TENNESCENE: OCT. 13

October 12, 2021

LEADERS

Jack Hice recently celebrated his 31st anniversary as pastor of Marble Plains Baptist Church, Winchester. On his first Sunday at the church, there were nine people in attendance. On July 25, there were 131 people present and Hice baptized seven people that day, all of them adults or teenagers.

Chris Hughes has been called as interim pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Elizabethton. The church also ordained Patrick Beasley as a deacon.

Trent Stewart, pastor of Foothills Church, Maryville, and an alumnus of Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, spoke to the campus community at C-N’s recent Gospel Saturated Life Conference. Stewart was joined by Foothills Collective, which led worship. The conference was composed of three events over two days and saw four students make decisions for Christ.

Harmony Baptist Church, Tullahoma, recently ordained Forrester Wall as a deacon.

Malvin Lane and Sean Parker were ordained Oct. 3 as deacons at Shiloh Baptist Church, Mount Juliet.

DEATHS

Jewell Jennings, who served as president of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union from 1976-79, died Oct. 5. A native of Chattanooga, Jennings was a lifelong participant in missions education, beginning with Sunbeams and later serving as church WMU president. She also served as associational WMU director for Wilson County Baptist Association and was involved with Tennessee WMU for a number of years. She was a member of First Baptist Church, Lebanon. She was preceded in death by her husband, Claude Jennings. She is survived by four children, 11 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren.

CHURCHES

Grace Baptist Church, Elizabethton, celebrated its 80th anniversary on Oct. 10. Dino Senesi, who grew up with the church and is now with the North American Mission Board, spoke.

Siam Baptist Church, Elizabethton, will celebrate its 148th anniversary on Oct. 17. Billy Hodges will be leading in worship. He is a former tenor singer with the Florida Boys and the Kingdom Heirs.

Shady Grove Baptist Church, Somerville, will have revival services Nov. 7-10 with evangelist Phil Glisson of Memphis.

Pastor Billy Ross, right, presents Jerry Simmons a certificate of recognition for 45 years as song leader at Thompson Creek Baptist Church in Como. Simmons also received gift certificates in appreciation of his years of dedicated service to the church.
Pastor Mike Henegar and Talbott Baptist Church, Talbott, recently recognized Betty Hopkins for serving for 54 years as church custodian.
First Baptist Church, Camden, celebrated its 125th anniversary during homecoming on Sept. 12. Bama Fry, the oldest member of First Baptist proudly displays the plaque presented to the church from the Tennessee Baptist Historical Society.
The ladies of Plainview Baptist Church, Woodbury, gathered recently to celebrate the autumn with the theme, “Everything Pumpkin.” The women heard a devotion comparing pumpkin carving to how God chooses people, washes them off, cleans out the “yucky” stuff from their life and puts a smile on their faces and a light in their eyes. With the ladies are their pumpkin creations.
Ron Davidson, pastor of Enville Baptist Church, Enville, recently celebrated his 61st anniversary in the ministry. He surrendered to the call of the ministry on July 21, 1960. Davidson served as pastor of several churches in West Tennessee. His longest pastorates were Calvary Baptist Church, Brownsville, for about 12 years and First Baptist Church, Grand Junction, for about nine years. He then became director of missions for Shiloh Baptist Association where he served for 17 years before retiring. While serving as a DOM, he led the association to partner with North Central Association in Iowa during the Tennessee-Iowa partnership. He has served as pastor of Enville for four years. Davidson has preached revivals in 12 states and has been active in the Tennessee Baptist Convention, having served on the Executive Board (now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board), Resolutions Committee and the Committee on Boards. Davidson and his wife, Jeanenne, have been married for 55 years and have three daughters, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.