September 16 | Moments Almanac | Stayed
September 16 — Joseph Samuel Murrow: He Stayed On September 16, 1857, twenty-two-year-old Joseph Samuel Murrow was ordained to the ministry. Soon after, he headed west to serve among Native peoples in Indian Territory—and what began as a missionary appointment became a lifetime of service. Murrow helped establish churches, train Native pastors, strengthen schools, care for orphans, and share the gospel across generations. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about his story is also the simpl...
September 16 — Joseph Samuel Murrow: He Stayed
On September 16, 1857, twenty-two-year-old Joseph Samuel Murrow was ordained to the ministry. Soon after, he headed west to serve among Native peoples in Indian Territory—and what began as a missionary appointment became a lifetime of service.
Murrow helped establish churches, train Native pastors, strengthen schools, care for orphans, and share the gospel across generations. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about his story is also the simplest:
He stayed.
In this installment of Moments Almanac, we remember a life marked not only by calling, but by endurance—and the quiet power of faithfulness over time.
Welcome back to the Week of Prayer for Tennessee Missions. Today is Tuesday, and I am Beth Moore.
SPEAKER_03And I'm Matt Tullis, and I have the expert on today's topic with us again. So many of these areas touch what you do. And today we're praying about caring for the vulnerable. When you hear that is the overall general overarching topic there, what does that mean for you?
SPEAKER_02Well, right now for us as Tennessee Baptists, kind of three areas that we're focusing on in that is children who are in foster care, for children in need of adoption, and also our pregnancy resource centers. So caring for the unborn and for moms in a crisis situation.
SPEAKER_03Right, absolutely. And so we've got someone that you've seen before, probably, if you've been around Tennessee Baptist in the past 15 years, Dr. Randy Davis, who's going to share.
SPEAKER_00Right now we have around 9,000 children in Tennessee in need of foster care. And yet in our network we have 3,200 Baptist churches. I don't understand the math, and I'm very convicted about the fact that how can we have 9,000 children in need of a home and over 3,000 Tennessee Baptist churches, to whom much is given, much is required. I believe Tennessee Baptists can and should eradicate this dire situation. You know, I believe Tennessee Baptists can respond to this incredible need right here in our own front yard and backyard by just praying for these 9,000 kids. They all have names, they all have faces. Pray about equipping someone through the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home in your church that would be willing to adopt a foster kid, be able to have them in their home either temporarily or possibly even permanently. The most inexpensive way to adopt is through the foster care system. The other thing is to give, particularly this time of year, give through the golden offering for Tennessee missions. That helps support this endeavor in a multitude of ways. One of the ways is through the Amy Hood Endowment for Adoption. Amy Hood was a wonderful pastor's wife in Smyrna, very much involved in the ministry there at the church that her husband pastored. And it was after her nest was nearly empty at age 40 that she wanted to adopt. The Lord eventually convinced Pat that was a good thing to do, and they adopted three kids. And I just praise the Lord that Amy had this kind of vision. A little while after Amy went home to be with the Lord, we started this endowment fund.
SPEAKER_01This honors Amy because this was her heart. In her death, she can help even more people than she ever helped in her life. The beautiful thing about the Amy Hood Adoption Endowment is that it will bring family kids into families who we know love the Lord. Because they're going to be Tennessee Baptists. So that's what the Amy Hood Adoption Endowment is all about. It's not just adoption, although it is, but it's about God's kingdom. It's about the gospel because adoption is the most beautiful picture of the gospel. And it's about putting kids in homes where they can learn the gospel themselves.
SPEAKER_00We need people to step up and grow their giving like never before because the need is so great. And that's the only reason I make this appeal. Because there are no children in Tennessee in need of a home. They all have a home.
SPEAKER_03And so where are we? Give us an update on Amy Hood as far as are we just right now building up the fund or do we have money that's going out?
SPEAKER_02Well, because of gifts through the Golden Offering for Tennessee missions, we are and have been awarding grants since last year. So we've been able to help some families that are in the process of adoption. And I would also say in this same area of caring for the vulnerable, we have placed our 15th ultrasound machine since 2021 in the state of Tennessee.
SPEAKER_03And those aren't cheap.
SPEAKER_02They are not cheap. And we are seeing the Lord just do incredible things. We're seeing women come into these centers abortion-minded and the heart being picked up, the heartbeat being picked up at like five weeks and three days, which was just unheard of at this center. And again, a mom who came in thinking she was wanting to have an abortion, hearing that heartbeat because of the gifts of Tennessee Baptists and this ultrasound machine, and changing her mind and choosing life. And these um volunteers and the office staff and the um the nurses at these centers getting the chance to share the gospel and get her involved in Bible study and these sorts of things. Wow, that's great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And we know God has a heart for the vulnerable and so should we. That's right. And uh so let's take a look at our prayer points.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna pray for the children in Tennessee's foster care system.
SPEAKER_03And ask God to stir the hearts in your church toward foster care and adoption.
SPEAKER_02Pray for women walking into pregnancy resource centers this week that they would encounter the grace and the truth of Christ.
SPEAKER_03And we also want to pray for families who have already opened their homes, that they would have endurance, joy, and a community that's supporting them and surrounding them with everything that they would need. Our verse today is found in James, James 1 27. Pure and undefiled religion before God, the Father, is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unsained unstained from the world.
SPEAKER_02Beth, would you Father God, um, we know that your heart is for the vulnerable, for those who do not have anyone else pleading their cause, Lord. And so I pray that you would help us as Tennessee Baptists to be aware of the needs of vulnerable children and families in crisis, whether they are in the foster care system or walking into pregnancy resource centers, or the families in our churches that are pursuing foster care and adoption, God. I pray that you would help us as Tennessee Baptists to know how to walk alongside them, how to know to speak up and have a voice for the voiceless. And as we do all of these things, Lord, to be people who proclaim the hope and the message of the gospel so that families can be restored, so that children can can be in homes with loving mothers and fathers who love Jesus above all. And God, we just pray that you will burden the hearts of Tennessee Baptists so that we can see the number of children in foster care and the number of mothers in a crisis pregnancy continue to reduce. God, we just ask that you would work in a mighty way in our communities. In Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Thank you, Beth. And thank you for joining us for our week of prayer. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we've got more opportunities to pray and to learn about Tennesseans giving, going, and serving in so many different ways. So I hope you'll join us.
