JACKSON — Union University presented longtime Baptist medical missionary Rebekah Naylor with its M.E. Dodd Denominational Service Award during a June 11 alumni dinner at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis, Ind. The Dodd Award is the highest denominational service award Union gives. It is named for the man who was a 1904 Union graduate, served as president of the SBC and who was the father of today’s

INDIANAPOLIS — Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist and Reflector, has received many honors and awards during his journalism career. But the most recent award he received was especially meaningful. Wilkey, who is retiring as B&R editor at the end of this year, was presented with the Paula and Ken Hemphill Denominational Service Award from North Greenville University during a NGU dessert fellowship on June 10  in Indianapolis. The dessert

TULLAHOMA — Duck River Baptist Association, based in Tullahoma, held its first annual Missions Day on May 18.  Duck River teams visited and ministered at a nursing home, staffed an evangelism tent at the High on the Hog festival, conducted door to door visitation distributing 800 evangelism packets and more. “Like a lot of associations, we do well doing missions away from home,” observed Matt Ledbetter, director of missions.

TAZEWELL — In the early evening hours of June 1, word began spreading among members of Springdale Baptist Church that their building was on fire. By the time most members arrived, fire had engulfed the structure, burning the building which included the original structure from 1882, to the ground.  A fellowship hall which has been added to the building received some fire damage but mostly had water and smoke damage.

NASHVILLE — Instead of the normal buzz of activity and laughter, the only noises inside the BCM building at Vanderbilt University is the gentle hum of the air conditioner and a vacuum cleaner. No sounds of a ping-pong ball bouncing back and forth. No studying groups chatting about their projects and upcoming tests. No foot traffic moving up and down the stairs or loud talk coming from the patio. Mostly

FRANKLIN — Although some Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams have already responded to the recent storms in Kentucky, more team are needed, said Wes Jones, DR specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.  In an e-mail sent out on Friday (June 14) morning, Jones made a second call-out for trained chain saw and trained heavy equipment operators to respond to parts of western Kentucky that were recently hit with tornados