After serving for 35 years as missionaries with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, Roy and Dirce Cooper have retired to Tennessee.

NEWPORT — When Roy and Dirce Cooper step down in March of 2025 after serving for 35 years as missionaries with the Southern Baptist international Mission Board, they will call Tennessee “home” for the first time in their life. 

Cooper was reared in South Carolina, while his wife, Dirce, who is Japanese, was born in Brazil. 

The Coopers are currently on stateside assignment, acclimating themselves to their future home. They recently spent several days visiting the mountains of East Tennessee while staying at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center. 

The Coopers, global catalysts formerly based in Florida, shared their thoughts with the Baptist and Reflector on retiring to Tennessee (Jackson) and expressed appreciation to Tennessee Baptists for making their ministry possible by their gifts through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The Week of Prayer for the Christmas offering is currently underway (Dec. 1-8) in Tennessee and across the nation.  [Read more…]

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches have reached a monumental milestone during the convention’s 150th anniversary year.

When Cooperative Program gifts were counted at Tennessee Baptist Mission Board offices on Dec. 6, the final tally pushed the total Cooperative Program gifts since the CP was established in 1925 in Memphis to more than $1.5 billion.

“Our state crossed the $1 billion mark in the summer of 2010 after 85 years of giving through the Cooperative Program,” said Randy C. Davis, TBMB president and executive director (see his Clarity column HERE). [Read more…]

Danny Sinquefield, Harvest Field One Team Leader and the coordinator of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s BlueOval City Initiative, left, is joined on stage at this year’s Summit by Jay Stephenson and Nick Glenn, who both pastor new church plants in the BlueOval City area.

MURFREESBORO — For more than a year, Danny Sinquefield has been beating the drum for the BlueOval City Initiative. 

At the 2024 Summit, Sinquefield was joined by some other “percussionists.” 

Taking the stage for a panel discussion during the Tuesday afternoon session of this year’s annual meeting, Sinquefield, the coordinator of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s BlueOval Initiative, was accompanied by two Tennessee pastors — Jay Stephenson and Nick Glenn — who have planted new churches in West Tennessee as part of the TBMB’s evangelism efforts in that region. 

The three men shared some the “God stories” that are developing on a near daily basis in the Stanton area, where the Ford Motor Company is constructing BlueOval City, a massive auto plant that is expected to employ 8,000 workers when fully operational.  [Read more…]

Celebrating the new Safe Haven Baby Box in Atoka are, from left, Bill Scott, fire chief; Monica Kelsey, SHBB CEO; Town of Atoka Mayor Barry Akin, town mayor; and Jeff Gautney, Gateway Baptist Church.

ATOKA — The officials of Atoka and the congregation of Gateway Baptist Church have a message for pregnant women who find themselves in desperate situations: We care about you. 

Atoka mayor Barry Akin and the board of aldermen recently partnered with Gateway Baptist Church to place a Safe Haven Baby Box at the town’s fire station. The box, which became operational after a ribbon-cutting in early November provides a safe place for a woman in crisis to surrender her newborn baby within two weeks of life, explained Jeff Gautney, Gateway’s missions and family pastor. 

“Most people may not be aware that Tennessee has a Safe Haven Law,” Gautney explained. Passed in 2001, this law allows mothers of newborns to surrender unharmed babies within two weeks of birth to designated facilities without fear of prosecution. 

As of July 2022, Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee says more than 100 babies have been surrendered to facilities in Tennessee since the law was enacted, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported. Tennessee currently has 10 Safe Haven Baby Boxes across the state.  [Read more…]

Pastor David Green, right, of First Baptist Church, Greenevllle, visits with one of the families whose homes were rebuilt through a joint partnership with Aidnet, Grace Baptist Church, Springfield, and Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. From left are Kim, Dennis and Brayden Tompkins. — Photos by Lonnie Wilkey

GREENEVILLE — Six families in Greene County whose homes were heavily damaged and their lives were disrupted by Hurricane Helene were back in their homes on Thanksgiving Day or shortly thereafter. 

First Baptist Church, Greeneville, in conjunction with Aidnet of Greene County, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and Grace Baptist Church, Springfield, coordinated the effort that began on Friday, Nov. 22, and concluded on Monday, Nov. 25, said FBC pastor David Green. 

The project orginally was designed to construct five homes in five days, but it turned out to be six homes in less than four full days, Green said.  [Read more…]

Baptist Press file photo / Brandon Porter

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti Wednesday, Dec. 4. The case, which pits the Biden administration’s Justice Department against the State of Tennessee and its attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, will determine whether states are allowed to outlaw so-called gender transition treatments for minors.

In March 2023, the Tennessee legislature passed a law prohibiting health care providers from prescribing medications or performing procedures on minor patients with a goal of “transitioning” the patients’ gender. [Read more…]

Stephen Young, right, senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, Mount Juliet, and Cody Pendergrass, family pastor, thank the congregation for their support of the Christmas Backpack Ministry. The church collected 70 backpacks or about 1 percent of the goal. The church meets in the warehouse at the Missions Mobilization Center in Mount Juliet.

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches provided a record 7,540 Christmas Backpacks this year, surpassing the ministry’s goal of 7,000 backpacks.

With a lot of people still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Helene in northeast Tennessee, the extra backpacks are needed, affirmed Beth Moore, compassion ministry specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

Going into our collection week this year, I really had no idea what to expect. I anticipated we may have fewer backpacks, knowing that so many churches had been donating for flood relief,” she said. [Read more…]