Week of Prayer – GOTM

Disasters often present open doors. Victims receive hope, encouragement, help and salvation every year. God has the power to bring beauty from the wreckage. As unpredictable as a disaster may be, they occur with great consistency.

The Golden Offering supports Disaster Relief ministries through training, equipment, and facilities.

In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene’s devastating floods affected more than 1,500 families in East Tennessee, completely destroying over 500 homes. Tennessee Baptists have committed to rebuilding at least 40 homes and repairing as many others as possible — a mission expected to take two years. TBDR is actively seeking volunteers and resources to meet this significant challenge. Many homeowners who have lost everything are asking profound questions about life and faith. TBDR’s approach is comprehensive: arrive promptly after disaster strikes, remain until restoration is complete, and connect personally with each homeowner by presenting them with a Bible and sharing the gospel message. The Golden Offering provides the crucial funding that makes this vital recovery and ministry work possible.

Praying for Disaster Relief Ministries

• Pray that God will give disaster relief volunteers the strength to serve month after month.
• Pray that God will give volunteers boldness not only to help people in times of need but also to share the greatest need of all: a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Healthy Churches Multiplication Team works with Tennessee Baptist Churches to facilitate the planting of healthy reproducing churches that will impact lostness in underreached places and people groups.

The Golden Offering supports multiplying the starting of healthy churches by providing training, assessment, and coaching for church planters, assisting Tennessee Baptist Churches in proving resources and funding to mother churches for new churches, and helping fund regional networks/cohorts for planter/church support.

Praying for Multiplying Healthy Churches

• Pray for open doors where the church-to-population ratio is 10,000 or more per church and at least 65% of the population claims no relationship with Christ.
• Ask God to raise up coalitions of churches that have a burden for under-reached and underserved areas that need new churches.
• Ask God to lay upon the hearts of dying churches and their leaders the desire to become a legacy church, allowing themselves to be a replant.
• Pray for a pipeline of church planters in our Tennessee churches to start new churches.
• Pray for churches, couples, families, and individuals to be willing to serve as a missionary team in a church plant.

There are over 9,000 Tennessee children in need of homes. The Golden Offering provides resources to continue building the Amy Hood Adoption Endowment, which provides funding for adoption expenses for Tennessee Baptist couples who desire to adopt. Tennessee’s 3,200 Baptist churches can make a difference by praying intentionally for each child awaiting adoption, supporting those willing to pursue foster adoption, which is often the most affordable adoption pathway, and by giving through the Golden Offering.

Contact Beth Moore at bmoore@tnbaptist.org for more information.

Praying for Adoption Ministries

• Pray for children awaiting adoption to experience God’s comfort and healing in the midst of the trauma and pain they are experiencing.
• Pray for God to raise up Tennessee Baptists who will open their hearts and homes for children in foster care.
• Pray for God’s abundant provision for families pursuing adoption.
• Pray for churches to wrap around with support and care of families who are fostering and adopting.
• Pray for social workers caring for children in crisis to have strength and wisdom as they navigate difficult circumstances.

TBMB Compassion Ministries helps churches discover ways to meet needs in their communities, build relationships, share the gospel, and connect people to Christ and his church.

Visit TBMB Compassion Ministries for information on feeding and hunger ministries, Christmas Backpacks, restorative justice ministries, recovery and emotional needs ministries, Mobile Dental Clinic, school partnerships, ministering to internationals, and a variety of resources.

Praying for Compassion Ministries

• Pray Tennessee Baptist churches will look for new opportunities to minister to the unchurched in their communities.
• Pray for feeding ministries that are bridging the gap for the many families struggling to put food on their table.
• Pray for pregnancy resource centers serving vulnerable women and children.
• Pray for churches with English language ministries as they engage the nations God is bringing to Tennessee.
• Pray for individuals in our jails and prisons to respond to the gospel message as churches lead Bible studies through restorative justice ministries.
• Pray Tennessee Baptists will be burdened for the underserved and vulnerable in their communities and mobilized to engage them with the hope of the gospel.

As the Ford plant continues to build the largest automobile manufacturing plant in the in America in rural west Tennessee, our partner churches in the 7-county region known as the “BlueOval City” impact zone, are praying and preparing for a great spiritual harvest. Scheduled to begin production in late 2026 and early 2027, this plant and the related new businesses will employ over 10,000 people. The estimated population increase of 90,000 new people coming to the area over the next 10 years. The harvest is plentiful indeed!

The Golden Offering supports the BlueOval City Initiative through several layers of preparation and implementation of our mission. We are working closely with the local associations and existing churches to get healthy and ready for the people that are coming. Churches are sharing the gospel and reaching workers and their families in creative ways. We have seen several new churches planted in the region with a goal of 4 new church plants each year for 10 years.

Praying for the BlueOval City Initiative

• Pray for the Fayette Baptist Association as they begin a “Truckers Chapel” at the Exit 42 Hebron church facility in the coming months to offer a worship and outreach opportunity for the truck drivers that stay overnight in the area.
• Pray for the new church plant meeting in the old Calvary Baptist facility – Brown in Brownsville. Pastor Nick Glenn is the church planter and they recently began meeting for worship each Sunday.
• Pray for The Manor Community Church in Gallaway. Pastor Jay Stephenson is the church planter and the church officially launched this pastor Easter in a former wedding venue.
• Pray for Pastor Brennan Kress and his new church plant in Stanton as they seek for a permanent place to meet for worship.
• Pray for opportunities to minister and share the gospel with construction workers in the area.
• Pray for the existing churches in the region to catch a fresh vision for ministry and outreach in their congregations.
• Pray for the Lord to call laborers into His harvest who will respond as church planters and leaders in the area churches.

Did you know that 15% of GOTM funds given by churches goes back to their Association? These funds help associations and their strategists to reach the spiritually lost in their community nearby and next door. Associations use Golden Offering funds for ministries like pastor training, church planting, compassion ministry, counseling, and evangelism events.

For more information about how GOTM funds are used in your association, contact your Associational Mission Strategist/Director of Missions.

The Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions serves as a vital catalyst for church planting initiatives across the state, with Tennessee Baptist associations strategically supporting new congregations to reach expanding communities and further God’s kingdom throughout the region.

Manor Community Church in Fayette County is an example of this church planting strategy. Pastor Jay Stephenson shared how their congregation was inspired by the development of Ford’s BlueOval City manufacturing facility. This major industrial project has drawn workers from around the world to settle in the area, creating a diverse community where each individual and family seeks connection and belonging.

Recognizing this opportunity, Gregg Hauss, Director of Missions for Fayette Baptist Association, said they made the decision a year ago to direct GOTM funds returned to their association (15% of what their churches gave to the offering) specifically toward supporting new church plants in their region. The investment has already yielded results. Manor Community Church has transformed from a vision into a thriving congregation that actively serves its diverse community. Church leaders are enthusiastic about the potential impact of additional church plants currently being supported through this same strategic funding approach.

Praying for Missions Discipleship Ministries

• Pray for greater unity and harmony among the churches in each association. Ask the Father to “make us one” as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
• Pray for AMS/DOMs as they continue to minister to the churches of their associations. Ask God to give church leaders a greater desire to work together to implement the strategies of the Acts 2:17 Initiative.
• Pray for a harvest of souls among those churches. There are more lost people in Tennessee than ever before, and we must be more intentional in reaching out to those “far from God.”
• Pray for associations that are actively seeking to find God’s direction for the future of their ministry.

Christians are commanded to take the gospel to all peoples. Missions discipleship ministries provide opportunities for adults, students, children, and preschoolers to deepen and strengthen their discipleship and impact. Tennessee WMU seeks to come alongside churches as we fulfill the Great Commission providing relevant and engaging resources for every age level to learn about and pray for missions and providing a variety of opportunities to be involved in missions.

The Golden Offering supports missions discipleship ministries like Christian Job Corps, Missionary Care, WMU student scholarships, children’s missions discipleship events, and more.

Tennessee WMU scholarships, funded through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions and other endowments/funds, are helping to equip the next generation of ministry leaders to share Jesus across Tennessee and around the world. When Tennessee Baptists contribute to the Golden Offering, a portion of the funds supports scholarships for students attending Tennessee colleges or Southern Baptist seminaries who have been involved in and will continue to be involved in missions. Many scholarship recipients have gone on to serve in leadership roles within the church or other ministries. These scholarships affirm students’ ministry callings and reinforce the understanding that younger generations aren’t merely the church of tomorrow. Instead, they are the church of today, already making significant impacts through their service and dedication.

Praying for Missions Discipleship Ministries

• Pray that WMU scholarship recipients will be salt and light on their university campuses and that they will boldly share the Gospel with others.
• Pray for missions discipleship leaders as they encourage and equip preschoolers, children, students, and adults to engage in missions learning and involvement that enables them to fulfill the Great Commission.
• Pray for Christian Job Corps leaders and volunteers as they minister to participants in jails, prisons, and classrooms. Pray that their words will be pleasing to the Lord as they share the hope and truth of the Gospel.

Across Tennessee, 325,000 college students learn on campuses. Their world is different from the local church community. International students, students struggling with sexual identity, students from broad ethnic and racial backgrounds and cultures, and students who have never entered a church or opened a Bible all walk onto our campuses needing to know Christ.

The Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions supports SendTN Collegiate Missions development, Campus Missionaries serving on Tennessee campuses, and ten BCM facilities where students come to Christ, are discipled, and have their lives changed forever.

Praying for Collegiate Campus Ministries

• Pray for God to move in the hearts of churches to increase their efforts reaching young adults.
• Pray for BCM Collegiate Ministry Specialists to have the strength and endurance necessary to serve long days reaching and discipling college students.
• Pray for more Tennessee Baptist students to have courage sharing their faith on campus.
• Pray for Tennessee Baptist parents to generously release their students to follow God’s calling to ministry and missions.