Cumberland Plateau Baptist Association
Our Ministries
Local Resources
Other Area Ministries
State Resources/Ministries
Our Ministries
About Us
What is an association?
First, a Baptist association consists of churches who voluntarily choose to work together. For kingdom purposes they collaborate. Cooperatively they freely dream, design and conduct ministry in ways they believe will best advance the cause of Christ in their region.
Second, a Baptist association is a group of churches with an agreed-upon theology. For us it is the Baptist Faith and Message, 2000. On primary doctrines associations agree, on lesser matters they extend grace.
Third, a Baptist association cares for one another. Rooted in shared purpose and doctrine, the churches and pastors love their extended Christian family. And it is through this community of godly relationships that ministry multiplies.
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--taken from Mitch Martin, Executive Director of the Mid-South Baptist Association in
Memphis, TN
What do we do?
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Connecting Locally: There are 25 Southern Baptist churches who are members of our association. We are here to connect them to each other, for support as well as to accomplish goals that may be bigger than just one church. For example, we offer a meeting for the local pastors twice a month. We also have two association-wide worship services each year, a time for all the churches to come together as one body.
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Connecting Statewide: We are here as a liaison between those churches and the Tennessee Baptist Convention, who is the state-level organization of the Southern Baptist Convention. The TBC connects churches and associations across the state.
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Ministering: We also have a few ministries that we oversee ourselves, such as those listed below.
Interested in Volunteering?
Individuals can also volunteer to help with our ministries: Love Packages trips, missions trips, Disaster Relief, the Baby Comfort Station at the fair.
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If you'd like more information about volunteering with us or if you are ready to sign up, click below.
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Disaster Relief and Rebuild Ministries
Associational Mission Construction Trailer
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has been helping people since 1968. Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief began when Tennessee Baptists responded to an explosion of a train tanker car in Waverly, TN, in 1978.
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Since then, the responses have been within Tennessee, throughout the United States, and even around the world. Some have been small, with only one or two people going to provide leadership. Others have required literally thousands of volunteers and continued for many years. Most responses extended far beyond the initial response, especially the “Rebuild” responses.
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Cumberland Plateau Baptist Association supports this mission by recruiting and training local volunteers for Certification in Disaster Relief including instruction in chain saw safety. Recertification classes are also available. Reprinted in part from http://tndisasterrelief.org/. A more complete list of TBC Disaster Relief training is available through this website.
In 2024 remnants of Hurricane Helene hit parts of ​​​east Tennessee. Visit our Helene Page to see how our association helped.
Love Packages
(formerly known as Edwin L. Hodges Ministries)
Since 1994 the mission of Love Packages has been reclaiming God’s resources for His purposes. We have done this by asking people to share their bookshelves that are filled with Bibles and God’s teaching tools. Once we have received those materials, Love Packages sends them around the world, therefore sowing God’s Word into the lives of those who cannot afford it. Love Packages is equipping orphans, evangelists, pastors and missionaries for the works of service all the while setting up distribution centers, lending libraries, Bible college libraries, and holding crusades. When you give financially, donate Bibles; commentaries; and Christian books, you are becoming a book missionary and aligning yourself with the mission to Share, Send, and Sow God’s Word! Love Packages Mission Statement reprinted with permission from https://lovepackages.org/.
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Cumberland Plateau Baptist Association supports Hodges Ministries by serving as a depository for recycled printed Christian materials including Sunday School literature, Bibles, Christian books and tracts donated from area churches. (A more complete list of needed materials can be found on the above website in addition to specific materials than can not be used.) We transport these materials quarterly to Decatur, Alabama, to be repackaged for shipment around the world. If you have a team from your church interested in traveling to Alabama to work in the Hodges distribution center, please contact the Association Office for additional information.
Baby Comfort Station
Our associational WMU (Woman's Missionary Union) started the Baby Comfort Station. They saw that parents of small children often needed a clean place to change diapers at the Cumberland County Fair. Additionally, young mothers could use a comfortable, cool, private place to nurse their babies. An enclosed trailer was fitted with air-conditioning and changing tables. Then it was well stocked with free water, popsicles, books, Bibles and more. They even added a cushioned rocking chair in the back near the coolest air.
