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TBF PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT PLANS

FRANKLIN — Bill Gruenewald, president-treasurer of the Tennessee Baptist Foundation since 2014, has announced his plans to retire on Oct. 31.  Gruenewald informed TBF trustees of his intentions at their December board meeting. If needed, he said he would remain “a few months longer” in order to ease the transition.  Gruenewald joined the Foundation in 2011 as executive vice president and served for three years before being elected president after

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MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? NOT WITH GOD

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it …”  These words are the familiar disclaimer of the “Mission Impossible? franchise. In 2014, Tennessee Baptists began a less famous and yet eternally more significant mission. And we chose to accept it together.

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GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING NEW

Happy New Year, Tennessee Baptists! I am grateful for what God is doing in our state and for the opportunities we have to serve Him and advance the gospel together in 2024! The new year is often a time to think new beginnings, new habits, new goals, and new opportunities. People all around the globe celebrate the flipping of the calendar as a proverbial sign of the old that is

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CHILD RAISES $28K TO BUILD FOUR CHURCHES IN HAITI

SPRINGFIELD — Her favorite color is purple, she loves animals, is a fourth grader at South Haven Christian School, and some of her favorite books are the Zoe’s Rescue Zoo series.  She loves going to church at Hopewell Baptist Church in Springfield, Tennessee, to see her friends and learn about Jesus — and she’s also raised $28,000 selling hot cider on two weekends to help build four churches for the

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NICK SABAN IS NOT THE MISSION

It was a day to remember, May 6, 2013. It was the day I met, “The GOAT.”  True, not everyone would agree that he’s the greatest of all time, but what is irrefutable is what Nick Saban accomplished during his years at the University of Alabama. Being from Alabama and being a lifelong Crimson Tide fan, it was an honor for my brother and I to meet him in 2013

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CHURCH MERGER DISPLAYS RACIAL UNITY IN MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS — During the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted as famously saying that “11 a.m. on Sunday mornings was the most segregated hour of American life.” Roughly 60 years later, King’s statement continues to ring true in many cases. And yet something recently took place in Memphis — a city that has been rife with racial tension through the years — that demonstrates how God’s love

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GEORGIA BAPTIST LEADER THOMAS HAMMOND WITHDRAWS FROM EC CONSIDERATION

SUWANEE, Ga. – In an email to the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s executive committee on Jan. 23, GBMB Executive Director Thomas Hammond revealed that he had been selected as the candidate to lead the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee but had withdrawn his name. The search team had kept the candidate’s identity confidential. “You may be aware that I was asked to be considered as a candidate for the role

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ACTS 2:17: WORKGROUPS NAMED, TASKS BEGIN

FRANKLIN — Ten Acts 2:17 workgroups have been named (see full lists below) and have begun working on their assigned tasks. Tennessee Baptist Convention messengers at last year’s annual meeting in Chattanooga overwhelmingly adopted vision and priority statements that will ultimately lead to every Tennessean hearing the gospel. For more on this, see article in Nov. 23, 2023 issue of the Baptist and Reflector. The priority statements are grouped into

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Five Objectives 5 Objectives

TBC’S FIVE OBJECTIVES: ENTERING THE FINAL STRETCH

FRANKLIN — In November of 2014, messengers at the annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention adopted the Five Objectives, a strategic 10-year plan for the ministry of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and churches throughout the TBC. Nearly a decade later, the time frame for the Five Objectives is drawing to a close. The Five Objectives were the vision of Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of TBMB,

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NEARLY SIX MILLION HAVE TUNED IN TO WATCH PASTOR RESTORE OLD VEHICLES

COVINGTON, Ga. — Georgia pastor David Wheeler’s love for old cars is turning him into a YouTube celebrity. Nearly six million people have tuned in to watch Wheeler and his family restore rusted clunkers on their YouTube program, Revstoration. “We take old, forgotten, abandoned things left for dead and bring them back to life,” said Wheeler, who is typically on screen in worn jeans, boots and greasy T-shirts, trying to

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