Edwards prepares for retirement after 25 years in youth ministry with TBMB Baptist and Reflector FRANKLIN — After 25 years of ministry with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, youth specialist Bruce Edwards has announced his upcoming retirement. Edwards has touched countless lives throughout the past two-plus decades, and God has used Edwards’ ministry to encourage and impact youth pastors, youth workers and youth themselves.

Church moves forward despite losing historic building By David Dawson Baptist and Reflector PARROTTSVILLE — When pastor Michael Vickers talks about the fire that ravaged Forest Hills Baptist Church, Parrottsville, he immediately points out one important fact: The fire destroyed the church building; it did not destroy the church. The fire occurred around 1 a.m. on Jan. 18, and decimated the building that had been standing for more than 100

By Shawn Hendricks Contributing writer, B&R SPRING HILL — After Pastor Jay Strother announced to the congregation at The Church at Station Hill his  challenge for them to read the entire Bible through in one year, Helen Tyler wanted to be the first to “sign up.”  The 99-year-“young” woman, also known as “Miss Helen,” told Pastor Strother at the Spring Hill, campus of Brentwood Baptist Church it would be her

By Shawn Hendricks Contributing Writer, B&R THOMPSON’S STATION — Do you have an emergency? Are you in the middle of a crisis? Or, do you simply need some encouragement? Go to the Prayer Clinic at Thompson Station Church, where volunteers are standing by every Sunday morning to meet your spiritual concerns – and send you off with a prescription of prayer and Scripture. One way to describe the Prayer Clinic,

By David Dawson [email protected] APISON — With prayer, planning, promotion and persistence, the congregation at Apison Baptist Church has transformed a simple food pantry into a thriving ministry.  And they’ve done it in the span of about six months. When Apison Baptist officially took over leadership of the food pantry last August, the ministry was feeding roughly 300 families each month.  Now, that number has essentially tripled, with an estimated

By Lonnie Wilkey [email protected] McMINNVILLE — After graduating from high school, Jim Ramsey  attended college for one semester, then joined the Navy Reserves. He planned to return to college later, but life happened as it often does and he didn’t return to college UNTIL decades after his high school graduation. At the age of 67, when most men are retired and no longer thinking about college degrees, Ramsey learned about