Lonnie Wilkey/Baptist and Reflector

BEAN STATION, Tenn. (BP) -- Tennessee Baptists are ministering to families affected by the raid on a Bean Station slaughterhouse on April 5. Federal agents raided Southeastern Provisions, a cattle slaughterhouse in Grainger County in Tennessee, as part of a probe on allegations that the company was paying undocumented immigrants cash to avoid paying $2.5 million in payroll taxes over the past three years, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Of the more than 95 employees who were detained until their immigration status was verified, approximately 54 have been held for possible deportation due to their undocumented status, according to news reports. Those who have been released reportedly still face court dates and possible deportation.

GALVESTON, Texas (BP) -- The next president of the International Mission Board needs to be someone who is in love with and in tune with Jesus and "has a love for the world," said Steve Gaines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Gaines, pastor of the Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church in Tennessee, addressed editors of Baptist state publications during their Feb. 12-15 annual meeting in Galveston, Texas. IMB President David Platt announced plans Feb. 12 to vacate his position to be the full-time teaching pastor at McLean Bible Church in Vienna, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (BP) -- With white supremacist rallies scheduled for this weekend in the state, a mix of ethnically diverse Tennessee Baptists gathered in a display of unity in Franklin on Wednesday (Oct. 25) to publicly denounce the white supremacist movement and racism. "We don't call press conferences very often but we believe it is impossible to stand silently by while the white supremacy movement plans to invade our state and perpetrate its evil Saturday (Oct. 28) in Shelbyville and Murfreesboro," said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission ...

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (BP) -- Bellevue Baptist Church has become the first church in the Tennessee Baptist Convention to send $1 million through the Cooperative Program over a 12-month period. In early March, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board received a check for $83,333 that brought Bellevue's total giving through the Cooperative Program to $1 million since last April 2016.

NEWPORT, Tenn. (BP) -- Levi Parish spent the better part of his ministry supporting and encouraging others to support the Cooperative Program. So when he passed away on Feb. 26, it was only natural that the family wanted to do something related to Southern Baptist's giving channel for missions and ministry in his memory. "He loved missions," Sherry Parish said of her husband of 53 years. "In every church we served, he encouraged the church to increase its giving through the ...

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (BP) -- The youth of Roaring Fork Baptist Church are not unlike countless other teenagers participating in Youth Bible Drill, preparing for associational and state competitions later this spring. What sets the Roaring Fork youth apart from other groups is where they practice -- one of the bathrooms and showers at Camp Smoky, owned and operated by the Sevier County Association of Baptists in Tennessee.

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Pardon Tiffany Bowen for laughing when the following question was posed to her and a room full of other ministers' wives: "Did you think you would ever marry a minister?" During The Good Cup event for ministers' wives, held during the Tennessee Baptist Convention's annual meeting in November, the question served as a reminder to her of God's apparent sense of humor. At the time she met her future husband Jason Bowen, now pastor of First Baptist Church, Trenton, Tiffany was a self-professed "atheist, feminist bartender."

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Following the recent election of a new U.S. president, Southern Baptist Convention leader Steve Gaines challenged American Christians to once again ask, "What can I do for my country?" In his Nov. 13 message to Tennessee Baptists, Gaines shared a well-known quote from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address in January of 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country?" An estimated 1,600 Tennessee Baptists from across the state gathered Nov. 13 at the Sevierville Convention Center for a worship service on the opening night of their annual ...

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (BP) -- Just looking at Ternae "T.J." Jordan Jr., one would never suspect he once was in a hospital with a bullet in his head, fighting for his life. Jordan still has the bullet in his head more than 23 years later but has no visible scars at its entry point. He now serves as assistant pastor at Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn., where his father, Ternae Jordan Sr., is pastor. T.J., then 15, was hit by a stray bullet fired during a fight outside a local YMCA in Indiana, where his father was a pastor at the time, as he and his sister Dejuan were waiting to be picked up by their mother after piano lessons.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed a bill April 14 that would have made the Bible the official state book, but the measure's sponsors are hopeful a veto override will occur. Rep. Jerry Sexton and Sen. Steve Southerland, both Republicans, told The Tennessean they plan to lead an override effort, which would require only a simple majority in both chambers. The bill passed earlier this month by a 55-38 margin in the state House of Representatives and a 19-8 margin in the Senate.