This past week our whole family attended the Tennessee Southern Baptist Convention. We really didn’t know what to expect. Scott and I had been to South Carolina’s state convention a couple of times for a few things here and there. However, we were there for the entire TN Convention.
And, we really liked what we saw! I personally am excited about serving in a Southern Baptist church in this state. It was evident to me that the leadership of this state “get it”. They seem to have a heart beat for changing lives for Christ and missions, which is our family’s heart beat too!
At the Pastors’ Conference portion of the convention, we were able to hear some great messages, One I really liked about missions from a church planter, Freddy T. Wyatt, in New York City at the Gallery Church, Dr. Kelley the President of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary spoke on God’s amazing love in hard times, and Dr. Ed Young, Sr. spoke on church growth. There were more wonderful messages… but these were my three favorite!
It was also great to see Dr. Page and Dayle! (Former pastor at Taylors FBC, SC) Since he is the new CEO of the entire Southern Baptist Convention, he shared a message at the TN Convention. By the way, he has “changed” his title… from Chief Executive Officer of the SBC to Chief Encouraging Officer. 🙂 And his message to Tennessee Baptists was very encouraging! The Pages also live in TN now, not too far from us… which brings my heart joy, since we have no family close by! The Pages have always treated us like family, so it great to have them right up the road in Nashville. We also got to have lunch with them, before he flew out to another state.
Tennessee also has a new Executive Director, Randy Davis. I don’t know him personally, but to quote Scott, “I really like his spirit.” He seems like, what I would call, a Gentle Giant. He was very humble within his new role, but when he did speak he radiated godly leadership. I am excited for our state under his leadership and guidance.
I also love his wife, and I don’t really know her. Let me tell you something she did that spoke volumes to me…
When we first moved to TN, I went online to find out information about the convention. I made a call to the Convention office to find out if they had child care during the convention meeting. I casually mentioned on the phone we were new to the state. No more than 5 minutes later I had a phone call from Jeanne Davis (The Executive Director’s wife) welcoming me to TN and telling me I could call her anytime for anything. Wow! I was blown away!
This is only my second church as a Senior Pastor’s wife, but I have never been contacted by anyone in ministry or reached out to… especially by an Executive Director’s wife, or another pastor’s wife in my area. (On a side note, I do want to say that God has blessed my family with some awesome lay people in our churches that have ministered to and encouraged us!) But her phone call really touched me and showed me that the TN Convention cares. You know, life in ministry can be difficult and I know I have someone I can call when needed. This was just another confirmation that TN is where God wants us!
It was an awesome time in the Lord at the convention. I was refreshed and filled up with the incredible worship times and sermons, and was educated even more about how great it is to be a Tennessee Baptist! Yeehaw!