Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBMB
Confession One: I struggle with racial prejudice against blacks.
There, I said it. God has consistently convicted me of that and increasingly helped me let a lot of that go over the past 20 years. It occasionally rises up, but He reminds me that racial prejudice is rooted in pride, one race believing it is superior to other races, and that in His eyes, all men are truly created equal since He created all men. [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
Chris Turner
At one time, I was a correspondent for the International Mission Board traveling throughout Latin America writing stories for The Commission magazine. I was in Honduras working with a missionary who was at the end of a very long year of helping the people rebuild their country following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch. He was spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted, and with a sound of desperation asked, “Is God at work anywhere in the world?”
By His grace, God had given me a front row seat to reporting His activity in Central and South America. He was moving with incredible speed to redeem people all across the southern hemisphere. I’d seen churches planted in some of the most unlikely places, formed with people who had been saved from the most unbelievable of circumstances. Like Luke writing to Theophilus in Luke 1:1-4, I gladly shared with my beleaguered colleague one story after another of how God was alive and active, and bringing people into His Kingdom by the scores. It was obvious by his response that the stories energized him to keep pressing his hand faithfully to the plow. The harvest belongs to the Lord. [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
The Baptist & Reflector web site, launched in 2015.
I hear the naysayers. They say newspaper is dead. Or, if not dead, is dying, or on life support, or limping to an inglorious death, or breathing its last, or turning blue. Or as one friend would say of newspaper’s current state, “It wouldn’t fog a mirror.”
As someone who loves newspapers and has been associated with newspaper production for the better part of 30 years, I agree, sort of. But not completely. [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
Chris Turner
Steve Gaines, pastor of iconic Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, sat at the table in the pressroom at the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting and waited for questions. Gaines had just been elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention by a historic vote of acclamation.
“Any questions,” the moderator asked the media.
Silence. Stunned silence. Finally someone spoke up and said, “I think we’re all in shock.”
The shock was the result of North Carolina Pastor J.D. Greear stepping to the microphone prior to a scheduled third vote for the presidency and telling the thousands of messengers gathered in Saint Louis that he was withdrawing from the election process. He then encouraged messengers to join him in electing Gaines president by acclamation. [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
I sized up the donkey standing about 15 feet in front of me; then I casually walked over. I kept my distance because I’m not an equine kind of guy, but I had something to say. I looked the beast of burden square in the eye and decided to keep my comments brief and to the point.
“I’m glad I’m not you the next five days,” I said with equal parts sarcasm, sympathy, and relief.
Soon enough, after about three hours on the trail, I began to call him, “El Loco,” translated, “The Crazy.” He meandered along at his own pace — drifting off from the other two donkeys and the group I was a part of. He wasn’t obstinate, mostly. Let’s just say he was his own donkey.
But that was all to come. For the moment, he stood there with at least 100 pounds of backpacks strapped to his back just staring at me. There was no reaction to what I said. I wondered, was he oblivious to the difficult descent along the rocky trail into the canyon below then up the other side where he’d have to grunt that weight up more than 2,000 feet of elevation change and over a nearly 11,000 foot summit? Or, was he silently sizing me up, plotting payback for what could rightly be perceived as an insensitive comment. [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
Chris Turner
Cogito, ergo sum.
Meaning: “I think, therefore I am.” The statement is the self-evident revelation of Renaissance philosopher, René Descartes. The Frenchman reduced all of life to nothing by doubting the existence of everything; however, he reconciled that, since he had the mental ability to doubt his own existence, then he must actually exist. He then reconstructed the existence of the world around him based on his conclusion to grant it reality.
In essence, Descartes made man the arbiter of reality, of truth. He was not the first philosopher in history to pursue the egocentrism of man. Plato, Aristotle, and others also shoved man to the center of their universe. All such brilliant minds, begging the question: How can so many really smart people be so … wrong? [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
Chris Turner
The Great Commission is in the DNA of every church (or at least it should be), and hopefully every church has as its vision the idea of “reaching people for Jesus Christ.” But unfortunately, too often the community around the church doesn’t know that’s the vision because church members don’t know that’s the vision or don’t understand how to transfer it beyond the church.
Vision statements are great, but every “vision” begs the question: Are the actions of the church and the responses of the church’s members harmoniously working together to reach the vision for everyone’s benefit? [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, Tennessee Baptist Convention
Chris Turner
An old and influential friend died Jan. 13 and the best way I know to honor my friend is to reminisce about the good times.
My friend actually isn’t a person, it is – or was – the communications department of the International Mission board made up of extremely gifted people who became my friends. At one time, many of these friends, before I knew them as friends, bordered on being my idols. I read their stories, I gazed endlessly at their photos and let their videos wash over me. I wanted to be like them.
The writers who produced copy for The Commission magazine were rock stars to me. I knew them by name and could give you a rundown of their story packages from around the world like reciting stats from the back of a Ryne Sandberg baseball card. I still can 20 years later. People like Erich Bridges, Mike Creswell, Don Martin, Craig Bird, Mark Kelly, Marty Croll, Mary Jane Welch and Anita Bowden took me places I had to find in an atlas. And then there was Mary Speidel. [Read more…]
By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC
Chris Turner
You know the adage, “Whenever you get two Baptists together you always have three (or more) opinions.” And I know this is hard to fathom, but preachers can sometimes be, well, opinionated. Almost all of them see the world through the lens of a biblical worldview so it is difficult to look at the culture around them and not express their view as it relates to God’s Word. However, the question is: Should they?
The answer is no — and yes. It’s complicated. First, let’s recognize that not every opinion a pastor expresses flows forth from the fount of Scripture. Pastors, opinions and the media can have all the makings of a chemistry experiment gone bad. There is more than one example of pastors saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. And let’s face it. It only takes seconds for something possibly taken out of context to go viral in this age of social media saturation.
However, more and more pastors and church members are being asked by media to comment on social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion. Am I advocating suppressing a prophetic word to a culture that needs salt and light? Of course not. As Christians we are called to proclaim the gospel to a decaying world. However, what I am saying is that pastors — and all Christians for that matter — must exercise biblical instruction when it comes to communicating, especially when the media is involved. Remember, “Be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.”
Here are four tips all Christians would do well to consider if asked by the media to participate in an interview or if simply engaging in a public conversation. [Read more…]
