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TEAM SEES 9,000-PLUS DECISIONS

Baptist and Reflector SOMERVILLE — A team of nine missions volunteers serving on the Cross Partners Ministry team recently returned from two weeks in the Republic of the Philippines where they served with about 40 churches in three different Baptist associations.   The team participated in more than 100 evangelistic crusades with Filipino Baptists on Luzon Island and saw 8,663 professions of faith and more than 400 other decisions for

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HELPING REFUGEES IN LIGHT OF U.S. POLICY

By Connie Davis Bushey News Editor, Baptist and Reflector NASHVILLE — Refugee resettlement is in the news. President Donald Trump recently issued a revised policy on refugee resettlement in the United States which is being challenged in court. Refugee resettlement agencies are downsizing and closing offices in Tennessee in response. Tennessee became the first state in the nation to sue the federal government over refugee resettlement. The lawsuit filed on

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TENNESSEE PASTORS SPOTLIGHTED IN UNION EVENT

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector JACKSON — Four Tennessee Baptist pastors were front and center during the Festival of Preaching held March 8 at Union University. The festival was held prior to Union’s REF500 Conference on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The Festival of Preaching focused on the five central themes of the reformation.  “Preaching played such a role in the Protestant Reformation,” said Ray Van

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712 TEENS ACCEPT CHRIST AT YEC

By Connie Davis Bushey News Editor, Baptist and Reflector See also: YEC 2017 Photo Gallery NASHVILLE — Youth Evangelism Conference 2017 drew about 7,383 participants to Municipal Auditorium here March 10-11. At least 712 teens made professions of faith during the Friday evening session. In addition, 392 students recorded that they had been a lukewarm Christian but were ready to follow Christ as a dedicated disciple, 210 teens reported that

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SINGLE ADULT NUMBERS ARE SOARING. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR CONGREGATIONS?

By Jeff Brumley Baptist News Global Churches may want to take a hard look at what they’re offering young, single adults — and then boost it. “Many churches are built around a family model,” Roxanne Stone, editor and chief of the Barna Group, said in remarks published with a survey about romance and relationships. “They are most comfortable ministering to families and have developed an infrastructure to support couples and children,”

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DISNEY’S ‘GAY MOMENT’ SOURS MANY CHRISTIANS

By Diana Chandler Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) — A gay plot twist in Disney’s upcoming live-action “Beauty and the Beast” continues to stir discontent among Christians, with an online poll at Faith Driven Consumer (FDC) among the latest to voice displeasure. The poll reports 95 percent of 6,700 consumers said they are less likely to see the film because of an intimate attraction the bumbling LeFou character expresses toward the

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CHURCH GIVES FACILITY TO CHURCH PLANT

By Connie Davis Bushey News Editor, Baptist and Reflector KNOXVILLE — Phil Young hoped the meeting would go well. He was going to meet with Gayland Heights Baptist Church members to discuss options. The congregation had declined to a very small group of older members. Young, director of missions, Knox County Association of Baptists, proposed several revitalization ideas, including sharing their facility with a church plant or beginning church. Of

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BELLEVUE GIVES $1 MILLION THROUGH COOPERATIVE PROGRAM

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector BRENTWOOD – Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova has become the first church in the Tennessee Baptist Convention to send $1 million through the Cooperative Program over a 12-month period. In early March, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board received a check for $83,333 that brought Bellevue’s total giving through the Cooperative Program to $1 million since last April 2016.

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SCRIPTURE READING MARATHON CONTINUES AT UNION UNIVERSITY

By Tim Ellsworth Associate VP for Communications, Union University JACKSON, Tenn. — Despite drenching rain and forceful winds, the Scripture reading marathon at Union University went on as scheduled. About 500 volunteers from Union and the broader Jackson and West Tennessee communities are participating in the five-day public reading of the Bible from start to finish. The event was designed as a kickoff and wrap-up of sorts for REF500, a

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