ASSOCIATIONS
Twenty-nine volunteers from Weakley County Baptist Association churches spent Jan. 27-Feb. 2 serving in Puerto Rico. Half of the team worked at a church in the middle of the city of Fajardo (with a population of 25,000) doing various construction jobs while the other half worked in the island city of Vieques (with a population of 8,200). That team worked on a local church, a future Christian camp and held a retreat for pastors and church staff. “We have spent the last few years in Puerto Rico where we have helped make a positive change in the lives of the people there,” said Phil Mitchell, director of missions.
Kelvin Moore
LEADERS
Kelvin Moore, a professor of biblical studies in the school of Theology and Missions at Union University and pastor of First Baptist Church, Bradford, has recently published a Christian novel entitled Three Noirs and a Blanc, which celebrates unlikely but genuine Christian friendships. The book crosses racial lines about a friendship between three black, senior adult men, facing poverty and homelessness, meeting a white 17-year-old homeless teenager. The book is available from Amazon.com.
DEATHS
Jerry M. Lee died Feb. 18 in Paris at the age of 74. He surrendered to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in March of 1970. Over the next 50-plus years, he pastored many churches in Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan. He also served Tennessee Baptist churches for the last 20 years as an Intentional Interim pastor and was on several committees and boards of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Susan Sykes Lee; a daughter; three grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Lloyd Smith Jr. died Feb. 8 at the age of 93. A native of Alabama, Smith served as a staff minister at churches in Chattanooga, Harriman and Clinton. His son, Lloyd Smith III is a staff minister at First Baptist Church, Huntland.
Aaron Gray, a music major from Jefferson County, center, is joined by other members of Carson-Newman University’s music ensembles during a recording session for the newly released “The Modern Hymn Project,” a partnership between Carson-Newman and Nashville’s Brentwood Benson publishing, featuring 10 hymns and sacred songs for choir and orchestra. The collaboration was funded by the University’s Louis and Mary Charlotte Ball Institute for Church Music. The project was arranged and orchestrated by five-time Dove Award winner Cliff Duren. Duren writes, arranges, orchestrates and produces music for Christian publishers and artists. The recordings feature Carson-Newman student ensembles A Cappella Choir, Men’s Chorus and Women Singers, with students singing all of the project’s solos.
