CHURCHES
Willie McLaurin, interim CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee, will be at First Baptist Church, Somerville, on May 22 from 2-4 p.m. to meet with pastors, staff and directors of mission in West Tennessee to answer questions about the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif. It is an open meeting to ask questions about leadership issues.
Pleasant View Baptist Church, Martin, will hold revival services May 15-18 with a different speaker each night. Phil Mitchell will preach at 11 a.m. on Sunday and Donald Doster will preach at 5 p.m. Services begin at 7 p.m. during the week with Rick Walker (Monday), Gene Price (Tuesday) and Kenneth Williams (Wednesday).
LEADERS
Adams Chapel Baptist Church, Dresden, recently called Brent Davidson as pastor.
Jeff Stricklin was ordained as a deacon May 1 at Ruthville Baptist Church, Martin.
Gibson Baptist Church, Gibson, called Darryl Marcle as interim pastor April 3.
Hardy Key recently was ordained as a deacon at Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Trenton.
Bobby Mullins, of Hernando, Miss., a former Tennessee Baptist pastor, has returned to Tennessee. He is the new pastor at Kirk Baptist Church, Collierville.
ASSOCIATIONS
Weakley County Baptist Association’s Dresden Disaster Relief Fund has assisted 40 families since a tornado hit the area in December of 2021. The association also is sponsoring its Summer Mission Trip July 19-25 to work with Ocoee Outreach Ministry near Cleveland. The team hopes to work with Backyard Bible Clubs and construction.
A six-member team from Lawrence County Baptist Association, led by director of missions Steve Flippo, recently returned from a mission trip to Tok, Alaska. The team helped renovate a fellowship hall at Northern Lights Mission in Tok, building playground equipment for children at a church in Tanacross and updating a 25-year-old church in Northway. Flippo said that though the mission was primarily meeting physical needs, “we always want to remember our main goal is to make disciples.”
DEATHS
John Parrott
John Parrott died April 26 at the age of 72. He was a graduate of Carson-Newman College (now University) and was an ordained minister for more than 50 years. He served as a pastor for 25 years and as an associational missionary at Holston Valley Baptist Association, based in Rogersville, for 19 years. He also served for five years in several roles with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Parrott is survived by his wife of 54 years, Kathie, two children and six grandchildren. See column by Joe Sorah on page 5.
Edwin Mullinax
Edwin Gene “Bro. Buddy” Mullinax died April 1 at the age of 81. A native of Etowah, he moved to New Johnsonville in 1971 to accept a job in a paper mill where he worked for 44 years before retiring in 2015. Shortly after moving to New Johnsonville, he was called to preach and became pastor of Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Hurricane Mills where he served for 44 years total. He served for six years at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Waverly in between his two stints at Cedar Grove. As a bivocational pastor, his wife, Mary Evelyn Mullinax, was his partner in ministry for 63 years until his death. Though he was unable to preach in person after COVID due to his cancer, he preached every week on Facebook Live, including three days before he died. He was a strong supporter of Tennessee and Southern Baptist missions. His survivors include his wife and three sons, who are all ordained deacons in SBC churches. See column by Lonnie Wilkey.
Lawrence Ray Steiner, director of missions for Indian Creek Baptist Association from 1974-88 and an Army veteran, died in March at the age of 90. He is survived by a son.
