Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
Evil is real. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not.
How do we really know? “For the Bible tells me so.”
Do a “Google” search on the internet and you will find a multitude of verses that proclaim evil is real. I John 5:19 leaves no doubt: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one” (CSB). That’s about as plain as it gets. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
Randy C. Davis
We really can do more together. That isn’t just a catchy phrase tossed around to describe the Cooperative Program. Last week I experienced it in the form of tangible support.
Throughout 2019, our Tennessee state legislature has wrestled with proposed “heartbeat bills” in the hope of protecting unborn children in Tennessee and creating a law that would overturn Roe v. Wade. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
TBMB President and Executive Director Randy C. Davis testifies during the Senate Study Committee, advocating senators advance SB 1236, a strongly pro-life bill that acknowledges life begins at conception. To support his position before the senators, Davis referenced the binder that has the names of more than 16,000 Tennessee Baptists and nearly 1,000 Tennessee Baptist pastors who signed the “I Stand for Life” petition over the past three weeks.
Photo: Screen shot from TN General Assembly web video.
NASHVILLE — When New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law one of the nation’s most comprehensive abortion laws earlier this year, he “woke a sleeping giant,” declared Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
Davis was one of five pro-life proponents who appealed to a nine-member Tennessee Senate Judiciary Summer Study Committee Aug. 12 to join thousands of Tennessee Baptists and other evangelical Christians in standing for life in the Volunteer State. Longtime observers of the Tennessee Baptist Convention believe it may be the first time that a representative of the convention has addressed Tennessee senators on a major legislative issue. (Read the full text of Randy Davis’ statement to the Senate Study Committee and the audio podcast of his testimony can be found here.)
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
It’s hard to believe that summer is nearly over. When I was a kid, we usually did not return to school until later in August or even after Labor Day. Now, most schools across Tennessee already have begun.
It is a reminder that time is fleeting.
We think we have plenty of time, but unfortunately, too many of us waste valuable time that God gives us, myself included. James 4 (HCSB) reminds us, “… For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.” [Read more…]
By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — In the days leading up to his appearance on the floor of the Tennessee Senate, Randy C. Davis continues to encourage Tennessee Baptists to be active participants in the “I Stand for Life” campaign.
Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is scheduled to address the Tennessee Senate on Monday, Aug. 12. When he does so, he plans to present the “I Stand for Life” petition to state officials. [Read more…]
By Rachel Lynn Aldrich
WORLD
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge in Arkansas blocked three new laws just before midnight Tuesday (July 23) that would protect unborn babies in the state.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker’s 14-day temporary restraining order stopped the laws from taking effect on Wednesday (July 24). The measures would have protected unborn babies after 18 weeks of pregnancy, required abortionists to be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology, and protected babies who were diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb. [Read more…]
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
COOKEVILLE — Nancy Knowlton knows the pain and guilt associated with abortion. She has had two.
Yet, she also knows God has forgiven her, and that is the story she openly shares as the director of the Cookeville Pregnancy Clinic, a nonprofit organization that seeks to “educate, empower and encourage women and men with life choices when facing an unplanned pregnancy.” [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBMB
cturner@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptists have the opportunity to “stand for life” in a new initiative launched by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board on behalf of Tennessee Baptists.
“I Stand for Life” is a petition campaign to garner thousands of signatures from Tennessee Baptists in an effort to let Tennessee’s lawmakers know that Tennessee Baptists would like to see legislation passed that protects the lives of unborn children. The petition officially launched July 23 and can be found at istandforlife.org. [Read more…]
By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director
This one has always been clear cut for me. Any person with a moral compass, common sense and even a little knowledge of abortion’s horrors is against the taking of a life in the womb.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture that not only demands the right to murder these sweet gifts of God, it celebrates the murderous practice. The image is seared in my mind of celebration that followed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signing into law late-term abortions up to the point of birth. How perverse is that? I never want to see that celebration in Tennessee, and as Tennessee Baptists we not only have an obligation to our Lord to protect unborn children, we have an opportunity to stand and be counted for life. [Read more…]
Thirty-five years ago today (July 10), my wife Joyce and I went to the local hospital in Lebanon, expecting that we would give birth to our first child. We did, but not the way we anticipated. David Randall Wilkey was a stillbirth.
My wife and I were devastated, but God carried us through that valley in our lives, as He always has.
As I reflect on the anniversary of David’s birth, I can now see some “good” that came through his death. [Read more…]
