Opinion Column Archives - Page 2 of 90

WITH COVID, A CUP OF SOUP IS A HUGE GIFT

February 4, 2021

By Bruce Chesser
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention
Senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville

On Nov. 20, 2020, I was conducting a wedding rehearsal in southern Kentucky. The plans for the wedding had changed significantly. It had gone from a large celebration of several hundred family and friends to a very small gathering of just family.

We wanted to be as responsible as possible and follow all of the proper protocols. But we still needed to rehearse what would happen the next day during the ceremony.

After the rehearsal had concluded I began to feel a little strange. On the drive home my wife mentioned that the skunk odor that had just invaded our truck was a very putrid smell. I said, “you smell a skunk right now?” She looked at me kind of sideways and said, “yes, it’s awful. Can’t you smell it?” My honest answer to the question was, “uh-oh. No, I cannot.”

That began our journey into the world of COVID-19 which would last 24 days. By the next morning I was running a fever of about 101 which would last for the next 12 days. Taste and smell were gone. I felt like I had the flu. [Read more…]

MESSAGES OF LOVE FOR ALL CHILDREN

February 3, 2021

By Carolyn Tomlin
Contributing Writer, B&R

As a teacher of young children, I often observed how my students adapted to change and how they were ready for kindergarten. I recall one family who lived in an expensive house and drove costly automobiles.

Mom and dad were so involved in careers that little time was left for the kids. Across town, another family had trouble paying monthly bills and providing the necessities of life. But these children were happy, they made friends easily and knew their parents were there for them. It was obvious which children felt loved.

Childhood is a time of learning. Whether a child feels loved, may not only cover the period of growing up, but extends to the adult life that follows. [Read more…]

ARE WE ‘LOST IN DISTRACTION’ OR ‘NOW FOR MISSIONS!’

February 2, 2021

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

It only takes a spark to start a controversy.

It was just one article, but its publishing in 1896 ignited a flashfire reaction across the Southern Baptist Convention. Sides formed. People postured. Proverbial lines were drawn in the sand. Rhetorical flames fueled by passionate conviction rose higher and higher and threatened to gut any good work Southern Baptists had accomplished.

But a voice of reason can extinguish the flames with a much-needed biblical perspective.

E.E. Folk was that voice.

Folk was the proprietor and editor in 1897 of the Baptist and Reflector. Folk was described as “a strong promotor of the entire denominational program on both the state and national levels.” His diplomacy was needed because when William H. Whitsitt, president at the time of Southern Seminary, published his article disparaging Landmarkism, he effectively tossed a match on dried kindling.

Many Southern Baptists of the day firmly embraced a Landmarkist perspective. Outrage swelled. Entire associations called for Whitsitt’s immediate resignation. Others called for a rigorous academic inquiry to be made on the subject while others counseled Southern Baptists to reject “judgements” and expressions of “opinions” which would “injure the seminary.”

The battle raged on, but Folk stepped into the fray and wrote that while there were strong arguments on both sides, there was a larger view that was more important. [Read more…]

WHICH PEACE ARE YOU TRYING TO FIND?

February 1, 2021

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBMB

Looking for peace?

Yeah, everyone is, right? You know, that inner peace that dispels anxiety and worry. People talk about the journey to get there, but are you sure you’re making the right journey? Can you even know?

Actually, you can. The Bible talks about at least two types of peace, but unfortunately people in general, and Christians in particular, too often are searching for one kind of peace while traveling the path to the other. It’s like expecting a German chocolate cake but baking with the ingredients for vegetable soup. You’ll never get German chocolate cake with vegetables, and you’ll never get the peace you’re looking for traveling the wrong direction.

The first type of peace is peace that results from the absence of trouble, such as a treaty or truce that ends tension. We hear of peace treaties all the time that end wars or bring about an end to conflict. Trouble is gone, and we now have peace. Job done. [Read more…]

RETURN TO ME

January 29, 2021

By Kevin Minchey
Church revitalization team leader, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

As we move forward in 2021 it is the desire of the Church Revitalization Team to encourage pastors and their congregations to not be discouraged.

II Chronicles 5:17 says “as for you, be strong and do not give up. Your work will be rewarded.” 2020 felt like a good year to give up. If you are reading this, you are more than likely one of those who decided to not give up but to persevere. God’s Word promises that He will reward our work.

The Church Revitalization Team has consulted with hundreds of churches in Tennessee and beyond during the past few years and one of the things we have found is there may be some preparation before we can begin to do the work God desires to reward. [Read more…]

DIFFERING BETWEEN THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGER

January 28, 2021

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

Over the years I/Baptist and Reflector have been “killed” countless times, not with bullets but with words.

Why? We have been the messenger — the bearer or deliverer of bad news or news that strikes those who read it negatively and causes them to blame the messenger, not those who spoke or wrote the message in the first place.

I have grown accustomed to the role and it doesn’t really bother me much anymore personally. I am troubled that this publication, the Baptist and Reflector, is blamed for doing what it was intended to do — inform Tennessee Baptists. [Read more…]

CHALLENGING DAYS BUT ALSO DAYS OF GREAT OPPORTUNITY

January 25, 2021

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

I loved being a pastor. It was my joy and honor to spend 34 years as a pastor in a local church, so obviously I have a special place in my heart for the men who faithfully labor behind the pulpit serving God and His people.

Between those years and the time I’ve spent as president of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, a pastoral mindset is second nature to me. Daily I make decisions by putting myself in the shoes of the pastors who lead our churches. Those shoes fit me best. God shaped my heart into a shepherd’s mold. [Read more…]

ARE YOU READY TO RECONCILE IN 2021?

January 21, 2021

By David S. Dockery
Interim provost, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Perhaps in recent weeks you have been given the opportunity to sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” one of Charles Wesley’s great Christmas carols. The angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King: peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”

Nowhere is the theme of reconciliation better pictured than in II Corinthians 5:11-21, which has been called one of the apostle Paul’s charters of Christian ministry.

Paul explains that this new reconciled relationship believers enjoy because of their union with Christ (v. 17) is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. And now He has given us the ministry of reconciliation (v. 18), reminding us that the Lord has committed to us the message of reconciliation (v. 19). Reconciliation involves the restoration of peace in the midst of estrangement as seen in Romans 5:6-11, the exchange of hostility for a friendly relationship.

Behind Paul’s words in Romans 5 and II Corinthians 5 stands the reality of the world’s fallenness, characterized by sin, selfishness, enmity and death. [Read more…]

BURNING WALLS AND BUILDING BRIDGES

January 19, 2021

By Charles A. Fowler
President, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City

The violence that took place at Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 is indefensible. It is an egregious violation of law and an extremely sad chapter in the history of our nation. Regardless of how justified some people who take such extreme and destructive actions may feel, violent events like this deserve to be condemned and hopefully those who planned and perpetrated those acts will face the rule of law.

Sadly, what we saw in Washington, D.C., is an escalation of many events that have taken place in our country over the last few years. It is heartbreaking that on a daily basis news stories inform us about violence that is destroying communities and taking lives all across our nation.

These events confront us with the sobering reality that our nation is in crisis and has been for some time. Many no longer value human life. Others are blind to the presence and painful cost of racism. Many fail to recognize the importance of community. [Read more…]

JUST FOR THE RECORD — ‘AMEN’ MEANS ‘SO BE IT’

January 18, 2021

By Todd E. Brady
Vice president for University ministries, Union University, Jackson

When toddlers jabber made-up phrases, parents and grandparents say, “Aw, isn’t that cute?” When older adults utter nonsensical language, it’s usually sad. When national leaders use senseless words, it’s downright ridiculous.

This week, I could hardly believe the recent headlines that told of House Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) who is also an ordained United Methodist pastor who voiced the prayer for the 117th Congress. As he concluded his prayer, he said “We ask it in the name of the monotheistic, God, Brahma, and ‘god’ known by many names by many different faiths.” He then finished what the Daily Mail called his “woke Congress prayer” by saying “Amen and awoman.”

What? Well, if that’s not a bunch of mumbo jumbo, then I don’t know what is. It’s one thing to be politically correct. It’s another thing to be ludicrous. Tristan Justice of The Federalist called it “pointless passive-aggressive virtue signaling.” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa summed it up by saying, “Unbelievable.” [Read more…]

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