By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

SWEETWATER — As Kenny Witt, Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer of Madisonville, drove down a rural road near Sweetwater by homes and property, he saw more trees damaged by the tornado and storms which struck Monroe County July 14. He stopped at a house which had downed trees but didn’t find anyone home. Witt went further down the road to the next house and found the owner of the previous house was there staying with her mother-in-law because she was expecting a baby soon. [Read more…]

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

STANTONVILLE — When Pastor James Stophel joined four other pastors and the director of missions of Shiloh Baptist Association recently to hear a Tennessee Baptist Convention staff member, he didn’t hesitate to ask how a small, rural Baptist church could respond.

Stophel said he was glad for the challenges presented by the Five Objectives of the TBC but initially his opinion was that the $3 million goal for the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions “will scare most of our churches to death.” In other words, most churches need the statewide goals broken down to “realistic numbers they can understand,” he noted. [Read more…]

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

MURFREESBORO — Pastor Jorge Arenivas knocked on the door of an apartment. A young man answered and, happy to hear Spanish spoken by the visitor, let Arenivas in.

Arenivas met two other young men living there.

About 10 minutes later all three of the young men had prayed to receive Christ and had agreed to meet weekly for Bible study in their apartment. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

NASHVILLE — Ben Mandrell readily admits it was a difficult transition for his family to leave Jackson and head to the vast mission field of Denver.

Mandrell resigned as pastor of Englewood Baptist Church about two years ago after being called as a church planter.

Mandrell and his family moved to Orlando, Fla., where he served at First Baptist Church for about six months gathering support and workers to assist him in starting Storyline Fellowship in Arvada, a northwest suburb of Denver. Approximately 50 people, including some staff members of FBC, transitioned with him to Colorado. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

DELANO — On Sunday, Aug. 2, Delano Baptist Church here did something it has never done before.

“We stepped outside the box,” acknowledged Pastor John Powers.

In conjunction with Challenge Golf Association, the church sponsored “The Invitational,” a golf outing on Sunday at nearby Ridgewood Golf Course that drew 44 men and women who seldom, if ever, go to church. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

SAVANNAH — “Coach” or “Bro. Derek.”

It really doesn’t matter to Derek Westmoreland. He is used to both and will answer to either one.

Westmoreland, pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church here, also coaches Dixie Boys Baseball and from Aug. 7-13 will be leading the Savannah 9-10-year-old baseball team during the Dixie World Series in Lexington, S.C.

The Savannah team won the Tennessee state championship which was held in July in Savannah. [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

MEMPHIS — Eric Watkins can stand at the entrance to the Warren Apartments and see the worst Memphis has to offer. That vacant lot over there, that’s where an occasional dead body gets dropped. Those gangbangers sitting on the porch smoking dope, they’re probably packing more firepower than your average National Guard unit. Prostitutes are working the streets along with the drug dealers. Things are bad here, really bad.

And it’s precisely why Watkins needs to be here. “These are people who face significant challenges,” Watkins said. “They are trapped in generational poverty, are highly marginalized, and are without hope. I think that is the thing that is most evident. They do not see themselves as having any worth or value and they need to hear that they have worth to God because He created them. They need to hear that Jesus died for them.” [Read more…]

By Baptist and Reflector

BRENTWOOD — The staff of the Baptist and Reflector and the Communications Team of the Tennessee Baptist Convention welcomes those who may be reading the Baptist and Reflector for the first time.

Thousands of papers were distributed to churches across the Tennessee Baptist Convention in observance of Baptist and Reflector Day on Aug. 16.

The Baptist and Reflector, newsjournal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year (see columns  1 |  2 ). [Read more…]

By Chris Turner and Lonnie Wilkey
TBC

BRENTWOOD — The Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention unanimously approved a recommendation March 25 to purchase property in Williamson County, effectively taking a historic step forward in establishing a permanent address for the 140-year-old convention.

The action clears the way for the Executive Board to move forward in finalizing a 2.3 acre land purchase in the Berry Farms mixed use development located south of Franklin adjacent to I-65 and near the Goose Creek Bypass (State Route 248), just north of State Route 840.

Once the transaction is finalized, plans will begin to move forward on the construction of an approximately 34,000 square-foot office space that will host the offices of the Executive Board, Tennessee Baptist Adult Homes, and the Tennessee Baptist Foundation. [Read more…]