Tennessee Baptist and Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

CHRISTMAS AND GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Aren’t you glad it is Christmas? You can settle into your favorite chair by the fire, watch the twinkling lights on the tree, and sip hot chocolate from your favorite Christmas mug. Finally, you can breathe, just breathe, as you enjoy a quiet reflective moment in the stillness of your own home.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure you just chuckled when you read that and grunted, “Sure must be nice.” To be honest, that’s not really the way it is around my house either. For most of us, it seems life’s accelerator gets stuck to the floor the week of Thanksgiving and stays wide open until we coast into the first week of the new year, running on the fumes of exhaustion. It takes a couple weeks of January just to recover from the holidays! [Read more…]

TBC CP GIFTS NEAR BUDGET

Baptist and Reflector

BRENTWOOD — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches contributed $2,852,274 through the Cooperative Program in November.

After one month of the 2017-18 fiscal year, Cooperative Program gifts are $71,989 or 2.5 percent below what was given after one month in the last fiscal year.

Gifts also are $22,726 or 0.79 percent below budget needs. [Read more…]

THIS COULD BE OUR FINEST HOUR

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

On Feb. 18, 1952, the S.S. Pendleton was caught in a brutal winter storm generating 60-foot waves that slammed into the 500-foot tanker. The seas became so intense that it split the ship in two. The captain and six others were in the forward part of the ship; the other 32 in the aft as the two sections began drifting apart.

When the distress call came into the Coast Guard station, the station’s commander turned to a 24-year-old Bernie Webber and told him to take a boat out and attempt a rescue. Webber asked for volunteers who would go. Three other men, all younger than Webber, quickly stepped forward.  [Read more…]

THREE REASONS WHY YOU NEED THE SUMMIT

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Summit 2017 at FBC Hendersonville, Nov. 12-15.

I loved family reunions when I was growing up. Those reunions always landed on or near my Grandpa Davis’ birthday. My Grandpa Davis was my hero. He and Granny Davis were faithful saints and I loved them dearly. Granny Davis was the greatest prayer warrior I’ve ever known, and Grandpa Davis served as treasurer at Little Escambia (Ala.) Baptist Church for over 40 years.

I remember that nearly 100 kinfolks would show up and pack out the church. Afterwards, we’d head to Granny’s and Grandpa’s small house for dinner-on-the-grounds. It was always a blast seeing cousins, aunts and uncles I only got to see once a year. [Read more…]

IN THE PRESENCE OF HOPE AND HATE

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

The Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch was the scene of a shooting on Sunday, Sept. 24. One person was killed and seven others were injured. — Metro Nashville Police Department photo

Within a 24-hour period I was resoundingly reminded over the weekend of Sept. 23 and 24 of the spiritual battle raging around us.

I was reminded Saturday of the beauty of Christ lived out in the life of those who put their hope in Him. Carolyn Boyd, wife of Forest Hills Baptist Church (Nashville) Pastor Sam Boyd, succumbed to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) after a nearly four-year battle. Barring the miraculous intervention of God, no one with an understanding of “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” as it is also called, expected a different ending. [Read more…]

ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Any way you slice it, it was a record-setting year for the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions.

The first record broken came in June when the generous giving of Tennessee Baptists blew past the previous all-time high given to GOTM, which had been more than $1.7 million dollars.

The second record broken was a final 2016-2017 total of nearly $1.85 million, moving the bar to an all-time high for missions giving in our state.  [Read more…]

LOVING TO TELL THE TIMELESS STORY

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

A great story never gets old, even if it’s an old story.

I was recently talking with Mike Henegar, one of our Tennessee pastors, and he shared with me what God was saying to him through Psalms 71. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued so I reread Psalm 71 as soon as I got home. In the psalm, the Sweet Singer of Zion, as an old man, is asking God to allow him to live long enough to share with the next generation the mighty works of the Lord. I love how the writer puts it. “Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.” [Read more…]

IS MINISTRY YOUR MUSHROOM?

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

A strange phenomenon happened in the Pacific Northwest. Large patches of trees were dying in an Oregon forest. Scientists determined the problem was a single breed of mushroom that covered 2,384 acres, about the size of 1,600 soccer fields.

Apparently the white tentacles of the mushroom wrapped around root systems and tree trunks and robbed the trees of nutrients, carbohydrates, and water. In other words, the mushrooms choked the trees to death.  [Read more…]

PAUSING FOR POIGNANT MOMENTS

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

There are moments in life that are so obviously important that they need not scream to be recognized. The magnitude of their presence halts the daily hustle and quietly demands that we notice, and reflect, and determine that the nostalgic moment becomes a prelude to something greater.

I believe God has granted to Tennessee Baptists such a poignant moment and we must pause to understand its significance to our past, but more importantly, to our future.  [Read more…]

TBMB TO HOST SBC FELLOWSHIP

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board will host a fellowship reception for Tennessee Baptists attending the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix.

The reception will be held on Monday, June 12, at 8:30 p.m. in the Ahwatukee Room A/B in the Sheraton Grand Hotel. [Read more…]

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