News

TBMB DIRECTORS APPROVE NEW GOTM GOAL

FRANKLIN — Directors of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board adopted a record goal of $2.7 million for the 2023-24 Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions and approved seven other recommendations including a revision to the GOTM Process and Guidelines that would eliminate the following guideline: “GOTM funds are NOT provided for the salary of TBMB staff or Tennessee WMU staff.” Tennessee Baptist leaders Clay Hallmark and Randy C. Davis each brought reports

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TURNER, DAWSON WIN BCA AWARDS

Baptist and Reflector RIDGECREST, N.C. — Two members of the Communications Team of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board were among the winners in the recent awards competition sponsored by the Baptist Communicators Association. Chris Turner and David Dawson won writing awards for articles published in the Baptist and Reflector. Turner earned a first place award for his first person column, “We Gotta Talk to Each Other” while Dawson won third

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JACKSON PASTOR TO NOMINATE RUMMAGE AS PRESIDENT OF SBCPC

JACKSON — Stephen Rummage, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Okla., will be nominated for presidency of the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference (SBCPC). Adam Dooley, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, will nominate Rummage. “I cannot imagine a better choice to lead next year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference than Stephen Rummage,” said Dooley. “From my perspective, he represents everything that is good about Southern Baptists.”

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BARBIER, OWENS NAMED TO SBC COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES

FARMERSVILLE, Texas — SBC president Bart Barber has announced his appointments to the 2023 Committee on Committees. Riley Prather, pastor of Green Valley Crossing, Putnam, Conn., will lead the committee as chair, and Cassie Stanteen from First Baptist, Clinton, Miss., will serve as vice chair. “As a lifelong Southern Baptist, I am thrilled to play a part in helping the SBC keep the Gospel at the center and to remain

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CAIN ELECTED TO EC SEARCH COMMITTEE

Baptist and Reflector SEYMOUR — Corey Cain, pastor of First Baptist Church, Seymour, was elected to serve on the newly formed search committee tasked with seeking a new president/CEO for the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. Cain was in Dallas on May 1 during the special called meeting in which EC members rejected the nomination of former EC chairman Jared Wellman. Cain is one of five Tennessee Baptists

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LONGTIME STAFF MEMBER BRUCE EDWARDS DIES

FRANKLIN — Bruce Edwards, who served in youth ministry with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board for 25 years, died April 28 at the age of 72. Prior to joining the staff of the TBMB in 1995, Edwards served in youth ministry at Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville and as a youth minister in churches in Tennessee, Texas and Georgia. He retired as student ministry specialist with the TBMB in 2020.

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EC REJECTS NOMINATION OF WELLMAN; LAUNCHES NEW SEARCH

DALLAS — Meeting behind closed doors in executive session today (May 1), the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the nomination of Jared Wellman as its new president/chief executive officer by a vote of 50-31. Wellman, 39, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, informed his church on April 30 that he was the nominee to lead the EC. There were 81 of the 83 trustees

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BREAKING NEWS: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS REJECT NOMINATION OF JARED WELLMAN

DALLAS — Meeting behind closed doors in executive session today (May 1), the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention rejected the nomination of Jared Wellman as its new president/chief executive officer by a vote of 50-31. All 83 trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee were in the executive session, according to The Baptist Paper (TBP). Wellman, 39, who serves as pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in

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BARNA RESEARCH: PASTORS FEELING LESS CONFIDENT ABOUT SPIRITUAL CALLINGS

VENTURA, Calif. — Protestant pastors are less satisfied with their jobs and church assignments and less confident in their spiritual callings, Barna research said in its latest study on pastoral resilience. (See related story and a column from Sing Oldham). Only 52 percent of pastors are “very satisfied” with their jobs, only 50 percent are just as confident of their calling as they were when they began, and only 38

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KNOXVILLE PASTOR SHARES JOURNEY OF OVERCOMING STRESS, DISCOURAGEMENT

KNOXVILLE — May 22, 2022 will forever be etched in the memory of Keith Vaughan, pastor of Valley Grove Baptist Church in Knoxville. That was the day of what he now refers to as “The Breakdown” occurred. He recalled walking into his office on that Monday morning. “Nothing really happened that doesn’t normally happen on a Monday in a Baptist church,” he said. “But for some reason, all of a

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