News
April 7, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
If you ever ask Chad Ramsey, a native of Powell, Tennessee how he found Smithville to pastor a church he will be quick to answer, “God brought us here”!
Since December, 2017 Ramsey has been the lead minister at the Smithville First Baptist Church. He and his wife Kathy have been involved in ministry for over 15 years. Before coming to Smithville Chad served as Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, and Student Pastor at churches in Texas and Kentucky in addition to Tennessee.
It’s been a good fit for both Ramsey and the church.
IMG_5347 from dwayne page on Vimeo.
Chad is the focus of this week’s WJLE Preacher Feature.
“I felt God calling us to come here,” Ramsey said. “My wife, Kathy, and I wanted to be a part of a multi-generational church that is focused on loving God and loving others.”
“We were looking for a new church to do more mission work because I felt God was calling us in that area. We were talking to a couple of churches in the Georgia area when Smithville FBC called us. We kept praying and felt like this was a better fit. One thing led to another and every time we felt like we had an obstacle to work out God fixed it before it came to fruition so God was really in it. We always say God definitely brought us here and we’re so excited about it too,” he said.
Ramsey and his wife grew up in Powell, a suburb of Knoxville. He’s a graduate of Carson-Newman College with a double major in Religion and Mathematics. After he received his diploma, the couple were married and moved to Waco, Texas, where Chad attended seminary at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. He currently is working on his doctor of ministry degree through the New Orleans Theological Baptist Seminary.
Chad & Kathy are the parents of two children, 11 year old Cameron, a 5th grader at Northside Elementary, and 7 year old Abby, a 1st grade student at Smithville Elementary. Kathy is a 4th grade teacher at Northside.
Ramsey said his spiritual conversion and calling came during a low point in his life when he was a freshman in high school.
“I was struggling as a believer. My father had passed away from cancer that year and through all of that I was struggling with life in general. I wasn’t really happy with God and everything that happened. I remember going to camp that summer with my church. I was very involved with my church and they were sort of my support group. I just remember God telling me to go down and pray. They had an altar call that night but instead of going over and talking to the pastor I just went over to pray. I remember getting down on my knees and closing my eyes. As soon as I closed my eyes, the brightest light I ever imagined came on and as clear as day God said I want you to work for me,” he said.
During his time as lead pastor, Ramsey has watched the Smithville FBC grow in its outreach and mission work in serving the community and beyond.
“We do a little bit of everything. Our purpose statement is Love God and Love Others. We try to keep it simple. We have done several community projects. Once a quarter we do a community day. In fact we just had one where we gave away free clothing and had health screenings. We have passed out food for the holidays and participated in the First Day of School Education Celebration distributing free school supplies”.
“Our mission work is also done abroad as well as locally. We have gone to Puerto Rico and we have a team lined up and ready to go to Uganda in the fall. We also have teams doing local projects. We do mission projects for all ages. Last year we went to Minnesota to help a church there and I was able to take my son and he participated in doing mission work just like we did. We also have senior adult mission trips,” Ramsey continued.
“We intentionally strive to be multi-generational. We want to make sure our church is a place for everybody. We believe in mentoring. We believe that we learn from the people who have come before us but we don’t want to neglect the people who are coming behind us either so we make sure there is a place for everybody. We try to be loving and caring,” he added.
Pastor Ramsey invites you to visit the Smithville First Baptist Church especially if you are looking for a church home.
Sunday Services: Small Groups 9 am, Worship 10 am, & Bible Study 6:30pm
Wednesday Services: Awana 6 pm, Genesis Students 6:30pm, & Bible Study 6:30pm
The church will have an Easter Sunrise service April 21 at 6 a.m. at Evins Park downtown Smithville followed by the first church service of the day at 8 am, small groups at 9 am and the second service at 10 am
“We look forward to introducing you to my Jesus. He will change your life.”
To learn more about the church visit www.smithvillefbc.org or follow facebook, twitter, or instagram.
DeKalb Jobless Rate Dropped to 4% in February
April 7, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for the month of February was 4%, down from 4.8% in January and 4.8% in February, 2018.
The local labor force for February was 7,760. A total of 7,450 were employed and 310 were unemployed.
Jobless rates for February among the fourteen counties in the Upper Cumberland region were as follows from highest to lowest:
Clay: 5.4%
Pickett: 5.3%
Jackson: 4.9%
Cumberland: 4.7%
Van Buren: 4.7%
DeKalb: 4%
Overton: 4%
Fentress: 4%
Warren: 3.8%
White: 3.5%
Putnam: 3.3%
Smith: 2.9%
Cumberland: 2.7%
Macon: 2.7%
Eighty of Tennessee’s 95 counties have an unemployment rate less than 5 percent, a marked improvement from January’s jobless numbers.
“It is encouraging when unemployment rates drop in every county across the state,” said TDLWD Commissioner Jeff McCord.
Williamson County leads the state with the lowest unemployment in February. The county’s 2.2 percent rate is 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the previous month.
Both Davidson and Rutherford counties have the second lowest unemployment rates at 2.3 percent. That marks a 0.3 of a percentage point drop for Davidson County, while Rutherford County is down 0.4 percent of a percentage point when compared to January.
With a rate of 5.9 percent, Lake County has the state’s highest rate of unemployment for February. The latest statistic represents a decrease of 3.4 percentage points from the previous month’s rate.
Hancock County recorded the second highest unemployment rate at 5.8 percent, which is a 1.5 percentage point drop from its January rate.
“It is heartening to see unemployment rates in some of Tennessee’s rural counties rebound from last month,” McCord said. “We will continue to align our efforts with the state’s rural counties to support economic growth.”
Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate reached an all-time low of 3.2 percent in February. That figure bested the previous record low of 3.3 percent, which was the state’s unemployment rate between October and January.
Nationally, unemployment dropped to 3.8 percent, a 0.2 of a percentage point decrease from January’s revised rate of 4 percent.
Jordan Wilkins Re-elected Chairman of DeKalb Democratic Party
April 6, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Jordan Wilkins was re-elected to a new term as Chairman of the DeKalb County Democratic Party Saturday during the Biennial Reorganization Convention held at Northside Elementary School.
Other incumbent party officers re-elected were Vice Chairman Harry Lasser and Treasurer Myra Miller. Carolyn Hawkins was elected Secretary. All were unopposed.
The terms are for two years.
In his address to the gathering, Wilkins cited several achievements during his tenure as chairman including bringing more diversity to the party
“When I became chair, one of my big priorities was making sure we had diversity in the Democratic party with our candidates, executive committee, and in the things we do. Since becoming chair we now have more women and more diversity in the party as far as our elected officials locally and our appointed officials and with the executive committee. I believe diversity is our strength and I am proud of that accomplishment,” said Wilkins.
He also outlined his vision for the party as chairman over the next two years.
“Going forward some of the things I would like to build on is I want to get our local party set up on something called ActBlue. That is basically an online donation system for Democratic candidates and parties. We can get set up online to where if you wanted to give a monthly donation to the DeKalb County Democratic Party you could in any amount. Fundraising is so important to us here because the more funds we have the more outreach, public events, signs, and ads we can do for our candidates,” he said.
“I would also like to appoint special committees to help the executive committee in the work that we do. Some of those committees include events and outreach, a voter registration committee, a young Democrats organization, canvassing committee, and naming precinct captains,” added Wilkins.
In her remarks as guest speaker, Circuit Court Judge Amy Hollars stressed a need for restoring truth in politics and society.
“Truth is important and indeed the foundational principle of our judicial system. It’s not only important there but in our larger society now when we are in what they call a “post factual” world. It is more important than ever that we commit ourselves to the principle of truth.”
“Throughout our judicial system and process at every level we are required to put truth first because only when we can determine the facts can we then apply the law to those facts,” she said.
“You may remember the grand old Senator the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York who said you are entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts. I first noticed the national lurch toward fantasy in 2004 after President George W. Bush’s political mastermind Karl Rove came up with the remarkable phrase “reality based community”. Rove told a reporter that people in a reality based community believe that solutions emerge from a judicious study of discernible reality. He said that’s not the way the world works anymore. He was stone cold cynical but he was seeing the future. He was a rational person who understood that a large fraction of citizens don’t bother to vote with the rational part of their being. A lot of voters resent what Rove called the judicious study of discernible reality keeping those people angry and frightened and it won them elections,” said Judge Hollars.
“In January, 2017 we heard something similar from Kellyanne Conway and her phrase “alternative facts” was remarkable too when she was trying to talk about the President’s and Sean Spicer’s view of the crowd size at the inauguration”.
“Before the Internet crackpots were mostly isolated and they found it harder to spread their alternative facts. Now all fantasies can be made to look real. Today each of us is freer than ever to custom make our reality to believe whatever we want and pretend to be whatever we wish. Actual and fictional begin to blur. Truth in general becomes flexible, personal, and subjective. I can tell you as a judge if this happens we might as well all hang up our robes because we can’t solve problems and resolve disputes,” she continued.
“What is to be done? There is no silver bullet or sure solution to this problem. If we are splitting into two different cultures, we here in the reality based America must try to keep our zone as large and robust and attractive to other people as we can. We must unashamedly declare ourselves to be committed to the truth, to consistency, to respect for learning, for real evidence, for experts and expertise. We must firmly commit to Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s premise saying you cannot have your own facts,” said Judge Hollars.
“This will require a struggle in order to make our politics reality based again. Fight the good fight in your private life. Do not give acquaintances or family members a free pass when they spout hogwash. If you have children and grandchildren teach them to distinguish between truth and untruth as fiercely as you do between right and wrong. We need to adopt a new attitude toward information that I call media hygiene. You would not feed your kids a half eaten casserole that someone handed you on the street. You would not give them medicine that someone gave you at the gas station. We must be just as discriminating about the quality of the information that we consume and pass on to others,” she continued.
“We must fight the good fight in the public sphere. We have to join our voices, our political will, and our votes to combat this insidious “truthiness” (being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true) that presently holds sway in our country and in our state. I remind you again what I instruct jurors. Listen carefully to what someone is saying. Observe their demeanor. How they look and act when they are telling their story. Is it inconsistent with the real evidence? Do they have some selfish interest to make their statements? As responsible citizens we have to retune ourselves to discerning the truth because only then can we solve problems, resolve disputes, and perhaps as members of the reality community reclaim this state and this nation. Maybe in this next election cycle we can get some blue billed hats that say “truth matters again”, concluded Judge Hollars.
In other business, the following members of the DeKalb County Democratic Executive Committee were named to two year terms.
At Large- Joyce Hendrixson
At Large- Darren Dilligard
At Large- Pat Parkerson
At Large- Vacant
Hispanic Liaison- Yessica Leon
Hispanic Liaison- Juan Rodriguez
1st District-
Johnny Florida & Yvette Carver
2nd District-
Ed Organ & Nora Harvey
3rd District-
Terry Little & Katie Parker
4th District-
Billie Ann Tubbs & David Reed
5th District-
Dennis Boland & Shara Cowan
6th District-
Gary Prater & Dianne Hawkins
7th District-
Vacant & Amanda Blair
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