The small building that sits across the parking lot from the Big Emory Baptist Association in Harriman, Tennessee, office was once filled with broken equipment.
Now, the facility will be a place for broken people.
Fueled by the combined efforts of BEBA and First Baptist Church, Lenoir City — along with several other churches from the association — the building has undergone a complete transformation.
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It is now the home of the Big Emory Baptist Association Biblical Counseling Center, a place where individuals and families can receive Christ-centered guidance for life issues.
The association hosted the official building dedication service — and an “open house” walk-though — on March 22.
‘Kingdom collaboration’
Jeff Bowden, executive pastor of FBC Lenoir City, said the project was an example of teamwork at the highest level.
“This is a great picture of what I call ‘Kingdom collaboration,’” Bowden said. “Henry Blackaby (the founder of the ‘Experiencing God’ Bible study) liked to say that we should ‘look for places where God is working — and then join in.’ And that is exactly what has happened here.”
Matt Cannon, director of missions for Big Emory, was the visionary behind the project. For several years, he had dreamed of having a biblical counseling center in the Harriman area — and now, his aspirations have been realized.
‘Old things new again’
Cannon said seeing the building undergo a complete overhaul is an example of how God can make old things new again.
“This building had basically become a ‘catch-all’ and was just filled with junk,” he said. “But wow, just look at it now.”
Cannon’s wife, Kristy, did the interior design of the building, which now includes a reception area, two counseling rooms (one with a masculine feel; the other more feminine) and a larger room for group meetings.
The project required roughly 18 months of work — and great synergy from all involved — to complete. God’s timing was evident throughout the process, beginning with the formation of the partnership between BEBA and FBC.
“About a year and half ago, we felt the Lord was leading (FBC) to join this association,” Bowden said. “During the interview process, we found out about Matt’s desire to have a biblical counseling center. We also learned that they already had a building that could be used for that purpose, they just didn’t have the funds to renovate it.”
At that point, FBC stepped in — and stepped up — by providing $50,000 for the project. The money came from a surplus in church giving at FBC.
“As it turns out, we’d been having biblical counseling training at our church for about five years,” Bowden said. “So, when we started looking at ways we could partner with (BEBA), this seemed like something we could immediately come together on.”
Corey Jones, a bivocational pastor in the area, played a pivotal role in the process. Jones served as the contractor on the project, mapping out plans for the renovation and providing a quote for what it would cost. Once approved, Jones served as the point man for the renovation.
“They gutted it down to the studs,” Bowden said, “and began building it back from the ground up, really.”
Jones said he felt blessed to be apart of the project.
“I could see, right from the start, that Matt really had a heart for this, and so did I,” said Jones, pastor of Middle Creek Baptist in Oliver Springs. He added that watching the project come together was “a great reminder of how God works in the details.”
Once renovations were completed last fall, Randall Davenport, the biblical counseling pastor at FBC, began leading a series of training sessions for potential biblical counselors. Roughly 20 people attended the series of sessions, which covered 30 hours of training. Many of those individuals, along with those who have been through the training at FBC (also led by Davenport), who complete their certification could serve as counselors at the new facility, working in a rotation.
Starting soon, counseling will be available one day a week, but “office hours” will hopefully increase in the near future, Cannon said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by David Dawson and originally published by the Baptist and Reflector.
