JACKSON — Lostness in the world is the greatest problem Christians face, Victor Hou told a Union University audience Feb. 1 as part of the annual W.D. Powell Missions Lecture. “Despite wars, despite human trafficking, despite homelessness, crime, lots of other things, lostness is the only problem that will stay with us for eternity,” said Hou, who serves as associate vice president for global advance at the International Mission Board.

CHATTANOOGA — When the membership of Chamberlain Memorial Baptist Church in Chattanooga began to decline, the 30 or so remaining members contacted White Oak Baptist Church and pastor Tony Wilson eight years ago about a possible merger between the two congregations. Wilson was well acquainted with Chamberlain Memorial, having served as their youth minister nearly 30 years earlier. “I loved the people there and God worked in a sweet way,”

PIGEON FORGE  — Pastor Rich Murray of Mountain View Baptist Church in Johnson City is  bivocational and proud of it. “If it worked for (the Apostle) Paul, why wouldn’t it work for me?” he asked. Murray observed that Paul modeled what it meant to be bivocational. “There is nothing more biblical,” he affirmed. “I believe that to be anything else would be a demotion for me because I’m called to

LINDEN — Change is inevitable in all areas of life and includes changes for individuals, businesses and even denominational organizations and churches, says seminary president Jeff Iorg. Iorg, president of Gateway Seminary in Ontario, Calif., and author of Leading Major Change in Your Organization, speaks from experience. “Even healthy organizations need major seasons of change,” he observed. Iorg made his observations via a Zoom meeting during the Tennessee Baptist Mission

COVINGTON — Pastors are not “supermen,” but individuals who struggle with anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges that often lead to ministerial burnout and occasionally suicide.  “I found out this job’s hard for everybody,” Cliff Marion told a room full of pastors and other church ministers gathered for the first-ever Pastors Mental Health Forum. “I know that’s the way the people in this room are feeling and that ultimately

BUTLER — In upper East Tennessee, pastor Don Winters of Sugar Grove Baptist Church in Butler is lovingly referred to by some family and friends as the “crazy preacher who swam the ice mile” or “the Watauga Lake lunatic.” Winters takes it in stride but he has the last laugh. On Jan. 23, Winters became the oldest man in the world to swim an “ice mile” at the age of

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.

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