By Paul Chitwood
President, International Mission Board

Jesus prioritizes children and their care. We see this in verses like Matthew 19:14, where Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven,” and Matthew 18:6, where Jesus says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” His compassion towards the woman caught in adultery and the woman at the well, and His care for His own mother as He went to the cross, among many other passages, reveal the value He places upon women. 

When we think of protecting from abuse those who are vulnerable, I think first about the 2,850 kids of our International Mission Board missionaries. I also think about the single women who outnumber single men serving through the IMB by two-to-one. But we recognize single men can likewise be victims, as can anyone regardless of whether or not they are married. From the words of our Lord, and biblical ethics and biblical teaching in general, it is clear that Christ followers should seek to do no harm to others, and we should be willing to step in and protect others from harm when we are able to do so. 

If you have followed the news from our Southern Baptist Convention about the Sexual Abuse Task Force report, you know that some of the leaders in our convention have failed in this regard. I’m deeply disappointed by that but, frankly, I’m not completely shocked.  [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of communications, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

It was chilly and so quiet that the only sound present when I took my early morning walk was my labored breathing. 

The nearly 6,000-foot elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Yosemite National Park quickly reminded me I’m a sea-level kind of guy. The immensity of everything surrounding me — mountains, trees, open spaces — command attention and inspire reflection. 

But for me, there is something about the mountains, and the cold air — and the lack of oxygen — that clears the mental clutter and awakens the mind. The silence and solitude offered spiritual space to process what I’d experienced the previous few days. Four specific observations made an impression on me. 

(1) Man is very, very small. Standing in Yosemite Valley and gazing upward to the summits of El Capitan, Half Dome and Cathedral Rock, and the point at which water first charges over Upper Yosemite Falls — appearing as if roaring from the sky — is like gazing upward in the grandest of reformation-era European cathedrals. All are reminders that God is limitless, magnificent, beautiful, awful, without equal; and that man is not the center of the universe. Far from it. We are at best bit actors in a cosmic production, and we must move to the periphery and yield center stage to God and His rightful place as the show’s headliner.  [Read more…]

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

Bootsie Coggins died on Mother’s Day.

Very few people in Tennessee know who Edward “Bootsie” Coggins is. But in heaven and northern Greenville County in South Carolina, Bootsie Coggins is a spiritual giant, even though he was about five feet, four inches tall and 130 pounds or so soaking wet.

Other than my mother, grandparents and my Aunt Lynn and Uncle Bill, no one played a more major role in my “raising” and spiritual development than Bootsie and his wife, Shirley. To mention one without the other is  impossible. 

Married for more than 63 years, they went together like cobbler and ice cream. I was blessed to be an “honorary” member of their family which included their children, Randy and Lavonda.

Bootsie had a tough home life growing up. His dad was a bootlegger, thus his nickname. He would be the first to admit he was not a good person in his teenage years and early adulthood.

Even after he married Shirley, a strong Christian woman, he ran from religion. He told stories of hiding in the bedroom when the preacher would come to visit. [Read more…]

By Johnnie C. Godwin
Contributing Columnist, B&R 

In September 2001, I was in Moscow at the Cosmos Hotel when my phone rang at 11 p.m. Surprisingly, it was Andrei — a friend we had met in 1989. Andrei urgently wanted to meet with me before he and his family would emigrate from Russia within 48 hours. We agreed to meet in a fast-food kiosk near the hotel; and I learned of Andrei’s plans to leave Russia for other countries in the free world. They could take nothing but a small carry-on. They had a few rubles, but rubles weren’t convertible outside Russia. I offered dollars, but Andrei said customs agents would take them at the border. 

Besides freedom, Andrei needed currency that would be convertible in the free world — a currency he couldn’t get behind the Iron Curtain. Andrei had made a life-changing decision that was radical but essential for him. So we had prayer, and I figured my amen was the last we would ever see of Andrei and his family. But 31 years later, we are still in touch. And Andrei has a spiritual currency!  [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention

Listen to these words from John 9:1-5 from the Christian Standard Bible: As he (Jesus) was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

These are some convicting words for our lives, our churches, and our denomination. Let me give you a few insights that might help us today.

First, when I look at this I cannot help but see an unusual perspective. When you read the first verse, you cannot help but notice that the perspective of Jesus and the perspective of Jesus’ followers were completely different.  [Read more…]

Editor’s note: Longtime Tennessee Baptist pastor, director of missions and TBMB staff member John Parrott died April 26 after a lengthy battle with COVID-19. John Parrott was a friend and mentor to countless people within the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Joe Sorah shared his thoughts about his friend and co-laborer in a recent devotion for TBMB staff.

By Joe Sorah
Harvest Field 5 Team Leader, TBMB

A few months ago, Danny   Sinquefield of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board staff shared a video interview with Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney with Harvest Field Team Leaders. 

Coach Swinney outlined his coaching philosophy and what he asks of his players and assistant coaches. He said he wants them to follow the words of George Washington Carver when he said, “When you do all the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

When I think of John Parrott, I think of that quote. John was a common man but did all the common things in uncommon ways. He did everything with excellence and he commanded the attention of all of us who knew him. 

John Parrott was a spiritual giant to me, a Barnabas yes, but also like an Apostle Paul. John mentored me in how to transition from serving as a pastor to serving as a denominational servant.  [Read more…]