Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
FRANKLIN — For the sixth time in eight years, Tennessee Baptists have set a new record for giving through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions with total gifts of $3,128,219.03.
The 2023-24 GOTM fiscal year ended Aug. 31.
The total includes $2,451,737.21 in gifts from churches and $676,481.82 in Golden Opportunity Projects, a fund established this year to allow donors to give money or in-kind gifts (such as property) to specific GOTM-funded ministries. [Read more…]
FRANKLIN — Wes Jones, disaster relief specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, has announced that “all (DR) units are being placed on alert for possible deployment” to the Gulf Coast Region.
In an email sent on on Monday, Sept. 9, Jones wrote, “With tropical storm Francine developing in the Gulf, we are asking volunteers to begin to plan for possible response as requested. As it looks now, the storm is predicted to develop into at least a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall Wednesday along the Louisiana, Texas Gulf Coast and then come northward through Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee.” [Read more…]
Union student Henry Piercey, back left, with coworkers from the culinary department at Dollywood Splash Country.
JACKSON — Union University junior Henry Piercey completed a summer internship with YoungLife and Dollywood Splash Country in Pigeon Forge that he says was life changing.
“This summer really taught me to actually hand things over to the Lord,” Piercey said. “Truly, apart from Christ, I really can’t do anything, because I’ve tried it before. Anything I try on my own, it crumbles, ultimately.”
Piercey is a Christian ministry and missions major from Jackson and a member of West Jackson Baptist Church. He spent the summer going through “Discovery: God’s Answers to Our Deepest Questions,” a nine-week discipleship study with Union alumnus Ray Pettigrew, who serves as camp manager for discipleship focus with YoungLife. [Read more…]
Tennessee pastor Bobby Mullins was killed in a car accident Sept. 4, and his wife, Wanda, died from injuries the following day.
PIPERTON — Over the past few days, Kirk Baptist Church in Piperton, Tennessee, has had to post words they never wanted to post — that their pastor, Bobby Mullins, was killed in a car accident Sept. 4, and his wife, Wanda, died in the hospital the following day from her injuries.
But over the past few days, the congregation along with the family have also expressed other words, words they’ve heard the couple say in the past. On the latest Facebook post, person after person shared their memories of the Mullinses and their faith.
“I know when he passed thru heavens gate, in Brother Bobby’s own words: WELL GLORY!,” one poster wrote. [Read more…]
The Andersons were among the last families to adopt a girl from China before the country announced the end of its program. — Lifeline Children’s Services photo
BEIJING — The Chinese government has officially ended its international adoption program, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning announced Sept. 5, ending hopes for hundreds of U.S. families who were matched with children before the COVID-19 pandemic but had adoptions put on hold in 2020.
Karla Thrasher, senior director of international adoptions at Lifeline Children’s Services based in Birmingham, Ala., said the announcement was shocking to the adoption agency and to the 48 families it serves who were matched with Chinese orphans before the pandemic.
“They were definitely in shock. This came very suddenly,” Thrasher told Baptist Press. “We actually had thought things were moving in a more positive direction over the past couple of weeks, and then received this email out of the blue regarding China no longer carrying out the foreign adoptions.”
Lifeline was serving more than 100 matched families when China suspended adoptions in 2020, Thrasher said, but the number dwindled due to various family circumstances. [Read more…]
Connerley
BROWNSVILLE — When Brownsville Baptist needs something done, pastor emeritus Bob Connerley knows he can count on senior adults to see it accomplished.
“One of the reasons is they have a lifetime of being part of Brownsville Baptist — beginning in the Cradle Roll Department. They are always ready to serve in any capacity needed,” said Connerley who served as pastor of the congregation from 1989-2021. He continues to serve at the church in various capacities including working with senior adults.
“This is a most unusual group of seniors,” he said. “Many of these people have known each other all their lives. Their families were friends — even before they were born. They’ve grown up in the church and have really become a close-knit community of people who love the Lord and enjoy being together.”
Emily Higgenbottom, a member of the senior group, is an example of one who has returned to Brownsville after living away for several years. [Read more…]
Leslie Strange, director of the Embrace Grace ministry at Judson Baptist Church, Nashville, leads a devotion for single mothers. Also in the photo, far left, is Beth Moore, compassion ministry specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
FRANKLIN — Single women who decide against abortion and choose to have their babies often have nowhere to turn. That’s where Embrace Grace comes in.
Embrace Grace is a national ministry designed to make sure that “every young woman who is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy has a church family to go to for spiritual, emotional and physical support,” said Leslie Strange, director of the Embrace Grace ministry at Judson Baptist Church in Nashville.
The national ministry equips local churches to host 12-week-long support groups where women can come who are experiencing the challenges of being single mothers can come for help and emotional support.
“Many of the women when they first come to us are in desperate need of community. They feel very lonely. They feel very isolated. They don’t have great relationship with their own mothers. They don’t have a lot of family supports,” said Strange, who began the program at Judson after hearing a sermon where the speaker challenged those who were present to find places around their church where the gospel needed to be shared. [Read more…]
Floyd Craig
FRANKLIN — Longtime Baptist communicator Floyd Craig died Aug. 30 at the age of 91.
A native of Oklahoma, Craig and his wife, Anne, formed Craig Communications in 1981. Clients included a number of Southern Baptist organizations. Prior to establishing their firm, Craig served as director of communications with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and as director of communications for the Southern Baptist Christian Life Communications (now Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission).
When Baptist Press editors Dan Martin and Al Shackleford were fired by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee in 1990, Craig, along with other Southern Baptists and several Baptist state paper editors, was instrumental in establishing Associated Baptist Press (now Baptist News Global). [Read more…]
This group of five were recently baptized at Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church in Brentwood. — Photo courtesy of BBDC
BRENTWOOD — All are welcome to attend Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church. Be warned, though. You’re going to be able to hear the worship well before you enter the sanctuary.
“Everything we do is voice-interpreted, which is for who we call the ‘signing-impaired,’” Pastor Aric Randolph told Baptist Press. He’s referring to guests or others who hear but may not know American Sign Language (ASL). “If you visit us, everything is still voiced for you.”
The gospel is for everyone, and thus, a message everyone should be able to access. That can be difficult for deaf people, though. Many of BBDC’s attendees and members drive from considerable distances. The only other deaf churches in the state, Randolph said, are in Memphis, Knoxville and Clarksville.
The start of Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church goes back to 1984, when Brentwood Baptist Church began an outreach for the Deaf. That grew into a congregation the following year. In its own building on the east side of the BBC campus, Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2025. [Read more…]
Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, recently participated in a forum with two other state convention executive directors for faculty and staff at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. From left are Davis, Thomas Hammond, Georgia; NOBTS president Jamie Dew; and Tony Wolfe, South Carolina.
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College faculty heard from a group of state convention executive directors during their fall workshop on Aug. 2.
The executive directors shared about ministry needs they see throughout their particular convention, and how NOBTS can help partner with them to meet these needs.
The group included Randy Davis, executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board; Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
Jamie Dew, president of NOBTS and Leavell College, began the session by expressing deep gratitude for the work of the visiting executive directors. [Read more…]