By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

On May 22, voters in the country of Ireland made a decision that will forever impact their nation.

Ireland became the first country to hold a public vote amending its constitution to allow gay marriage (see story “Ireland Votes to Allow Gay Marriage”).

With 62.1 percent of the vote, Ireland became the 20th country in the world to approve gay marriage. According to official results announced May 23, votes in favor of the change totaled 1,201,607, while 734,300 voted against it.

The vote didn’t go the way I would have preferred but at least the voters had a say.

The United States of America is on the verge of becoming the 21st country to approve gay marriage. But instead of an entire country having a say in how marriage will be defined, it comes down to the votes of nine Supreme Court justices. Some will say it’s a matter of time. After all, 37 states already have approved gay marriages.

Each state should have the right to decide. Tennesseans already have made that decision but it could be overturned by one single vote of the nine-member Supreme Court. [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

Okay, be sure to pay attention here. This first part could be a little confusing.

“Z” is not “Y,” and both “Z” and “Y” are certainly not “X.” No, this isn’t algebra; it is the generational alphabet soup. As a member of the Boomer Generation, I’m just glad I wasn’t assigned to a letter. I think I’d be confused bobbing around with all the other letters.

I’m not the only confused Boomer, however. A lot of us are. We look at our tech-savvy kids and grandkids in Generation Y (Millennials) and Generation Z (Homelanders) and we don’t really see any difference. Both groups know more about how to set up my iPhone than I do. However, there are big differences and we need to strategically get a handle on how to reach each with the gospel, especially Gen Z.

You may think, “Wait a minute. You’re rushing off and forgetting about the Millennials.” I’m not. Yes! Minister to and evangelize Millennials. However, the truth is the church has reacted much too slowly to Millennials and that demographic’s youngest members are about to leave home for work and college.

Let’s not continue making the same mistake with Generation Z (and at the end of this column I’m going to offer an idea that has proven effective). We can’t afford to let anymore years pass as the oldest children in this group are now about 13 or 14 years old.

Did you know that the size of Generation Z, mostly born after 9/11, already exceeds the Millennial generation? Gen Z is currently 25.9 percent of the U.S. population, which is nearly two percent more than Millennials and 10 percent more than Gen Xers. Believe it or not, Gen Z is already bigger than Baby Boomers by more than 2.5 percent. [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

I have a friend, I’ll call him, “Pamin” (pah-MEEN). He’s Egyptian, a Coptic Christian, lives in the United States and fears for his life. ISIS, he says, is rooted in the United States and he believes would torture and kill him — and other Coptic believers — given the opportunity.

As hard as it is for me to relate to his journey, it isn’t hard for me to believe his fear. After all, he’s felt in his soul the brutal decapitation of dozens of his countrymen at the hands of ruthless terrorists. They were Christian brothers — our Christian brothers. I confess, it bothers me that I don’t feel the pain more deeply in my own soul for these faithful servants of Christ who were heard crying out to Jesus with their last breath before their blood washed from the sandy beaches of Northern Egypt and turned the Mediterranean Sea red.

Christians cry in outrage over our government not doing more to condemn the global killing of Christians across Africa, the Middle East, India, and other geographic locations. But let’s be honest, how many of us Christians are earnestly crying out to God on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters? We’re quick to criticize secular people, yet too often withhold the thing within our power that can make a real difference in the lives of the persecuted: our prayers. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

As one might expect, an editor’s desk (or e-mail box) can be filled quickly in the course of a week.

Regardless of whether we get it the old fashioned way (via mail) or electronically, editors are inundated with requests from people who want us to share their messages.

Normally, I very seldom use items that do not have a direct tie with one of our Tennessee Baptist or Southern Baptist entities. I make no apologies for that. The B&R is the newsjournal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Tennessee news gets priority treatment.

But on occasion, something will catch my eye that Tennessee Baptists need to be aware of. [Read more…]

By Bob Brown
TBC Church Revitalization Team Leader

Church revitalization is a stewardship issue over the congregations God has entrusted to every pastor and church member who are affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Several years ago, a man I barely knew walked into my office with a shoe box under his arm. He said that God had told him to give me something. After he handed me the box, I pulled up the lid to find $75,000 in small bills all neatly packaged and bound up. The man stated that God had told him to give this money to me. I followed with something like “What do you want me to do with it?” His response made an already baffling incident even stranger. He said, “That’s an issue for you to deal with now.”

God has entrusted something to us of far greater value than all the currency in the world, the stewardship of his church. Before he left Ephesus, the Apostle Paul called for the elders and told them, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood” Acts 20:28 (HCSB). And that is why church revitalization is fundamentally, a stewardship issue. [Read more…]

By Royce DeGrie
TBC Senior Graphic Designer

I have found in daily life, that people don’t like to talk about health issues because they are embarrassed or don’t want to seem “weak” so they just don’t talk about it. Your health is a deeply personal issue, especially for men. Men don’t want to come across as weak, so they “suck it up” and press on through the suffering. Many won’t go to a doctor because they are embarrassed or want to be seen as “strong.” Well, that’s just stupid and is why I am writing this very lengthy, deeply personal, and somewhat embarrassing column. This is my story of suffering for many years before finding the cause of all my health issues and I hope it helps someone else who is suffering in silence or the lonely solitude of chronic illness.

Some of my earliest memories in life are of really bad, recurring ear infections that started when I was a baby and lasted until early teen years. I had tubes put in my ears when I was about 2 years old and continued to have so many bad ear infections that my ear drums ruptured repeatedly, leaving scar tissue and resulting in poor hearing. [Read more…]

By Johnnie Godwin
Contributing Columnist, B&R

“We can do it!” greeted me from every mobile that hung from the ceiling of a fast-food chain. It was their motto, and I loved it. So I located the manager and told him I wanted to buy one of those mobiles. His reply? “We can’t do that!” I told him his store’s motto said they could. But policy and procedure wouldn’t let him do that.

Recently I located a double-file drawer on casters for sale in an office store chain. It fit my needs and measurements exactly and was listed for $79.99. I told manager John I wanted that filing cabinet and had the money and my truck right then. John said, “I can’t do that!” He told me he couldn’t sell me the store’s floor display, and the cabinet was available only online. So later I went online to order the freight-free item. Online it cost $89.99 with freight-free included. I did an online chat with a rep of that chain store. The store chatter told me the sales team sets the price, which often varies online from the price listed in the store. You surely get the “Catch-22” I faced. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

As many of our readers know, the Baptist and Reflector is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year.

One of our features has been “Glimpses of the Past.” We find articles and editorials from past issues and reprint them.

It has been fascinating as I have gone through those issues. And it has been amazing to find that many of the issues that we think are unique to our generation today have been around for decades, whether it be worship and music style or evangelism. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

In the April 8 issue of the Baptist and Reflector, we reported that the legal fate of marriage in the United States will be debated April 28 before the Supreme Court.

With that date just six days away, it is imperative that Tennessee Baptists and Christians fall on our knees to pray for those nine justices of the Supreme Court who will make a landmark decision.

The article noted that the decision likely will be made by the justices before they adjourn this summer. [Read more…]