Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
July 13, 2020
By Kenneth E. Ware Pastor, New Sholar Avenue Baptist Church, Chattanooga Don’t put limits on yourself. God can use you to defeat a myriad of threatening problems. From the words of Tony Evans who has said, “If what you see is all you see, you haven’t seen all there is to be seen.” Gideon, whose […]
July 10, 2020
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board cturner@tnbaptist.org There is only one race, the human race. Those eight words are an oft-used expression these days as the nation grapples with race, racism, justice, prejudice and a myriad of other topics causing friction among people of various skin tones, especially among blacks and […]
July 9, 2020
By Todd Brady Vice President for University Ministries, Union University Some of society’s half-baked thinking has been exposed and mocked recently by conservative pundit, Jesse Kelly. Last week, Kelly tweeted “Yale University was named for Elihu Yale. Not just a man who had slaves. An actual slave trader. I call on @Yale to change it’s […]
July 8, 2020
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector lwilkey@tnbaptist.org Though we are nearing the four-month mark of the pandemic and some churches have begun to meet again, we’re still not back to where we were (before COVID-19). And what’s more, it may be a while before we get there. Add to it over the past few […]
July 7, 2020
By Randy C. Davis TBMB President & Executive Director Ten years. That’s how long it’s been since Jeanne and I left a beloved pastorate to follow the clear call of God to serve our Tennessee Baptist Convention network of churches. That decision came only after an intense season of prayerfully seeking the Lord’s direction. It […]
July 2, 2020
By Lonnie Wilkey lwilkey@tnbaptist.org Americans across the country will celebrate the Fourth of July on Saturday with hot dogs, hamburgers, homemade ice cream, barbecue, baseball, swimming and, of course, fireworks. Sadly, that is all many Americans think of when it comes to celebrating the Fourth of July. Actually, we are not celebrating the Fourth of […]
July 2, 2020
By Derek Allen MOBILE, Ala. — In March, April and May, our church staff braced for a wave of COVID-19 cases to sweep through our church family. It never happened. In fact, for the first three months of the COVID-19 outbreak, our church family of about 1500 only experienced a handful of coronavirus cases. As […]
June 30, 2020
By Bruce Chesser President, Tennessee Baptist Convention Senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville All of us find ourselves now in the unique situation of needing to rebuild what we had going prior to the pandemic. As most of us began the process of regathering in person, we found some things are missing. Most of us […]
June 29, 2020
By Jerry Drace Evangelist / Senior pastor, Friendship Baptist Church, Friendship. At one time the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists (COSBE) had more than 600 members. Today it has fewer than 90 and less than 50 of these are preaching evangelists. COSBE held its annual business meeting using a Zoom conference call on June 12. […]
June 26, 2020
By Roc Collins Director of Strategic Objectives, TBMB From my early years of little league through high school, no matter what sport I played, I heard a common message from all my coaches. Whether it was on the diamond, the hardwood floor or the gridiron, coaches would say it over and over. “Keep your eye […]
June 25, 2020
By Joseph McGaha Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Lenoir City I have hesitated to wade into the discussion concerning the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and the mayhem that has ensued afterward for various reasons. Yet I find after much prayer and consideration that I am compelled to speak out […]
June 23, 2020
By Chris Turner cturner@tnbaptist.org There is only one race, the human race. Those eight words are an oft-used expression these days as the nation grapples with race, racism, justice, prejudice and a myriad of other topics causing friction among people of various skin tones, especially among blacks and whites. But the statement is true; there […]