Tennessee Baptist and Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

Music School Leads to Church

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Johnny Juarez stands in the Rock Zone School of Music he and his wife operate. The school, which is located in a strip mall in Mount Juliet, also has a new church meeting in it.

Johnny Juarez stands in the Rock Zone School of Music he and his wife operate. The school, which is located in a strip mall in Mount Juliet, also has a new church meeting in it.

MOUNT JULIET — New Baptist churches in Tennessee have met in YMCAs, former Walmart stores, hotels, movie theaters, and restaurants. Now a new church is meeting in a music school located in a strip mall here.

It’s not that unusual when hearing the back story.

Johnny and Vanessa Juarez began operating the Rock Zone School of Music in 2014. Johnny is a recording artist (in the acoustic pop genre), composer/writer, and former worship pastor in New York City and Tennessee. He also is bilingual, speaking Spanish and English.

One day last year the couple experienced God working. On that day a parent asked Johnny to pick up a child after school and take him to the music school so the child could take a class there. [Read more…]

Tennessee Baptist DR to Help S.C. Flood Victims

Wes Jones

Wes Jones

STORY UPDATED UPDATED 10/12/15

MOUNT JULIET —Three Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief have responded to the historic flooding in South Carolina, reported Wes Jones, Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief specialist.

Though Tennessee is not in the region organized by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief to be the first responders to disasters in South Carolina, Tennessee was asked for help by North Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief, explained Jones. North Carolina Baptist DR is leading efforts in the northeast part of South Carolina, he explained.

“It’s important to help our sister states when they need us whether we’re in the region or not,” said Jones. [Read more…]

Apologetics Gives Reason for Hope

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

First TBC apologetics conference explores intelligent design found in God’s creation

Danny Faulkner, a Christian astronomer for the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., near Cincinnati, Ohio, speaks Sept. 29 during the first apologetics conference sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Danny Faulkner, a Christian astronomer for the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., near Cincinnati, Ohio, speaks Sept. 29 during the first apologetics conference sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

NASHVILLE — An understanding of apologetics creates a sense of amazement and wonder, says David Evans, evangelism specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

“Apologetics is the art and discipline of defending our hope. It gives us the reason for the hope that is within us,” he continued.

Evans planned the first apologetics conference sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The sold out event which attracted about 160 participants from 88 churches was held Sept. 29 in the planetarium of the Adventure Science Center in Nashville. [Read more…]

TBCH Receives National Accreditation

By Baptist and Reflector

tbchBRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes was notified Sept. 9 that it has been accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA).

On Nov. 6, 2013, the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes signed a no-cost operating agreement with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services to provide Foster Care (Resource) Homes to the state. Part of this agreement required COA accreditation. [Read more…]

TBC CP giving holds steady

By Baptist and Reflector

cplogoBRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave a total of $2,875,804 through the Cooperative Program in September.

For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $30,736,482.

The amount is a slight decrease of $91,126 or 0.3 percent below what was given during the same time frame last year. [Read more…]

Missions Education Needed: Leaders

Compiled by B&R

gas&ras-logoNASHVILLE — “How did this happen?” Wanda S. Lee asked herself.

“Beyond what words can say … we’re grieving,” the executive director of the Woman’s Missionary Union, the Southern Baptist Convention’s missions education auxiliary, said of the imminent downsizing of 600-800 missionaries and staff members in a multi-million-dollar shortfall confronting the International Mission Board.

Lee, who was among Baptist leaders addressing the SBC Executive Committee during its Sept. 21-22 meeting, pointed to the insight of Annie Armstrong, the first corresponding secretary of the auxiliary in 1888. Missions education first entails a study of God’s Word, Lee said in recounting Armstrong’s insight. [Read more…]

THE “1% CHALLENGE FOR CP”

By SBC staff

The “1% Challenge” is simply a request to every Southern Baptist pastor and every Southern Baptist church to increase their Cooperative Program gifts by one percent of their church’s undesignated contributions.

Frank S. Page, president of the Executive Committee, issued this challenge during the Executive Committee report at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. He said, “To do better what we’re doing together, we’re asking you… we challenge you, we encourage you to raise your Cooperative Program support. Would you do that? One percent? Next year?”

During his report, he noted that though the dollar amount contributed through the Cooperative Program has increased fourteen of the past twenty years, a twenty-year decline in percentage of funds forwarded by local churches through the Cooperative Program was a reflection of a much larger cause for concern. He said, “We’ve been headed in the wrong direction in several ways. In 1989 our gifts to total missions expenditures were 16.5 percent of our total receipts [average per church]. Twenty years later, in 2009, our gifts to total missions expenditures had declined to 12.3 percent. That’s a 4.25 percent drop in missions giving. Did you hear me? I’m not even talking about the Cooperative Program, I’m talking about missions expenditures… that is not right! [Read more…]

100-Year-Old Preacher Still Feels Call

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

These two military chaplains have a lot in common. Besides their military service as chaplains, they both preach at Hobson Pike Baptist Church, Nashville. Larry Kelly, left, retired chaplain for the U.S. Navy, preaches at the church. Seth Rone, U.S. Army National Guard chaplain, is pastor of Hobson Pike Baptist.

These two military chaplains have a lot in common. Besides their military service as chaplains, they both preach at Hobson Pike Baptist Church, Nashville. Larry Kelly, left, retired chaplain for the U.S. Navy, preaches at the church. Seth Rone, U.S. Army National Guard chaplain, is pastor of Hobson Pike Baptist.

HERMITAGE — Larry Kelly, a member of Hobson Pike Baptist Church here, preached at the church Sept. 13 because the pastor had to be away. He often preaches at the church though he just turned 100 years old.

Kelly was recognized by the church on Sept. 13 on his upcoming birthday.

Amazingly, Kelly just returned to Hobson Pike Baptist as a member in the spring after serving as pastor of a Presbyterian church in Unionville for six years. He left that church mainly because it was some distance away from his home. His wife, Ruth Ann, needed to be closer to home for medical treatments. Kelly stopped driving a few years ago but is helped by family members who transport him and Ruth Ann where they need to go.

“He often says he feels the call to preach today as strong as he did when he started,” reported Carolyn Atkinson, a fellow member of Hobson Pike.

Another member of the church, Steve Freeman, deacon, spoke of Kelly during the Sept. 13 worship service. Freeman reported that Kelly joined the church when he was 93 years old and “started working.” Then Kelly became pastor of the church so he left for six years. [Read more…]

Revitalize Through Ministry: Sorah

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Doug Mitchell, right, pastor, Midland Baptist Church, Bell Buckle, speaks during a breakout session of the church revitalization conference. Listening are, from left, Mark Ellison, student minister, Harpeth Heights Baptist Church, Bellevue (metropolitan Nashville); Eugene Norris, pastor, Range Hills Baptist Church, Memphis; and Joe Sorah of the Tennessee Baptist Convention staff.

Doug Mitchell, right, pastor, Midland Baptist Church, Bell Buckle, speaks during a breakout session of the church revitalization conference. Listening are, from left, Mark Ellison, student minister, Harpeth Heights Baptist Church, Bellevue (metropolitan Nashville); Eugene Norris, pastor, Range Hills Baptist Church, Memphis; and Joe Sorah of the Tennessee Baptist Convention staff.

HERMITAGE — If a person attends or serves a church in Tennessee, chances are that church is either plateaued or declining because 90 percent of churches are, said Joe Sorah, compassion ministry specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention, at the Church Revitalization Conference: Giving Hope for Change. [Read more…]

Revitalize by Replanting: McMullen

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Lewis McMullen

Lewis McMullen

HERMITAGE — “Just as it says in Ecclesiastes, there’s a time and a season for everything and that’s true for churches,” said Lewis McMullen, church planting specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. “That means replanting or restoring a dying congregation is needed some of the time.” [Read more…]

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