Culture Archives - Baptist & Reflector

PIERSON: EFFECTIVE PRAYER REQUIRES INTIMACY WITH GOD

September 23, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

FLINTVILLE — Perhaps no one knows better than Don Pierson how desperately the United States needs to be intimately connected with God through prayer during this point in the nation’s history.

In a nation filled with fear over COVID-19, increasing racial turmoil and divide and a country divided by politics, God is the only answer, said Don Pierson, pastor of Stewart’s Chapel Baptist Church, Flintville.

Prior to accepting the pastorate at Stewart’s Chapel, Pierson served as a Southern Baptist missionary in Belize, a director of missions for William Carey Baptist Association and for about 12 years as the prayer specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]

CHALLENGES BECOME OPPORTUNITIES

August 21, 2020

Student pastors, leaders finding new ways to “do ministry” amid pandemic

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

FRANKLIN — When the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic first began impacting daily lives, many youth pastors were sent scrambling.

The entire landscape of youth ministry changed almost overnight. Trips and events were postponed or canceled. On-campus gatherings were suspended. Things that were once considered “routine” parts of youth ministry had to be altered or even temporarily eliminated. [Read more…]

STANDING FOR GOD’S TRUTH CAN’T BE AN OPTION

August 5, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

In today’s world, anyone who stands boldly on the Word of God will be ridiculed and criticized.

Yet, it’s really not an option to not stand firmly on God’s Word. As Christians, we really don’t have a choice if we have truly given our lives over to God.

Acts 16:13 (HCSB) reminds us, “Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave and strong.”

James 4:17 (HCSB) says the same thing, but even stronger, “So, for the person who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, it’s a sin.” [Read more…]

LET’S STOP AND THINK ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING

July 9, 2020

By Todd Brady
Vice President for University Ministries, Union University

Some of society’s half-baked thinking has been exposed and mocked recently by conservative pundit, Jesse Kelly.

Last week, Kelly tweeted “Yale University was named for Elihu Yale. Not just a man who had slaves. An actual slave trader. I call on @Yale to change it’s [sic] name immediately and strip the name of Yale from every building, piece of paper, and merchandise. Otherwise, they hate black people. #CancelYale.” A mere six hours after he posted this, his tweet had been retweeted some 17,000 times and liked nearly 40,000 times.

Of course, Kelly’s tweet is sarcastic. It came as calls are being made by some who are wanting certain monuments of people who owned slaves to be removed.

Others jumped on his rhetorical bandwagon by saying that anyone with “Yale” in his biography is a racist and that Yale’s faculty is complicit by their participation in this “historically racist institution.” One person said, “Every person with a degree from Yale should be canceled. They should be forced to resign from public office. Resign from all Boards. Be disbarred. Lose their professional certifications. Lose judgeships.” [Read more…]

SUPREME COURT RULING DISAPPOINTS PRO-LIFERS

July 8, 2020

Baptist Press

WASHINGTON — Pro-life leaders expressed deep disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal 29 to uphold a Louisiana law designed to protect the lives and health of women by requiring hospital admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled the law — which mandated a physician must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a facility where he or she performs an abortion — violated the U.S. Constitution by imposing an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to the procedure. The justices found the Louisiana measure was nearly identical to a Texas admitting privileges law they struck down in 2016. [Read more…]

ELMER HAD A BAD AIM ANYWAY

June 10, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, B&R

For decades, Elmer Fudd terrorized Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny with his rifle.

Daffy and the “wascally wabbit” probably couldn’t care less that Elmer Fudd’s rifle has been taken away. His bullets always missed.

Now, in a new “reboot” of the classic cartoons, Elmer Fudd can be seen wielding a farmer’s scythe. That’s a recipe for nightmares. [Read more…]

WE CANNOT WASTE THIS MOMENT

June 4, 2020

By Ternae Jordan, Charles Grant & Thomas Bester
Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

It’s a familiar story. Black man is taken into custody by a police officer and is murdered. Arrests follow, press conference held, speeches made, people march, people riot, politicians posture, reform is promised.

Nothing changes.

The pages of this tired script are frayed and stained with more African American blood. The sequels never end. But surely – surely – this time is different. This time America watched as George Floyd had his face ground into the asphalt for nearly 10 minutes as an officer’s knee crushed his neck until he asphyxiated.

It was brutal. It was inhumane. Another piece of the Black American soul died with George Floyd. Another piece of America’s soul died in the streets of Minneapolis, snuffed out by the centuries-old racial prejudice that festers like rancid gangrene eating away at our society. We can’t keep doing this to ourselves, but we can’t seem to stop. [Read more…]

SOUTHERN BAPTIST LEADERS ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE FLOYD

June 1, 2020

By Baptist Press staff

Protest against police violence – Justice for George Floyd Fibonacci Blue / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist leaders have published a statement grieving the recent death of George Floyd and calling for the end of “racial inequity in the distribution of justice in our country.”

The statement, co-authored by SBC president J.D. Greear and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary president Jamie Dew, was unanimously signed by all SBC officers, entity heads and state convention executive directors, including Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director Randy C. Davis.

Statement on the death of George Floyd

As a convention of churches committed to the equality and dignity of all people, Southern Baptists grieve the death of George Floyd, who was killed May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minn. [Read more…]

MY ENCOUNTER WITH A BLACK TEENAGER

May 29, 2020

By Chris Turner
cturner@tnbaptist.org

I had an incident with a black teenager this morning at exactly 6:53 am while on my morning walk in my overwhelmingly white suburban neighborhood located in one of the wealthiest counties in the country.

He approached me dressed in a patterned white t-shirt, a pair of shorts I’d never pay the money for and a pair of Nike tennis shoes that, unlike mine, probably have no holes worn in the lining where the heel rubs.

We drew closer, and then it happened. The young man crossed the street. He literally crossed the street to avoid me. He then nervously fumbled for the phone in his pocket, diverting his eyes. The entire scenario was extremely awkward. It was obvious he was uncertain about where this encounter might head next. [Read more…]

Student pastors, leaders finding new ways to “do ministry” amid pandemic

Recent Posts

Tags

Categories