Opinion Column Archives - Page 3 of 95

NASHVILLE WILL SOON BE ABUZZ WITH BAPTISTS

June 2, 2021

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

In less than two weeks, Nashville will be abuzz with Southern Baptists. More than 12,000 messengers are expected to register for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention to be held June 15-16 at the Music City Center in Nashville.

Music City and Tennessee last hosted the SBC annual meeting in 2005 and 11,641 messengers registered for the event.

Attendance has dwindled at SBC meetings in recent years. Since 2000, only four annual meetings have produced more than 10,000 messengers — Orlando in 2000 and 2010, Nashville in 2005 and Greensboro, N.C., in 2006. When Southern Baptists last gathered in 2019 in Birmingham, Ala., 8,183 messengers attended. Last year’s annual meeting, again scheduled in Orlando, was canceled due to COVID-19.

There was some question as to whether this year’s event would take place in Nashville due to COVID restrictions still in place. On April 15, Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee, announced the venue was being moved from the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center to downtown to “provide abundant space conducive to holding a meeting that is efficient, effective and safe for every attendee” while adhering to local COVID-19 protocols (See story). [Read more…]

THE SBC AND MAINTAINING MISSION FOCUS

June 2, 2021

By Randy C. Davis
President and Executive Director, TBMB

We are going to meet. We are actually coming together, in person, to represent more than 40,000 churches that comprise the network of churches called the Southern Baptist Convention.

While gathering for the annual SBC isn’t that earth shattering in itself – after all we’ve been doing it every year since 1845 through wars, pandemics, heated (and needed) theological debates, cultural shifts and massive economic downturns – it is a big deal this year because of the unceremonious way the global COVID-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to us having the convention last year. And like you, I’m excited to be gathering together.

However, there is a great danger to our future gathering if we allow our focus to stray from our purpose and results in “mission drift.” Possible? Absolutely, look at institutions like Harvard and Yale that were birthed as bastions of Christian values and biblical conservatism. You’d have to search long and hard to find a vestige of those roots on today’s campuses.

I’ll repeat what I’ve heard my friend and president of the International Mission Board, Paul Chitwood, say many times. “When the Great Commission is not the lead topic of conversation in Southern Baptist life, the other topics tend to divide us.” [Read more…]

FIRST-PERSON: A CALL TO PRAYER AND FASTING FOR SBC ’21

May 24, 2021

By J.D. Greear
President of the Southern Baptist Convention
Pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C.

DURHAM, N.C. – John Wesley famously said, “God does nothing in the world except in answer to prayer.” That’s probably an overstatement, but the apostles’ experience in Acts verifies at least the sentiment behind it. It was after a 10-day prayer meeting that God gave Peter the power to birth the church through his preaching in Acts 2.

The apostles prayed for 10 days, Peter preached for 10 minutes and 3,000 people got saved. Nowadays, we pray for 10 minutes, we talk for 10 days, and three people get saved. (We need to rearrange our zeros!) And it was during a prayer meeting (Acts 13:2), not a missions conference, that God raised up the church’s greatest missionary, the apostle Paul.

Above all things, our annual meeting needs to be saturated by prayer. We need to pray before it, during it and after it. This convention should not be about what we think or what we want, but what God wants. And the way we discover that is through prayer. [Read more…]

WE NEED LESS GREED, MORE COMMON SENSE

May 21, 2021

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

Last week, Tennessee and other states in the southeast faced a gas shortage due to a cyberattack on a pipeline. Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the issue has been corrected and gas is once again readily available at fuel pumps.

I know people who were in other parts of the state when the gas shortage became apparent and there were legitimate concerns they might not find enough gas to return home.

It’s just a guess on my part, but the shortage last week probably had more to do with greed and lack of common sense than it did the cyberattack.

We are living in such a “it’s all about me” culture and society that nobody or nothing else matters. That is why there was story after story of people flocking to gas stations and sitting in lines to fill their tanks when they probably had enough gas to last through the crisis. But what made matters even worse are the people who brought numerous gas cans to fill up. [Read more…]

THE RISING HOPE FOR DAYS AHEAD

May 20, 2021

By Randy C. Davis
President & Executive Director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

Sometimes all people need to press forward is a sliver of hope. Last week we got it.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky delivered that hope when the director of the Center for Disease Control stepped to the microphone during a press conference and said, “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or socially distancing.”

That simple pronouncement was like turning the corner at the end of the long driveway and seeing the Biltmore Mansion for the first time.

Her declaration is a monumental, long-awaited signal that light is dawning after plodding through the dark night of the coronavirus pandemic. [Read more…]

A MOTHER’S WISH LIST

May 9, 2021

By Carolyn Tomlin
Contributing Writer, B&R

Observing my own mother and others, I often wondered about the responsibility that goes with rearing a child. And how did they find the energy to teach a youngster all the important things for life? After all, the period of childhood is so brief and there is so much to learn.

In conversation with numerous Christian mothers, I developed a wish list where many of the issues we need to teach fall into these categories. As Mother’s Day approaches on May 9, consider these three issues.

Serve others. I’m reminded of a news story where a woman showed up to wash dishes for a family who lost a loved one. She didn’t say, “Call me if there is anything I can do.” Instead, she showed up. Perhaps we all need to “just show up,” more often. [Read more…]

KEEPING MOM HAPPY

May 5, 2021

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

My wife Joyce recently added a new T-shirt to her collection. It reads: “When Mama Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy — When Grandma Ain’t Happy, Run!”

While it may not be good grammar, those are still good words of advice.

The one thing I have discovered, however, is that it takes a whole lot more for the grandkids to make Grandma unhappy than it does me — or the kids. [Read more…]

DEATH CAN CREATE WOUNDED HEALERS

May 3, 2021

By Norman Ridenhour
Baptist layman and retired journalist

There are subjects no one wants to deal with but are a reality. One such reality is death. Most Christians respond to death with either acceptance or anger. I’ve seen some who become witnesses to others while some want answers that are not forthcoming.

Truth is, it’s a subject I didn’t want to deal with or write about until a former co-worker by the name of Jeff Hoffman said “Death can create wounded healers who are a comfort to others.” Had to think about that statement before I understood what he meant.

My memory was jolted by a story of a friend who, at the birth of his first child, was told “She won’t live more than two weeks.” His first reaction was, why me? When you seek these answers, it becomes personal, and his grief made him a bitter man.

With time and the understanding that these things happen, he accepted his loss and later became a “wounded healer.” Other couples facing the same outcome came to him and asked “How did you deal with it?” His answer was always the same: “Not very well!” [Read more…]

WE MUST REACH TENNESSEE TODAY!

April 30, 2021

By Steve Pearson
Tennessee Baptist Mission Board Evangelism Specialist

The state of lostness in Tennessee is increasing. Tennessee’s population is close to seven million people. It is estimated that the amount of that population which is lost is around four million. In other words, it is estimated that around 58 percent of Tennesseans are lost without Christ.

When talking about a church’s area of influence or harvest field, the average number of lost people in that area is about 1,000-3,000 people per church. If your church is in a rural setting that means, there are about 1,000 lost people on average in that area. That number increases to about 3,000 when you are talking about major metropolitan areas.

The yearly death rate in Tennessee is 919 per 100,000 residents. With nearly seven million people, that means every year there are about 64,000 people who die in Tennessee. If about 58 percent are lost that means that approximately 38,000 Tennesseans are dying each year without Christ. It also means that every day approximately 105 people in our state die without Christ. [Read more…]

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