Lonnie Wilkey has told me for years that I need to carry cash when I travel.
“Cash is old school,” I tell him. “In this age of digital enlightenment, you can swipe or tap and transact.”
Unfortunately, Lonnie was right.
I arrived first at the diner where we were meeting and saw the “Cash Only” sign on the door. “C’mon,” I said with no small amount of frustration. “It’s the 21st century, people!” My frustration initiated a dilemma: Do I call Lonnie and lie, tell him the diner is closed; or do I ask him the dreaded question: “Do you have any cash with you?”
Lonnie, who still has the first two nickels he ever made and carries in his pocket one of those squeeze-gummy plastic coin keeper things like local banks used to give away, always has cash and coins.
“I guess I’ll pay for breakfast,” he said with a smug, satisfied, I-told-you-so grin on his face as he sat down at the table. I knew it was coming.
Lonnie stories abound. A few years ago, our TBMB communications team gathered at a small diner in Millington before our annual convention meeting. My parents joined us for the meal. When I introduced Lonnie, my mother immediately responded with the kind of reverence one might show meeting Abraham Lincoln himself. “Well, Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist and Reflector, I’ve been reading your column for years.”
Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist and Reflector, pours over proofs of the paper.
Thousands of others have read his columns too. Unfortunately, those days are numbered. Four more issues, including this one — that’s how much longer Tennessee Baptists have Lonnie Wilkey as editor of the Baptist and Reflector. I know there are four more because Lonnie cites the number of remaining issues when asked how much longer before his Dec. 31 retirement. Lonnie has counted the passage of time for decades by deadlines and publishing dates. That’s what a newspaper man does.
Lonnie is a newspaper man with every fiber of his being, to the very stem cells that produce blood cells that produce bone marrow. Surviving in the newspaper business requires it. You must love the hunt for the story, the pressure of deadlines, the pain of editing, the smell of fresh ink, and ultimately, the joy of holding all that effort in your hands.
Lonnie has joyfully embraced that process these 36 years to tell the stories of God working in and through Tennessee Baptists and their churches.
It’s been more than a job, though. It’s his calling to ministry, a calling like that of a pastor, worship leader or youth minister. Lonnie bears the responsibility of the paper’s publishing for the joy of “working unto the Lord and not unto man.” He desires to please God, even if he doesn’t please every Tennessee Baptist.
Yeah, he’s gotten an ear (and an inbox) full through the years, but if you know Lonnie, you know he’s a straight shooter. He’ll write it like he sees it. There is no malice or agenda intended. Lonnie has a strong — strong — sense of right and wrong and that rubs some people the wrong way. However, Tennessee Baptists have benefited greatly from his character, integrity, honesty and passion to see Christ exalted in Tennessee and through Tennessee Baptists.
Luke opens his gospel (1:1-4) telling Theophilus that he had “carefully investigated everything from the beginning … so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” Lonnie is a modern-day Luke, “investigating” stories to ensure Tennessee Baptists know the eternal certainty of the things in which they’ve participated, contributed to, voted on and seen God do in their midst. He’s been a good and faithful servant to God, and to the rest of us.
However, Lonnie’s retirement does leave me with a sizable Lonnie-shaped void. We’ve collaborated on editorials, talked incessantly about stories, issues, postal rates, legislation, disasters, the Chicago Cubs (which are a kind of disaster), antiques, hot dogs, books, a million other things, and the Lord. You just don’t go out and find another Lonnie.
Lonnie, brother, I will miss you my friend, more than I presently know.
Ladies and gentlemen, before time draws the slowly unfurling curtain on an amazing 36 years of ministry, it is my great honor to present to you one last time, Lonnie Wilkey, our friend and the editor of the Baptist and Reflector. B&R
