Tennessee Baptist and Reflector

Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835

LOVING TENNESSEE’S UNBORN CHILDREN

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

The most gut-wrenching and soul-devastating site in the world is seeing women militantly demanding the right to kill their unborn babies.

I was reminded of this last week when I saw a photo of women vociferously protesting for the right to “keep abortion legal.” How I pray to God that in my lifetime I’d see the end of the systematic killing of the precious babies God knits together in the wombs of their mothers. Unfortunately, the systematic killing of unborn children is a global epidemic of unimaginable proportion.

According to research done by the Guttmacher Institute, an organization founded 50 years ago and heavily supported by Planned Parenthood, more than 55 million unborn lives per year – 55 million per year – are terminated as a result of “induced abortion” as the report describes it. [Read more…]

DON’T JUST STAND THERE, PRAY SOMETHING!

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

There have been some excellent Bible teachers over the last 100 years. Without reservation, I count the late Dr. Ron Dunn as one of them. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and anointed to teach like few men I have ever known. Every message articulated careful biblical exposition, clear illustrations and practical applications. He kept it real, relevant and preached with a compelling word from the Lord.

I was visiting Dr. Dunn and his wife, Kay, at their home in Dallas in early 1991. He gave me a signed copy of his then latest book, “Don’t Just Stand There Pray Something: The Incredible Power of Intercessory Prayer.” I will always remember that visit with the Dunns, and the title of the book has forever been etched on my mind. [Read more…]

REMEMBERING THE LORD OUR GOD IN 2018

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

You may be overrun with Christmas activities and see a busy 2019 blowing in like a thunderstorm racing across a Kansas prairie. Last minute gifts, parties, travel to be with loved ones, and on it goes. We get to this point of the year and it seems we try to squeeze about six months of activity through the funnel of a couple weeks. We seldom slow down or stop long enough to remember. [Read more…]

HOW WILL YOU RESPOND TO LOTTIE’S CHALLENGE?

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Time passes, transitions happen, and generations come and go, but I pray we as Southern Baptists never lose the missionary spirit of Charlotte Digges “Lottie” Moon.

Lottie Moon stood no taller than 4 feet 6 inches tall, but she cast a shadow that’s stretched for more than 100 years. Lottie left for China in the early 1880’s and gave 39 years and her life – literally – to the Chinese people as a teacher and evangelist. Among her monumental Kingdom contributions was the foundation she laid for support of international missions among Southern Baptists through a special offering. [Read more…]

A CLARION CALL AND NOT JUST A THEME

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

In 1873, a young Dwight L. Moody stood in the vestry of a Baptist church in Dublin, Ireland, talking with Henry Varley, an influential British revivalist preacher. During the course of that conversation, Varley uttered words that rocketed through Moody’s soul and altered the course of Moody’s future ministry.

“Moody,” he said, “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him.”

Moody said he left that meeting with the words written on his soul. He saw them written on the planks of the ship that returned him to America and on the cobblestone streets of Chicago. On a return trip to England, Moody told Varley, “Under the power of those words I have come back to England, and I felt that I must not let more time pass until I let you know how God had used your words to my inmost soul.” [Read more…]

TWO SIMPLE BUT POWERFUL WORDS: THANK YOU

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

It’s just two words but they are incredibly powerful when flowing from a heart genuinely filled with gratitude. They can be delivered a number of ways; a text, an e-mail, or better yet, a handwritten note. Think what it means if you receive a call and the person on the other end simply says, “I wanted to call and just say thank you.”

And then there is the ultimate. Someone who gives you a hug or a handshake, looks you in the eyes and sincerely says, “thanks” for something you’ve done.

You know the Bible instructs us to “Devote [our]selves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2). Simple. Straightforward. Impactful: “Thank You.” [Read more…]

DEPRESSION: IT’S TIME TO OPENLY TALK ABOUT IT

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

We have a problem and we can’t ignore it any longer.

It’s time we were honest with ourselves and with each other. To pretend we don’t face a serious issue would be a life-threatening mistake. I’m talking about depression among pastors and ministers (and everyone else). Depression is a reality, and I can’t bear the thought of losing one more pastor, one more person, to depression that ends in suicide. [Read more…]

THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM BEGINS WITH GRANNY TATE

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director 

Randy C. Davis

Everybody has their love language. Granny Tate expressed hers by twisting your ear.

Hard.

Granny Tate was a tiny lady, but she was a giant to me. She really did twist your ear as an expression of love. I wouldn’t have minded if she had been a hugger. She was my Sunday School teacher at Shiloh Baptist Church, Saraland, Ala., when I was 11 years old. Even as a 6-foot plus senior in high school, I’d bend down so she could twist my ear. If Granny wasn’t twisting your ear, you weren’t cool. We loved that woman. [Read more…]

TBC CP GIFTS ABOVE BUDGET

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $2,766,596 through the Cooperative Program in July.

For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $26,029,445. The amount is $504,905 or 2 percent over the amount given at the same time last year. After nine months of the current fiscal year, the gifts are $154,445 or 0.60 percent above budget needs. [Read more…]

THE MISSION FIELD WITHIN THE MISSION FIELD

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Aparna had no idea what to expect when she arrived in America and on the campus of East Tennessee State University. Johnson City couldn’t be more culturally different from her home in Northern India.

She didn’t know anybody when school started. One day she saw a group of people standing around and wandered over to see what was going on. It was the Pop-Tart Cart, a ministry of the ETSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry. Sure, it is a place to grab a pack of Pop-Tarts and a cup of coffee, but it is really a connecting point for BCMers to share the love of Jesus and the gospel with fellow students. One of them struck up a conversation with Aparna and invited her to the BCM. That invitation changed her life.

She made lots of new friends in the following weeks and frequently heard the gospel. It wasn’t long before she realized her need for a Savior and gave her life to Jesus. Awesome!

But the story gets better. [Read more…]

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