News

2024 NATIONAL COLLEGIATE SUMMIT TO BE MAY 1-3 IN TENNESSEE

COLLIERVILLE — Baptist collegiate ministry leaders from across the country will gather May 1-3 for the 2024 Collegiate Summit held near Memphis. The event is held every three years and features valuable resources, well-known guest speakers and networking opportunities for campus ministers and church college leaders looking to enhance their ministries to students. More than 700 participants are expected at the event, organized by the Baptist Collegiate Network. Planning Team

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KNOXVILLE PASTOR RETIRES AFTER 35 YEARS

KNOXVILLE — Dana Fachman, pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in Knoxville retired Dec. 24, 2023, after 35 years of service to the church and the community.   Before that, he served at Leawood Baptist church in Memphis for 10-and-a-half years, for a total ministry tenure 45 years.  Fachman began his ministry at the age of 23 and only served in two churches which he says, “created stability” for his family.

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SERVING TENNESSEE BAPTISTS FOR 35 YEARS

PIGEON FORGE — For more than 35 years Joy Clay-Corby has been a fixture as a ministry assistant with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (formerly Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention). Clay-Corby has seen a lot of history over her three-and-a-half decades. She has served under four executive directors — Tom Madden, D.L. Lowrie, James Porch and Randy C. Davis. When she joined the staff in 1988, she worked

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CLAUDE KING REFLECTS ON MINISTRY OF HENRY BLACKABY

FRANKLIN — Longtime Tennessee Baptist Claude King will forever be intertwined with Henry Blackaby. Though Blackaby perhaps is best known for Experiencing God, the original version was co-authored by King, then an employee of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now Lifeway Christian Resources). King, now retired from Lifeway but still involved in discipleship and prayer ministry from his home in Murfreesboro, reflected on the life and ministry of Blackaby, who

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BURDENED FOR BLUEOVAL CITY, PASTOR MAKES THE MOVE TO WEST TENNESSEE

BELLS — Chris Garner had everything mapped out in his mind: He was going to move to West Tennessee to plant a church that would be part of the BlueOval Initiative. Turns out, he was only half right.  Yes, God opened the door for Garner and his family to move to West Tennessee, but church planting wasn’t part of the equation.  Instead, Garner was called as senior pastor at Holly

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INFLUENTIAL DISCIPLESHIP AUTHOR HENRY BLACKABY DIES AT 88

Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God, has died following a decade of declining health. Blackaby — pastor, author and founder of Blackaby Ministries International — died Feb. 10 at the age of 88. He is widely known for his bestselling and influential discipleship workbook, “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God,” which was first released in 1990. It has sold more than 7 million copies and was revised

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PRETEENS ‘ON TRACK TO ABANDON BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY IN RECORD NUMBERS,’ STUDY SHOWS

America’s preteens are following in the “unfortunate spiritual footsteps of the generations that have preceded them,” says researcher George Barna citing a recent study. The consequence of this trend, he noted, is that 8- to-12-year-olds are “on track to abandon biblical Christianity in record numbers.” Five key areas were targeted in the study: Bible — Barna states bluntly, “America’s children are receiving an inadequate introduction to the Bible.” Only 60 percent

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NAMB TAPS FORMER PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AS DIRECTOR OF URBAN CHURCH PLANTING

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A former Presbyterian minister has been chosen to serve as director of urban church planting for the North American Mission Board’s Send Network. Send Network trains church-planting missionaries to engage cities, make disciples and plant churches, according to Vance Pitman, president of Send Network. Doug Logan joined Send Network’s team as director of urban church planting in December 2023. He has been pastor of church planting at

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TBC CP GIFTS REBOUND IN JANUARY

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $3,868,359 through the Cooperative Program in January.  For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $9,302,057 through the CP giving channel.  After one-quarter of the fiscal year, gifts are $25,910 or 0.3 percent behind the amount given at the same time last year, but are $552,057 or 6.31 percent above budget needs. 

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RETREAT HELPS TENNESSEE BIVOCATIONAL PASTORS, WIVES ‘REFUEL’ FOR MINISTRY

PIGEON FORGE — As bivocational ministry specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, Roger Britton understands the unique challenge of serving as a pastor and holding down a job. Britton has been a bivocational minister nearly 45 years, including the last 27 as pastor of Whites Creek Baptist Church in Rockwood. He fully understands the need to balance sermon preparation, hospital visits, funerals and weddings, time with spouse and children,

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TBC CP GIFTS REBOUND IN JANUARY

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Convention churches gave $3,868,359 through the Cooperative Program in January.  For the year-to-date, Tennessee Baptists have given $9,302,057 through the CP

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