TBC Report
Carson-Newman University
To our Tennessee Baptist Co-laborers,
This year, Carson-Newman is celebrating 165 years since opening our doors on the banks of
Mossy Creek in 1851. While buildings, faculty, curriculum and the name have changed greatly
from humble beginnings, our Christian mission still focuses on helping our students reach their
full potential as educated citizens and worldwide servant-leaders.
Highlights of 2015-16 include:
Our enrollment continues to break records, charting an all-time high of 2,528 students,
a 28 percent enrollment increase from just five years ago. The number of graduate
students, 808 students across six different programs, is the school’s largest as well.
Carson-Newman students on spring break ministered on two international teams and
across the south. The Costa Rican team introduced three people to Jesus and connected
them with a local church. The Dominican Republic nursing team provided medical
assistance devotionals and prayer with patients. Other teams volunteered with
Operation Christmas Child, Chattanooga’s Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home, and
served with Lifeway’s BeachReach, through which 65 college students were led to
Christ.
Carson-Newman Family Nurse Practitioner graduate students provide approximately
120 medical appointments each spring to patients of Jefferson Rural Clinic.
Administrators report that more than $90,000 in free services by students over 10 years
of partnership.
Known as American football’s most successful active gridiron leader with career 334
victories, Head Football Coach Ken Sparks has found new avenues of outreach through
his cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment protocol. One example that drew local
media attention came in getting to know “prayer warrior” and fellow chemo patient,
Kathleen Graham. Sparks and his Eagles squad dedicated a 2015 game in her honor,
something that lifted spirits of “Miss Kathleen,” team members and those who followed
the story. “We’re just going one treatment to the next and letting the Lord handle the
rest,” Sparks told a reporter.
Appalachian Outreach, part of Student Affairs, has a new 20,000 square-foot home,
thanks to the success of Second Source thrift store. The facility, which leaders call
“a gift from God,” means the multifaceted ministry can serve more clients more
effectively. A secondary benefit is the expansion of greater volunteer opportunities
for churches and TBC partners looking for service outlets.
Some 60 Carson-Newman volunteers spent part of their summers serving the Lord in 11
states and several countries, including Haiti, Italy, Costa Rica and South Africa.
The Lynn and Lyndsey Denton Gallery, which opened in October, offers a permanent
home for the University’s Heritage Edition of The Saint John's Bible, as well as the
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