Lonnie Wilkey

Baptist Press posted a disturbing story on Aug. 22 about the Bible being temporarily removed from school libraries in Keller, Texas. See story at baptistandreflector.org.

The Keller school district was quick to respond to an inquiry from Baptist Press. “Books that have been challenged by community members as being inappropriate for schools are required to be removed from shelves and held in a Parental Consent Area until the challenge process is complete,” said superintendent Rick Westfall. “Previously challenged books are also being moved to a Parental Consent Area to determine if those books meet the new standards in the policy and the guidelines that will soon be considered by the Board.”

Last year, “any variation” of the Bible was on a list of books that garnered at least one complaint by a  parent or community member, according to the BP report. Though the individual who originally objected withdrew the complaint, two other people objected this year.

While the school district told Baptist Press that the Bible was “quickly determined to be appropriate,” the district recently adopted a policy that required previously challenged books to be removed to be reevaluted. [Read more…]

Time capsules are designed as an intentional method of communicating with people who will be alive at a future date. The oldest known time capsule in America was placed by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House in 1795. 

In the summer of 2021, the church where I (Comer) have served for 25 years gave me a sabbatical, which they took as an opportunity to remodel my office.  While replacing ceiling tiles they discovered some interesting items.

When the office was built in 1997, workmen had hidden away numerous pamphlets in the ceiling. One was the 1996-1997 Cooperative Program Budget for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Another was titled “What is the Cooperative Program?” 

[Read more…]

Lonnie Wilkey

I was looking over a copy of Telling the Truth in Love: A Brief History of the Baptist and Reflector from 1835, written by former editor Wm. Fletcher Allen (now deceased) in 2005.

The Baptist and Reflector has a long and distinguished history. It remains one of the oldest, continuously published newspapers (religious or secular) in the United States. The paper was originally titled The Baptist and was begun with the first issue in January of 1835 by R.B.C. Howell, who also was pastor of First Baptist Church, Nashville.

According to Allen’s research, Howell saw that “the major limitation of church growth was lack of communication. There was no method of supplying potential readers with news and status of other churches. 

The lands west of Middle Tennessee were unsettled in many ways. This was the Southwest and Howell wanted to help evangelize the area. His answer? “Give them a newspaper!” [Read more…]

Carolyn Tomlin

Children live in a different world than those known to adults today. Instead of purchasing name-brand shoes, buying school clothes like their peers and getting the latest haircut to start school, they have more serious concerns.

Today, many schools require mesh or see-through backpacks, metal detectors, security cameras throughout the building, locked doors, uniformed policemen roaming the campus and safety drills.  

Is it any wonder students have trouble focusing on school work with all these safety concerns?

Our Tennessee Baptist churches have always been at the forefront of taking charge and addressing social concerns. Now is the time to take action. Our children need us to make praying for schools a priority.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:20 (NIV) “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” 

How can parents make a difference? Schedule a churchwide prayer service. Appoint a time for a Sunday School class to gather to pray. Assemble in homes to pray for schools. Encourage individual daily prayers. If you drive by a school, say a silent prayer that God will keep students safe and in His care. [Read more…]

By Laura Erlanson
Managing editor, Baptist Press

Laura Erlanson

During June, I did what many said could not be done. I pulled off the exhaustion hat trick, the triathlon of tired, the white whale of weariness — the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, Vacation Bible School and Centri-Kid in back-to-back weeks. It was the Baptist Ironman of sleep deprivation.

The first week of the month, I flew to Anaheim, where I worked eight 17-hour days in a row in a small, windowless room, though I did emerge for a few minutes to check out the Cooperative Program stage and the Lifeway store in the exhibit hall.

Two days after I returned home, my church (Inglewood Baptist in Nashville) started VBS. At ni

ght. That meant five days of working all day before heading to church to teach music (and choreography!) to sugared-up grade schoolers who hadn’t seen the inside of a school in over a month and acted like it.

Then two days after that, I left in a rented van with one other adult and 11 of those same grade schoolers to head to Campbellsville, Ky., for a week of Centri-Kid. 

Basically, we took the volume and activity levels achieved throughout our whole church building over five days of VBS and crammed them into a two-hour ride in a 15-passenger van. The results were what one would expect. [Read more…]