News

THREE BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS VOTE TO BECOME ONE

By Lonnie Wilkey [email protected] DOVER — Three distinct Baptist associations voted during their annual meetings to become JST Baptist Association. For nearly 20 years, Judson Baptist Association, Stewart Baptist Association and Truett Baptist Association have been linked together by sharing one director of missions.  William Gray served all three associations as DOM until two years ago when he stepped down to become pastor of Bear Spring Baptist Church in Dover.

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GUNSHOTS FAIL TO HALT SERVICES AT CALVARY BAPTIST

By Lonnie Wilkey [email protected] LAFAYETTE — Though the front entrance door and windows were shot out of Calvary Baptist Church on Friday night, Jan. 4, and bullet holes remain inside the church, services went on as usual on Sunday, Jan. 6. Attendance was slightly below the normal average attendance of between 140-150 people each week, noted Johnny Beaver, pastor of the Bledsoe Baptist Association congregation in Macon County. It is

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TENNESCENE: JAN. 9-22

LEADERS Ron Hale retired Dec. 16 as pastor of senior adults/pastoral care at West Jackson Baptist Church, Jackson. He served the church for 12 years. Hale is a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. During retirement, Hale plans to do interim preaching and writing projects. He can be reached at 731-343-5092. Mark E. Sheldon, pastor of Westview Baptist Church, Kingston Springs, has written a new book,

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TOP STORIES OF 2018

Analytics of the B&R website reveal these stories to have received the most clicks in the past 12 months 1-5. RESIGNATION, TERMINATION OF PROMINENT SBC LEADERS MAKE UP TOP-5 STORIES OF 2018 Frank Page’s resignation as president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee in late March and Paige Patterson’s termination from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in late May were among the biggest stories of the

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MOVEMENT & MILESTONES

Five Objectives progress, anniversaries top news of 2018 By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] FRANKLIN — Statistics indicating that the convention-adopted Five Objectives are having an impact in Tennessee, along with significant anniversaries of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board ministries, were among the top stories in the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2018. In addition, two TBC entities underwent changes in leadership in 2018.- Baptisms in 2017 increased by slightly

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CLEMSON COACH CHAVIS RECOUNTS RADICAL TRANSFORMATION

By Tim Ellsworth Baptist Press CLEMSON, S.C. — Despite being a big-time college football player headed to the NFL, Miguel Chavis was on a path to destruction. Self-centered and vile. Hedonistic and drunk. A tough brute who partied hard and pursued every fleeting pleasure he could think of. You name it, and Chavis, during his early years as a defensive tackle at Clemson, was probably guilty of it.

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ALABAMA FOOTBALL PLAYERS GIVE BOOST TO LOCAL MINISTRY

By Tim Ellsworth Baptist Press TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama running back Josh Jacobs and three other Crimson Tide football players provided a pleasant surprise for a 13-year-old boy while delivering a mattress and bed to a Tuscaloosa home in partnership with Calvary Baptist Church’s S.D. Allen Ministry. Jacobs walked into the house, and the boy who lived there looked him up and down. “Are you Josh Jacobs?” the boy asked.

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IN HISTORIC SEASON, OBU TIGERS VALUE FAITH, CHARACTER

By Caleb Yarbrough Arkansas Baptist News ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — This year’s Ouachita Baptist University Tigers football team was the winningest in the school’s history. And while college football is a big deal in the South, where many enjoy cheering on their favorite team regardless of the record, it is especially nice to cheer for a winner — on and off the field. The Tigers went undefeated in the Great American Conference

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BILL TOLAR, PROF WHO ‘STANDS LARGE’ IN SBC, DIES

By David Roach Baptist Press FORT WORTH, Texas — Bill Tolar, a preacher-scholar who provided transitional leadership at key junctures for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and multiple Southern Baptist megachurches, died Dec. 29 following a battle with cancer. He was 90.

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PASTOR DUO TEAMS UP TO REVITALIZE HISTORIC CHURCH

By Jessica Tate Grainger Today BLAINE — Mouth of Richland Baptist Church in Blaine celebrated its 230th anniversary with a homecoming celebration on Oct. 28. The church opened in 1788, eight years before the establishment of the state of Tennessee and Grainger County in 1796. It was the first Baptist church in Grainger County and possibly the 18th oldest church in the state. It is now one of few churches

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TENNESCENE: JAN. 9-22

LEADERS Ron Hale retired Dec. 16 as pastor of senior adults/pastoral care at West Jackson Baptist Church, Jackson. He served the church for 12 years.

Read More »

TOP STORIES OF 2018

Analytics of the B&R website reveal these stories to have received the most clicks in the past 12 months 1-5. RESIGNATION, TERMINATION OF PROMINENT SBC

Read More »