Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
December 30, 2019
By Johnnie C. Godwin Contributing columnist, B&R Marcion was a second-century heretic who rejected the Old Testament and cut the New Testament to suit himself. He would have strongly disagreed with my belief that all Christians need to know the Bible as we have it and to know its Author (see II Timothy 2:15; 3:15-17; […]
December 26, 2019
By Bruce Chesser President, Tennessee Baptist Convention It is always an honor to be named as president of any organization of which you are a part. I am honored to have been elected to serve you for the next year as the president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. I have had the opportunity to live […]
December 24, 2019
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector lwilkey@tnbaptist.org Due to the way the calendar fell this year, the Baptist and Reflector this week is actually dated Dec. 25. As a result, most of our readers will not read this issue until after Christmas. The staff of the B&R hopes all of you had a very […]
December 20, 2019
By Art Toalston Contributing writer, B&R Maybe you’ve seen a missionary cry. Interviewing a missionary in Ecuador some years back, my heart was gripped when he spoke through tears of the persecution experienced by the indigenous people he worked among in the Andean mountains. It was midday, we were in a cold, dark room. All […]
December 19, 2019
By Carolyn Tomlin Contributing Columnist, B&R For many families, the Christmas season is the busiest time of the year. In addition to the numerous activities, there is the shopping and wrapping of presents. What should be a time to honor the birth of Christ the Savior is turned into a most stressful time. This year, […]
December 19, 2019
By Tim Frank Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage Recently, the staff of one of the local funeral homes in our county hosted their annual “Hope for the Holidays” service and invited me to share a word of hope and practical help to those in attendance who had lost loved ones. The holidays can be very […]
December 17, 2019
By Todd E. Brady Vice President for University Ministries, Union University, Jackson “Happy Thanksgiving!” “Merry Christmas!” “Happy New Year!” This is the time of year when everyone is encouraging others to be happy. But for those who have lost a loved one, there is a sadness that no amount of encouragement can overcome. For these […]
December 16, 2019
By Lonnie Wilkey lwilkey@tnbaptist.org There has been growing evidence over the past two decades that Christians are becoming increasingly reluctant to openly share their faith. Research from The Barna Group, LifeWay Christian Research and others in recent years confirm that more and more Christians are having fewer gospel conversations. That leads to the question: Why? […]
December 10, 2019
By Paul Chitwood President, International Mission Board Looking back on my first full year as your IMB president, the words that come to mind are: “Thank you.” Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving souls across the globe daily amid hardship and persecution, and for upholding Your servants as they go forth to share Your gospel. […]
December 10, 2019
By Randy C. Davis TBMB President & Executive Director There are two distinctives that bind Southern Baptists together. The first is our shared biblical belief system. Unfortunately, the Bible can be mishandled in many ways and our Southern Baptist forefathers recognized that, so in 1925, they took the providential step to clearly define what Southern […]
December 4, 2019
By Chris Turner Director of communications, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board cturner@tnbaptist.org There are two types of organizations in our world: Those who have had a crisis and those whose crisis hasn’t yet hit. For years I’ve been leading crisis communications and media relations workshops for all types of organizations and I usually open those training […]
November 26, 2019
By Randy C. Davis TBMB President & Executive Director My No. 1 desire is to see the spiritually lost people of Tennessee won to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and it is weeks like last week that give me hope that together as Tennessee Baptists, we might see that happen. Summit, our annual gathering of […]