The Need for Chaplains in Nashville

Several months ago I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Bill Palmiter, the Lead Chaplain Coordinator for the TriStar Skyline Medical Center. As you might imagine, the last few years have been difficult ones for anyone in the medical field, and Bill has been on the front lines of it all. Even so, I was so encouraged and burdened for the great need in Nashville for committed believers to minister in our hospitals. I asked Bill for an update on the work in the hospitals, and he gave this report:

The Spirit of the Living God is very active in the volunteer chaplain ministry at TriStar Skyline Hospital.  Since last December, there have been 35 patients who have chosen to begin a vital relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  The Lord gave me the privilege of baptizing four of them.  Because the hospital is provisionally certified for Trauma Level I, the spiritual needs of the hospital have grown exponentially.  There is a critical need for the people of God to represent the God who loves His children in the midst of a medical crisis.  Quite honestly, this may be the first time patients confront their own mortality.  It is a prime time to evaluate one’s relationship to God.  Volunteer chaplains provide spiritual and emotional support to patients, their families, and hospital staff and are available for emergency situations.

One of my first questions to newly admitted patients is: “Does your pastor, minister, or priest know you are here at the hospital?”  The vast majority of patients are 50 years of age and older and  answer that because of their medical issues and high medical bills on their fixed income, their spiritual leader does not know who they are because they can’t attend worship and can’t afford to contribute financially as they formerly did.  This is true across denominational lines.  So at one of the most critical times in a person’s life, there is a feeling of being alone.

If you have training in pastoral care or are spiritually gifted in pastoral care, prayerfully consider joining God in caring for God’s children when they need to experience God’s Presence and His love the most!

This is a wonderful opportunity for both professional clergy and lay people to serve as ambassadors for Christ when people are at their greatest need. Bill's program provides all the training needed; the only thing necessary is the willingness to be a voice for the gospel. Please pass on this need to your congregation; for those interested in learning more, contact Bill at Bill.Palmiter@HCAhealthcare.com.

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Michael Kelley
Executive Director

Jay Hardwick, Forest Hills Baptist Church Pastor, Elected as President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention

We are excited that Jay Hardwick, pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church from our association, has been elected to serve the next year as the President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Jay became senior pastor of Forest Hills in December of 2020 and also currently serves as chairman of the Acts 2:17 Initiative Vision Team and is a trustee at Union University in Jackson. Prior to moving to Tennessee, he served as associate executive director/chief strategist of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

As president, Pastor Jay will…
- Preside over next year’s TBC annual meeting in Murfreesboro.
- Serve as a director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
- Serve as an ex officio member of all TBMB committees and as a trustee of Convention institutions.

He will also play a key role in the rollout of the Acts 2:17 Initiative. The Acts 2:17 vision and priority statements that will guide further planning for the work of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and its related ministries were overwhelmingly approved yesterday by the TBC annual meeting messengers.

If you’d like to share a note of congratulations with Pastor Jay, you can send it to pastor@fhbc.org.

Michael Kelley
Executive Director

Introducing Brett Boesch, Connections Strategist for the Nashville Baptist Association

Several years ago, the board of directors of the Nashville Baptist Association embarked on the task of refreshing the vision of the local association. As part of the process, the board targeted four strategic areas that would focus our work as an association:

• Connections: Bringing together leaders, resources, and missional strategies in partnership between churches.

• Leaders: Caring for our pastors and ministry staff members.

• Planting: Assisting in birthing new churches around our city.

• Revitalization: Helping existing churches navigate their journey forward.

By God's grace, we are continuing to make progress together in each of these areas, and part of that progress means expanding the full time staff of the association. Though Brett Boesch has been a part-time staff member of the NBA for some time, we are happy that he has agreed to join the team in a full time capacity as our Connections Strategist.

As the Connections Strategist, Brett will continue to build the networks of pastors and other church leaders throughout Middle Tennessee. These networks exist so that every church leader has the opportunity to build relationships with those who are focused on their same area of ministry. He will help to grow networks of children's pastors, Vacation Bible School leaders, discipleship pastors, and others. Brett will also continue to work to connect international churches with the rest of the NBA forging mutually beneficial relationships between those congregations. He is daily working to identify needs and opportunities within the association and connect those needs and opportunities together so that the kingdom will expand within our city.

We are excited for Brett to continue to deeply know and understand the congregations of the Nashville Baptist Association as we, together, help churches help other churches. 

Michael Kelley
Executive Director

Pastor Profile: Austin Jones

Austin Jones is the new pastor of Neely’s Bend Baptist Church. He came to Neely’s Bend as part of a revitalization effort embraced by the congregation. Get to know Austin a little better in this pastor profile.

I grew up in a small community in northwest Alabama called Gravel Hill. It was a short distance away from Phil Campbell, AL where I went to elementary school and high school. Growing up I spent much of my time outdoors hunting, fishing, riding ATVs, and playing a lot of baseball and even today still enjoy doing those things when the opportunity comes. I have an older brother and a younger sister. In 2015 I met Ashton, and we got married in February of 2019. We have a daughter, Auden, who just turned one in September.

In the small community that I grew up in my parents attended Gravel Hill Missionary Baptist Church and it was there that the Lord saved me. I was 11 years old. Four years later the Lord would begin to work on my heart toward a call to preach and in January of 2010 I surrendered to the ministry. I did not know what that meant at the time, I just knew I was supposed to preach.

In May of 2018 I completed my undergrad degree in Special Education from Athens State University. I would teach Special Education for two years before the Lord moved my wife and I to Kansas City to attend Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I graduated with a Master of Divinity in May of 2023. The day after graduation we moved to Nashville for me to begin serving as pastor at Neely’s Bend Baptist Church. We are grateful to be serving the Lord here in Nashville and at Neely’s Bend.

What is your favorite local Nashville restaurant?
We have only been here since May of 2023, so we haven’t had the opportunity to explore many restaurants yet, but Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint did not disappoint. In KC we really enjoyed Raising Canes and it is delightful to see more of them coming to Nashville now.

How would you spend a day off with no ministry responsibilities?
At this stage in my life with a little one, having a day off means I’m spending time with my family. Lately, we have went on a few different short hikes to see some of Tennessee’s great waterfalls.

What Bible verse or passage is particularly meaningful to you right now?
Psalms 78:72. It is a passage about how David was chosen to shepherd the people of Israel. It translates over to pastoral ministry really well and as a new pastor it has helped me to shepherd with a heart of integrity and guide with skilled hands.

Is there a quote that has stuck with you and influenced the way you have thought or behaved?
Several years ago, I heard the phrase “preach the gospel to yourself daily.” It has helped me to keep a gospel perspective on everything in life and even in ministry because the reality is we are all sinners.

What is one exciting thing God is doing in your church right now?
We recently served free coffee and donuts via a drive thru service to the morning commuters out of the bend to serve and get to know our community better. We had almost 40 cars stop by on a Tuesday morning! The group that helped lead this determined they wanted to do it every month and that is exciting!

Opportunities to Help Egyptian Refugees Living in Nashville

Still image from The 21, a short film honoring the Coptic martyrs. Learn more about the project here: 21martyrsfilm.com

Brothers and Sisters,

We have a humanitarian crisis on our hands in Middle Tennessee. But it is also an amazing opportunity for our churches to serve.  There are over 1,500 Egyptian men who have recently fled from Egypt and made their way to the Nashville area.  They are asylum seekers, fleeing for what they believe and will not deny. Many of these Egyptian Coptic Christians will live on the streets this winter if we do not act fast.

We are coordinating with Tennessee Resettlement Aid and the Coptic Churches in the area to provide donations this fall before it gets cold. Please reach out to your congregations, small groups, and youth groups to call for help with this pressing need.

1) Clothing:  Critical cold weather items: coats, sleeping bags, socks, blankets.
2) Food:  Bags of basmati rice, cooking oil, salt, tea, bread, and canned vegetables.
3) Shelter: Ask your churches if they can provide cold-weather shelter in their gyms this winter.  Ask if people would be willing to share their basement apartments, bonus rooms, and RVs just for this winter and just for one Egyptian man.

The Egyptian Coptic Christians have survived over 1200 years under Muslim rule, and they have persevered.  Please be in prayer about how your church can be the body of Christ this holiday season.

Remember the words of James:
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. - James 2:15-17

If there are churches that want to help in any way, please contact me for coordination.

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Brett Boesch
Connections Strategist
bboesch@nashvillebaptists.com

What is the Annual Church Profile, and Why You Should Complete It?

Every year about this time, you receive a packet containing the Annual Church Profile (ACP). Perhaps, if you’ve received this packet before, you have wondered whether it is worth your time to complete and submit this information given what I’m sure is already a packed schedule. Why should you take the time to research and then provide statistical data about things like worship attendance, missions participation, and baptisms especially with all the competing priorities for your time?

Firstly, the ACP is one of the most basic data-gathering tools in the SBC. It is through this process that we in the associational office as well as in other areas of the SBC keep track of vital statistics in the church. This data is extremely helpful as we seek to facilitate helpful cooperation between churches. The ACP is also helpful in giving a snapshot of trends in Southern Baptist Churches, which in turn helps us know the best way to direct our resources, events, training, and other avenues of service. Finally, it is the information you provide on the ACP that determines your church’s messenger eligibility to the Southern Baptist Convention.

But beyond all of those things, the Annual Church Profile is a chance for you, as a church leader, to objectively examine how and where God is at work in your congregation. Sometimes, as church leaders, we can develop a strong sense of tunnel vision. We get fixated on the current need, the current opportunity, or the current decision point that we lose sight of everything that has happened over the past year. This profile is not just a chance to provide statistics; it's an opportunity for both evaluation and celebration in the life of the local church.

Yes, it takes time. But view the time it takes to complete this packet not as an infringement on other priorities, but as the priority for reflection and cooperation it is. If you haven't already, please complete the Annual Church Profile and return it to the associational office as soon as you can.

Michael Kelley
NBA Executive Director

From the 2023 NBA Annual Meeting

The Nashville Baptist Association met for its annual meeting in September. We were glad to see so many churches represented as we celebrated our cooperative work over the past year and looked forward to more opportunities in 2024.

As always, the annual meeting is a chance to both conduct the necessary business of the association and to cast vision for the future. On the business side, the messengers voted to approve the budget for the next year, amend the bylaws of the association to include a dissolution clause, and appoint new members of the Board of Directors. Rotating off the board were Scott Patty (Grace Community Church), Kent Shingleton (Hope Fellowship), and Pam Frejosky (Charlotte Road Baptist Church). New board members include Drake Noscoe (Grace Baptist Church), Nik Lingle (Westwood Baptist Church) and Nanette Ryan (Grace Community Church). 

The meeting celebrated the strategic vision of the Nashville Baptist Association, which is to help churches, help churches. Over the past year, we have seen this vision implemented through the establishment of new pastor and ministry leader networks, the revitalization partnerships of several local congregations, and other cooperative efforts as churches help each other grow toward health.

View the Partnerships Video here.

The Lord has been faithful to the churches of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and we look forward to another year of ministry together.

3 Reasons Why Local Associations Still Matter

If you have been a Southern Baptist for very long, you probably know that there are certain seasons every year in which Southern Baptist churches collectively recognize, pray for, and give to specific parts of our work together. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in December and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering in March probably come to mind. But you might not know that October has traditionally been recognized as Associational Emphasis month, with October 22 being set aside as a specific day of prayer for associational missions. 

The reason you might not know that is because many Southern Baptist churches in recent years have been wondering, either publicly or privately, whether local associations still matter. That was part of the reason for a recent article from The Baptist Paper. The article, titled “Why churches are ‘quiet quitting’ their Baptist associations,” is a clear and stark picture of the reality many local associations are facing:

“Quiet quitting does not mean a church leaves its association. Rather than leaving, it redirects the focus of its congregation. It means it does less to be in association with its sister churches. Some do the very minimum required to be part of the association.They would leave, but leaving itself is not a high priority for them. They may have a few laypeople for whom the associations are an important relationship. They see no need to engage in unnecessary conflict within their congregations.”

The question at the heart of this reality is simple: Do local associations still matter?

I believe the answer is yes, and here are a few reasons why:

1. Local associations are first responders.

Because the association is made up of churches that are local in nature, they are familiar with the makeup of a geographic location. That means when a problem or need arises in a church, it shouldn’t take a lot of explanation or background to help the association understand the need. Further, if the association is in regular and ongoing contact with its pastors, it should be able to help fill that need or point the way to another resource who can.

In our association, we’ve tried very diligently to make sure that our team is immediately available and highly responsive. We want all pastors and church leaders to have direct access to us. We want to be the first call a pastor or church leader makes when they need something so that we can provide immediate help.

2. Local associations are resource hubs.

Southern Baptist cooperate. It’s one of the main reasons we choose to associate together. We know that there is much more that can be accomplished together than can be as individual congregations. Of course, that cooperation happens financially through things like the cooperative program, and it should - but that cooperation happens locally as well. Or at least it should through the local association.

In our association, we have adopted the statement that we exist to “help churches… help churches.” As such, we function as a resource hub. We know in our office we don’t have to be the subject matter expert on everything; nor do we have to have all the resources in our own facility that churches need. What we do have to do, however, is be intimately acquainted with the congregations of our association so that we know what resources are there and then connect congregations together to maximize those resources.

3. Local associations are focused.

One of the advantages of working at the local level is the freedom and focus that comes from being local. An association has the ability to know the specific and unique needs of congregations in its area, and because it does, it can be very focused and selective in the kinds of regular programming and opportunities it provides.

While our national entities do great and meaningful work, that work is, by nature, general in a sense. They have to think about thousands and thousands of churches and their needs. But the local association is different. They have the advantage of being intimately familiar with a smaller group of churches and can therefore be much more focused and strategic in what they do.

Do local associations matter? This is a good and right question for churches to ask because asking that question forces associations to have the answer. And maybe the best answer to that question is that local associations matter because they are us. Please join me in praying for your own local association during this month.

Michael Kelley
NBA Executive Director

5 Reasons to Attend the NBA Annual Meeting

*Please see note at the bottom of this article regarding who is eligible to come to and vote at the Annual Meeting of the Nashville Baptist Association.

Friends -

The 123rd Annual Meeting of the Nashville Baptist Association will take place on Wednesday, September 20, beginning at 11:00AM at Nashville First Baptist Church (108 7th Ave S).

I know time is always at a premium, and when you combine travel time, this meeting is a significant time investment for most of us. So why should you make this meeting a priority this year? Let me suggest 5 reasons:

1. To conduct the business of the association.
It's at this meeting every year in which we do things like approve the yearly budget, approve new members of the Board of Directors, and vote on other important matters for the organization. 

This year, one of the things you will have the opportunity to vote on is an amendment to the NBA bylaws. Here is the proposed amendment from the Board of Directors:

• Article 8: Dissolution

• In the event of the dissolution of the Nashville Baptist Association Inc., any assets of the corporation then remaining shall be conveyed to the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board that is exempt under the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 as amended or under successor provisions of the Code as may be in effect at the time of dissolution.

• The Directors, by a three fourths (3/4) vote, may bring a Motion to the Messenger at any Annual meeting, to dissolve and terminate the Nashville Baptist Association Inc.  Upon a three fourths (3/4) vote of the Messengers present at the Annual Meeting, the Messengers may approve the Motion, thereby authorizing the Directors to take all necessary actions to dissolve and termination the Corporation.

2. To celebrate the work of the association.
Our association exists to help churches, help other churches. At the meeting this year, you will have the opportunity to see and hear about some of the work you have participated in this past year, including exciting partnerships between churches for the purpose of kingdom expansion.

3. To know what's coming.
We also want the meeting to be strategic in nature, and will present new opportunities for cooperation for the coming year particularly in the areas of church planting and church leadership networks.

4. To eat and fellowship with friends.
We have intentionally moved the meeting from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday at lunch so that more church leaders might be able to attend. We are also happy to provide lunch as part of the meeting, and being there will give you an opportunity to get to know other church leaders in the area. No church in our association should feel like they are alone, and being there will be a visible representation of our togetherness.

5. To park for free downtown.
If you've been downtown lately, you know that free parking doesn't happen very often. Why not take advantage of the chance while it's there?

Please make plans in advance to join us for the meeting. If you are able to make time in your schedule, let us know you are coming to we can plan for the right number of people.

Once again:
Nashville Baptist Association Annual Meeting
Wednesday, September 20
11 AM
Nashville First Baptist Church (108 7th Ave S)

Register your attendance here:
https://www.nashvillebaptists.com/annual-meeting

*Churches may send Messengers as follows:
Section 3.2. Representation at Annual Meeting.   Affiliated Churches in Fellowship with the Association shall be represented at Annual Association Meetings by members chosen by the Affiliated Church to serve as Messengers. Each Affiliated Church shall be entitled to five (5) Messengers and an additional Messenger for every fifty (50) members above 250 members up to a maximum of ten (10) Messengers total.