By Randy C. Davis
President & Executive Director, TBMB
The launch of Sputnik 1 was a shock to the United States, and it changed everything.
It was a pivotal moment in the Cold War, as the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in an arms and space race. When the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, it sent a global message that the Soviet Union was winning. However, it also ignited a sense of urgency in the U.S. to accelerate its space program.
Through collaboration and determination, the United States landed a man on the moon just 12 years later, beating the Soviets to what was considered the Holy Grail of manned spaceflight and achieving one of the greatest accomplishments in human history.
Tennessee Baptists face significant challenges and share this sense of urgency. We recognize the importance of the door of opportunity before us. After two years of praying, gathering information, discovering needs, identifying obstacles, and preparing new strategies, Tennessee Baptists decided on a clear vision to be “a collaborative network of spiritually healthy churches reaching Tennessee and beyond for Christ.”
God is inviting us to step through this door and enter His preferred future for Tennessee Baptists.
To serve and support Tennessee Baptists in this great endeavor, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB) started the new year by reorganizing and restructuring, launching a new mission to serve Tennessee Baptist churches by strengthening and multiplying gospel leaders, evangelistic disciples, and healthy churches.
The change presents exciting possibilities. For example, rather than maintaining a centralized staff of specialists, we are creating a statewide network of ministry coaches and practitioners with practical experience and expertise in serving local churches.
Imagine how resources “living on the mission field” will add localized, contextualized value, assisting churches with evangelism, discipleship, leadership development, children’s ministry, Vacation Bible School (VBS), student ministry, compassion ministry, church administration, and much more.
Why adopt this model and push more resources closer to local churches? To paraphrase Steve Holt, TBMB’s church services director, we need more. We need more prayer and more collaboration to develop more gospel leaders, who will, in turn, develop more evangelistic disciples. We need more healthy churches so more people in Tennessee and beyond can hear the gospel and respond to it.
I am energized by this God-sized vision. However, to get there, your TBMB must change. We cannot put “new wine into old wineskins.” What worked for the past decade will not get us to where Tennessee Baptists want to go. It is like taking a train from Memphis to Knoxville but having to change trains in Nashville because the Memphis train does not go all the way. That is where we are as a network of churches and as a mission board. Figuratively, we must board a different train to reach our desired destination.
For example, we will no longer have a team of specialists organized by age groups or ministry disciplines. These needs will be served differently in the future. This change necessitates a reallocation of financial resources. While we have kept positions open and deleted unfilled positions to redirect funds, we are also faced with the difficult decision to dismiss long-time friends and co-laborers from our staff.
Our reality is that to strategically and effectively engage the vision we believe God has set for Tennessee Baptists, we must reduce our current TBMB staffing by approximately 15%. This will allow us to direct more mission dollars toward our priorities.
It may sound counterintuitive, but this is a case of multiplication by subtraction. Once these transitions are complete, the number of people involved in assisting churches will grow. For now, we are diligently seeking collaborative and competent ministry leaders to fill new positions focused on strengthening and multiplying gospel leaders, evangelistic disciples, and healthy churches.
I will share more information as our new organizational structure, driven by the new priorities you have set, is finalized.
Just as the United States felt the urgency to accomplish one of the greatest human feats in history, I believe Tennessee Baptists have an even greater mission — helping people from Tennessee and around the world enter God’s eternal Kingdom. I believe we’ll get there through collaboration and determination.
It is a joy to be on this journey with you.