By Chris Kelly
Exec. VP/General Counsel, Tennessee Baptist Foundation

Chris Kelly

’Tis the season — the season for celebrating our Savior, gathering with friends and family, looking for that perfect gift, and taking last-minute advantage of the charitable giving opportunities to Baptist causes within this calendar year. While I’ll admit that it is surprising that no one has ever written a Christmas song about charitable giving, it is important to consider whether you may lose some significant giving opportunities if you haven’t taken action by New Year’s Eve. These are just a few ideas to consider implementing before the big ball drops:  [Read more…]

By Billy Hoffman
Stewardship Development Specialist, TBC

Billy Hoffman

Is God leading you and your church to share Christ where He is not known?  I ask it this way because spreading the gospel is both an individual as well as a Christian community activity. This is the third in a series of articles to assist you to discover a biblically-based process for doing that. We continue reviewing Acts 13 to discover the pattern of the call and empowerment of the first missions team from the church at Antioch. From this we see there are three things in play which led to moving the gospel into new territory — spiritual resources, human resources, and tangible resources. Until God changes the nature of the universe those three basic elements are always involved in gospel advance. The order of employing the three is also important. It’s somewhat like constructing a building — it’s important to pour the concrete after all of the underground plumbing and electrical has been installed. If you reverse the order, you’ll have problems. [Read more…]

By Erich Bridges
Freelance Writer, Richmond, Va.

My heart aches for the six young lives lost in the crash of school bus No. 366 in Chattanooga.

I think about their families, now facing Christmas without beloved children. I think about the kids on the bus who survived. Some of them suffered critical injuries; all of them experienced the horror of seeing friends die.

And I think about the tens of thousands of school bus drivers across the United States. Their noble — and challenging — calling has been overshadowed by the actions of 24-year-old driver Johnthony Walker. [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

One moment it was a blustery late November evening secluded in the Smoky Mountains; the next a fiery hell. And it all changed in the time it takes to draw a breath.

Somewhere along the way I became a disaster chaser. That was never my intention; it just worked out that way. My background is rooted in journalism and at one point I was an overseas correspondent for the International Mission Board. I’ve chased hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. I’ve never seen the ravages of fire until last week in Sevier County.  [Read more…]

By Johnnie Godwin
Contributing Columnist, Baptist and Reflector

When we were raising our three boys, one of them was particularly prone to say early in the morning, “It’s going to be a bad day!” Usually, some piddling thing had happened that brought forth that comment. Inevitably, I replied with authority, “Happy up! It’s going to be the kind of day you make it!” That rule was proverbial then and now. Exceptions do occur, but the proverb holds. [Read more…]