
Richard Doyle recently celebrated his 25th anniversary as pastor of Chewalla Baptist Church, Chewalla.
Clear Creek Baptist Church, Dayton, recently called Clyde Fitzgerald as pastor.
DEATHS
Shirley Faye Grindstaff Taylor died July 1 at the age of 75 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She served as financial secretary for Watauga Baptist Association from 2000-2018 and was a member of Grace Baptist Church, Elizabethton. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Joe Taylor, and a daughter.
First Baptist Church, Erwin, celebrated 200 years of mission and ministry on Sunday, June 26. Former ministers Bill Ireland, Bryan Moore and Ray Sorrells spoke along with current pastor Koby Strawser. A history booklet given to members records that the church was originally known as Indian Creek Church and was established in 1822 before the town of Erwin existed. In 1879 the church moved across the creek into the newly formed town of Erwin. The church constructed a white wood frame building between 1885 and 1892. The town of Erwin was incorporated in 1891 and the new church was occupied the following year. In honor of the new town, the church changed its name to Erwin Baptist Church. When the growing town had more than one church, the name was changed to First Baptist Church in 1915. Holding a plaque from the Historical Committee of the Tennessee Baptist Convention are, from left, Pastor Koby Strawser and church leaders Tyler Engle, Missy Farnor, Shirley Erwin, Martha Stromberg and Logan Engle.
During the week of July 4, Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City marked the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking of the Drama and Ted Russell Center. The building is the future hub for C-N’s health science programs and honors Knoxville’s Drama Russell and her husband Ted, a 1962 C-N alumnus. Footers, long since poured, yielded steel that not only quickly moved skyward, but now gives shape to vision. The structure already has a commanding presence on the north side of campus. Carson-Newman President Charles A. Fowler says he is grateful for the work that continues to go into the project and for those making it possible. “Visual changes to the project are literally occurring daily,” he said.
Pastor Wayne Phillips and his wife, Joan, will be honored with a dinner/roast on Saturday, Aug. 27, and a service honoring the couple on Sunday, Aug. 29 at Main Street Baptist Church in RockyTop, where he has served as pastor for 25 years. Phillips was a layman at the church, teaching Sunday School, serving as a deacon and was co-youth director with his wife, before God called him into ministry. He was ordained into the ministry as youth pastor in 1997 and later became senior pastor the same year. Individuals are invited to send notes of congratulations to Phillips and his wife to be included in their memory book. Notes can be sent to Main Street Baptist Church, P.O. Box 405, RockyTop, TN 37769. For more information, call Jo Anne Swann at 865-680-3036.
Members of First Baptist Church, Lebanon, gathered June 24 for the conclusion of their bicentennial celebration, which began last year, to dedicate a new cornerstone. The original cornerstone, sealed in 1950 after the completion of a new sanctuary was opened in 2020, ahead of the church’s 200th anniversary in 2021. A new cornerstone was commissioned and includes the contents of the original cornerstone plus new materials related to the church’s bicentennial celebration. Additional historical content was added, including photos from the dedication of the original cornerstone. Pastor David Freeman said the event was the culmination of a once in a lifetime opportunity. “We feel honored to be stewards of First Baptist Church’s long legacy of ministry in this community,” he said. “We hope that some future generation will be encouraged by not only what we have left for them in the cornerstone, but also by the spiritual foundations we are building on today.”
