LEADERS
Jamie Bodiford began serving Nov. 5 as pastor of First Baptist Church, Mountain City.
Ray Gilder retired Oct. 22 as pastor of First Baptist Church, Gordonsville, after eight-and-a-half years. He formerly served as bivocational ministries specialist with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and executive director of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network.
DEATHS
Chris Rigby, pastor of Alamo First Baptist Church for the past 22 years, died Oct. 24. He was 57. He was called into the ministry in 1988 and served in various churches in Tennessee and Kentucky before accepting the call to First Baptist in 2001. He is survived by his wife, Pam, two children and two grandchildren.
John Thomas “Tom” Everett, retired pastor of Lonsdale Baptist Church, Knoxville, and retired director of Western Heights Baptist Center in Knoxville died Oct. 22 at the age of 81. Everett and his wife, Shirley (now deceased), served at Western Heights for 30 years. Everett is survived by his two children and a granddaughter.
William Frederick “Fred” Kendall, retired pastor of Union City First Baptist Church, died Oct. 4. He was 90. Kendall served for many years as director of planned giving at Belmont University. His father, W. Fred Kendall was a former executive secretary of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and author of A History of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, published in 1974. Kendall is survived by his wife Yvonne, two sons and a granddaughter.
Frank Mazy Edwards, pastor of Hannah’s Gap Baptist Church, Petersburg, for 41 years before he retired in 2012, died Oct. 22. He was 93. He served as a Tennessee Baptist pastor for 64 years. He was preceded in death by his wife, Eva, and three children. He is survived by a son and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Brenda Hooks Myers, wife of David Myers, retired Hamilton County Baptist Association director of missions, died Oct. 27 at the age of 80 in Signal Mountain. She is survived by her husband and children and grandchildren.
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