New Senior Pastor Called to Alexandria First Baptist Church

October 25, 2023
By: Bill Conger

Middle Tennessee native Dan Coe is the new Senior Pastor at Alexandria First Baptist Church. While Coe grew up in Lebanon, Tennessee, returning to near his roots was a bit of a culture shock, especially after serving in Israel for the last several years.

“Culturally, it’s more different than I thought it would be, and I’m talking about just coming from Lebanon,” Coe said. “Now granted, you need to remember there is still a major part of me that’s been formed by my time overseas. And so there are going to be some significant cultural differences from overseas to here. But even from Lebanon and other parts of the Mid-State, this is just a different pace of life and ministry than what I have been used to.

“[Alexandria] is such a loving community, and I have received such a warm welcome from the church. People are going the extra mile again and again for my family, to help position us well to flourish here. We don’t take that for granted, so none of the other things are negatives.”

Coe, his wife, Julia, and four children had taken a break from their ministerial work in late 2021. At that time, they were uprooted from the Middle East when Julia, at that time 32 years old with a new baby, received an alarming diagnosis of breast cancer. The Coes returned to Tennessee within a week of the diagnosis, arriving in late-October 2021. In early 2023, well over a year into the breast cancer battle, the family made the decision not to return overseas.

Growing Up In Middle Tennessee
Coe’s youthful years started on a solid path. He grew up in a loving Christian home with two brothers. His dad, who served on staff at a church in Mt. Juliet in the early ’90s, baptized Coe at age 8. But by the time he was 12 years old, he began to rebel.

“I threw myself into the party lifestyle, which ultimately led to addiction,” Coe admits. “At one point all the fun kind of stopped. Then, I was just in bondage to the drugs. But I often tell people it was as much an addiction to a lifestyle as it was to a chemical substance.”

By age 22, he had hit rock bottom. He lost his girlfriend and the good-paying job that supported his addiction.

“I was not even able to enlist in our armed forces, some four million strong. They wouldn’t even allow me to come on board because I had some pending misdemeanor offenses at that time. You talk about being down in the dumps at 22, wondering ‘what in the world has happened in my life, what’s happened to these past 10 years? What have I done?’”

He voluntarily admitted himself into a drug rehabilitation facility in Dickson, TN, and that’s when he began to seek the Lord.

“I had taken with me a Bible that my mom had given me at my 14th birthday that probably just was caked with dust,” Coe recalls. “I remember going to the reading plan at the back of that NIV Student Bible, and it started off with the Gospel of Luke. And I remember reading about Elizabeth being barren, and about the Lord visiting her and granting her a child. And that whole story just gripped me with hope. Now, I didn’t know anything about John the Baptist or his prophetic significance. I didn’t know any of that stuff. But I knew that there was hope. As I kept flipping through that reading plan, I encountered Christ himself, and eventually I arrived at the cross. I began to undergo significant change even in those few weeks of inpatient rehab. Regeneration took place and I was born again. Man, he just gave me such a hunger for His Word, and a desire to minister.”

From Coe’s earliest years in the faith, God supplied opportunities for service and leadership in different ministries. Coe’s work has included ministry in halfway houses and jail ministries; college ministry leadership; church planting among unreached people groups; and work as a Family Ministry Coordinator alongside his wife.

“I just fell in love with doing ministry and fell in love with Jesus. I love to serve Him. I always loved to be involved in the ministry of the Word of God in whatever form it took.”

October 25, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A suspected drug dealer who was arrested in February after a joint investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and Smithville Police Department has been sentenced in criminal court.

36-year-old Gary Christopher Ponder entered a plea on October 13 to a charge of possession of a schedule II drug, Fentanyl with intent to sell and received a six-year sentence all suspended to supervised probation except for one year to serve. He was fined $2,000. Ponder was given credit for 249 days served.

Ponder was one of two people busted during this investigation which netted between the two more than 103 grams of Heroin and Fentanyl along with other narcotics. The case against the other defendant, 62-year-old Tommye Lou Bell remains pending in court. Bell and two others were later indicted for 2nd degree murder and possession of Fentanyl and Cocaine with intent to sell in a separate case from December 2021 in which a drug related death occurred.

In the Ponder case for which he was sentenced on October 13, Sheriff Patrick Ray and Police Chief Mark Collins said that “On Sunday, February 5, 2023 in a joint operation with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the Smithville Police Department, two search warrants were served at two different addresses including the homes of Bell and Ponder”.

The warrants against Ponder alleged that he sold to a confidential source working for the Smithville Police Department 3.3 grams of Heroin on February 2 and 14 grams of Heroin on February 5.

“At Bell’s home we found (marijuana) edibles with too high of a THC amount to be legal in Tennessee. There were 26 baggies of a white powdery and red powdery substance believed to be Heroin and Fentanyl totaling 103.31 grams with a street value of $15,000. We also seized morphine and diazepam pills, $20,000 in cash, a 2021 Honda CRV, and a Glock 43 nine-millimeter handgun and ammo,” said Sheriff Ray and Police Chief Collins.

According to the warrants against Bell, the search of her home turned up 26 baggies of a powdery substance believed to be Heroin/Fentanyl that weighed an estimated 103.31 grams, a variety of marijuana products including 28 bags of a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana that weighed 7.4 ounces: 10 baggies of edibles (marijuana), four jars of marijuana cigarettes, and four tubes containing marijuana joints. Two- 30 milligram morphine pills and 3.5 diazepam pills were also found and collected at the residence along with numerous baggies, scales, and other paraphernalia, a Glock 43 nine-millimeter pistol and ammunition, an estimated $20,000 in cash, and a vehicle.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, 56-year-old Bradley John Baker entered a plea to attempting to deliver a schedule II drug and received a four-year sentence all suspended to TDOC supervised probation. He was fined $2,000 and given jail credit from September 15, 2023 to October 13, 2023.

October 25, 2023
By:

Tony Luna received the Big Wave Award at Lake Homes Realty’s National Agent Summit for his exceptional achievements in real estate.

The Big Wave Award is given to agents with a total transaction volume between $10 million and $25 million with 40 or more transition sides with a total transaction volume of $6 million or greater between Sept. 1, 2022, and August 31, 2023.

It should be noted that total transaction volume is the sum of the property sale price of each transaction side represented, even if the side represented was shared with another agent.

“Tony continues to impress with his hard work and dedication, year after year, and we are proud to present him with this major award,” said Glenn S. Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty. “The Big Wave Award is one of our company’s most prestigious honors,” Phillips said. “Agents like Tony are why Lake Homes Realty is one of the fastest-growing companies in the country.”

About Lake Homes Realty
Lake Homes Realty (LakeHomes.com) is a multi-state real estate company focused on lake homes and land.
The Alabama-based brokerage has been named six consecutive times as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine. Lake Homes Realty is a licensed real estate brokerage in 35 states and is growing rapidly into additional states.

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