DYERSBURG — When two high schools came together for an event earlier this fall, the Holy Spirit did some big and powerful things. There was a revival among the rivals. And the impact was eternal. Two days before the football game between Dyersburg High School and Dyer County High School, students and staff members from the two schools gathered at First Baptist Church, Newbern, for a “joint” worship service.  Roughly

FRANKLIN — The Tennessee Baptist Convention ranked second among Baptist state conventions in giving through the Cooperative Program during the 2021-22 fiscal year.  Tennessee Baptists gave $18,322,933 to Southern Baptist causes during the last fiscal year.  Baptist Press reported Oct. 5 that Southern Baptists gave more than $200 million through the national Cooperative Program Allocation Budget for the first time since 2008.  For the year, the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative

NEWPORT — Former director of missions Horace Brown had a vision that churches in East Tennessee Baptist Association would hold simultaneous revivals to reach the lost population in Cocke County. Brown worked with several churches in the association and had revivals planned for the fall of 2020, but like so many events that year, COVID-19 caused the revivals to be postponed to 2021, but an increase in COVID cases once

JACKSON — With gratitude to God for His faithfulness over two centuries, Union University marked its bicentennial with a kick-off celebration Sept. 23 at the Carl Perkins Civic Center. The celebration will continue throughout the 2022-23 academic year. “Rarely has a Christian institution in this country maintained its mission and its relationship to its church constituency for this length of time,” said former Union president David S. Dockery, who spoke

MOUNT JULIET — Tennessee Baptist  Disaster Relief volunteers have been on site since Oct. 3 at First Baptist Church in Wauchula, Fla., providing chain saw and flood recovery teams to those affected by Hurricane Ian. Hurricane Ian swept across Florida Sept. 29, wreaking havoc across the state.  As of Oct. 6, reports indicated nearly 100 people have died. USA Today reported more than 2.6 million homes and businesses were without

JEFFERSON CITY — Points along Vova Gorbenko’s journey to Jefferson City are marked with air raid sirens, explosions, bitter temperatures and a 20-hour drive under the cover of night.  The details sound much like they were ripped from a movie plot. But for Vova and his family, every turn, every mile and every step of their story has been real — very real. Vova, his wife Marina, their 17-year-old son

COLUMBIA — The leaders and church members at Pleasant Heights Baptist Church, Columbia, felt like one day simply wasn’t enough to honor the men and women who serve as first responders. So, the church turned the celebration into a weekend-long event.  It started with a “whole-hog” cookout on the night of Sept. 9, and extended through the worship services at Pleasant Heights on Sunday, Sept. 11, when the First Responders

GOODLETTSVILLE — Technically, Noah Leighton lost the challenge. But in his mind, the night was a major victory.  In fact, Leighton, the student pastor at First Baptist Church, Goodlettsville, was in full-scale celebration mode on Aug. 17 after the church’s “back to school” event drew more than 100 youth and saw 23 students make professions of faith. For Leighton, it was clearly a night for rejoicing, not “remorsing” —  even

The state evangelism rallies were held at regional sites this year in hopes of creating a wider reach for the event. Below is coverage from the rallies in East Tennessee (hosted by Carson-Newman University) and West Tennessee (hosted by Union University).