By Mike Glenn
Pastor, Brentwood Baptist, Brentwood

I was trained to write thank you notes. Whenever someone gave me a gift or showed me an act of kindness, my mother would sit me down and watch as I wrote my thank you note.

The penmanship had to be up to standard; the wording precise and sincere. Now, if someone gives me a gift, I can’t enjoy it until I write a thank you note. [Read more…]

By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector

BRENTWOOD — Though Christians hold strict views of behavior in light of sin, they should be sensitive to the many people who are depressed and realize that “depression is real,” according to Art Webb, counselor at Watauga Baptist Association.

The mental illness of depression is not only real, but it and other mental illnesses are exacerbated by the demands of the holidays, agreed Webb and two other counselors at Tennessee Baptist association offices. [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

I don’t believe there is a more emotionally exhausting time throughout the year than the Christmas holidays. First, there’s all the cheer. What’s not to love about this time of year? The music, the decorations, the family time, the seasonal treats that are (unfortunately) everywhere. It is like festive overload.

But then there is sadness and grief, and the emotional exhaustion that comes from this also being the most stressful time of the year for so many people. For instance, December started off as a rough one. I received news of the tragic death of a young mom from East Tennessee, and then sudden death of a children’s minister from West Tennessee. Two separate tragedies, yet one great emotion: overwhelming and deep sadness. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

“Love you.”

Slightly more than a month ago our daughter Joanna posted a video of our almost 2-year-old grandson Eli, who is starting to put words and sentences together. When he said those two words, “Love you,” my heart melted.

By all accounts (or at least those of the doctors and nurses), I never should have heard Eli talk. He was born with numerous health issues and spent weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit of a Greenville, S.C., hospital. He was not supposed to live. [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

On Sept. 15, 1887, a diminutive woman named Lottie Moon sat down at a table in China and penned a letter that would transform the Southern Baptist Convention forever. Lottie called for prayer and financial resources to ensure the gospel would be effectively preached. She linked both to the example found in Christmas. She wrote:

“Need it be said, why the week before Christmas is chosen? Is not the festive season when families and friends exchange gifts in memory of The Gift laid on the altar of the world for the redemption of the human race, the most appropriate time to consecrate a portion from abounding riches and scant poverty to send forth the good tidings of great joy into all the earth?” [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Like many Americans I watched news reports on the verdict handed down on Nov. 24 by the grand jury involving the white Ferguson, Mo., police officer who killed an 18-year-old African-American in August.

When the grand jury announced they would not indict the police officer, I knew there would be trouble.

Sadly, it came to pass and violence erupted.

Regardless of the verdict, there were no “winners.” Everyone is a loser when sin is involved. And, don’t be fooled or misguided. Racial prejudice is a sin.

Fred Luter, an African-American pastor and past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, summed it up well in a Nov. 25 Baptist Press news report. [Read more…]

By Johnnie Godwin
Contributing Columnist, B&R

Christmas is coming! But it first came long ago when the divine Christ also became a human being. I prefer to think of “Christmas” as the whole Christ Event: the birth, life, atoning death, resurrection, and promised return of Jesus Christ to earth. Christ is eternal. Jesus entered history at a point in time to pay for the sin of the world for all time. I’ve given my life committed to this truth.

Before the first Christmas. Before that first Christmas, anyone who got saved also got saved the same way everyone has to get saved today: namely, by grace through faith. Christmas gave us Jesus in time, but God had already graced the world before the atoning Christ Event — before Jesus died for the world on the cross. Crossing all time considerations, God sent Jesus to pay for the world’s sin for all time in Jesus’ atoning death (John 3; Philippians 2:5-11; Titus 2:11). [Read more…]

By Larry Robertson
Sr. Pastor, Hilldale Baptist Church, Clarksville

Three frogs were sitting on a log. One decided to jump off, so how many are left? Three, because deciding to jump is not the same as actually jumping.

That old joke is a reminder to us that good intentions mean little until they become action. Incidentally, Evangelist Sam P. Jones (a southern contemporary to Dwight L. Moody) is credited with coining the phrase, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Tennessee Baptists transacted a number of important decisions regarding our mission and our future at last week’s Summit in Brentwood. The Five Objectives recommended by the Vision 2021 Transition team and approved by the assembly are hugely significant in establishing a clear and compelling vision for the next 10 years. Our goal is simple — to reduce the level of spiritual lostness in Tennessee. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Another Summit has come and gone.

Tennessee Baptists gathered at Brentwood Baptist Church last week to hear some outstanding preaching, conduct convention business, and to fellowship and rejoice over what God has been doing in and through the Tennessee Baptist Convention this past year.

Sadly, after a great attendance last year in Chattanooga, our registered messengers dipped below 1,000 this year, one of the lowest attended conventions in recent years.

For those who registered online but did not make it, you missed a good convention. For those who simply did not come, you missed a good convention as well. [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

It was near the end of their lives when John Adams and Thomas Jefferson exchanged reflections on the monumental events in which they’d been involved. The two giants were at the epicenter of birthing a new nation then guiding it through the tenuous early days between survival and extinction.

“My friend,” Adams wrote, “You and I have lived in serious times.”

My friends, as I reflect on the events of our 140th annual gathering of Tennessee Baptist churches, it is obvious to me that you and I live in serious times.” [Read more…]