By Justin Tucker
Grace Community Church, Nashville

What keeps the church from sharing the gospel with those who have yet to believe? An even better question to ask is what will motivate the church to overcome the barriers to sharing the gospel message? The greatest motivator to evangelism is not a massive list of our failures, or the sad statistics that often flood mission magazines. Rather than guilting the church, the greatest motivator for unleashing people who would passionately share Christ, is what saved them in the first place, which is the love of God. In II Corinthians, Paul says that the love of God compels him, thus leading him to be an ambassador for Christ (II Corinthians 5:14-21). What are the barriers that often keep us from sharing our faith, and how does God’s love help break these barriers? [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBMB

Car involved in a vehicle-ramming attack in Charlottesville, VA.
-Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

The recent events in Charlottesville were tragic and seemingly becoming more common in cities across America. Racism in all forms is satanic, is biblically antithetical, and should be anathema to every Christian everywhere. Christ died to save some “from every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 7:9).

As Christians, we have a responsibility to speak on behalf of the gospel. And when we speak, it isn’t just our opinion that is being broadcast. People, especially non-Christians, form conclusions about God, His Kingdom, Christians, our churches, and us based on what we say. No pressure there, huh?

Unfortunately, an initial response by many pastors, ministers, and Christians is to go the other direction and say nothing. This is especially true if media call a local church asking for a comment. The response they are often greeted with is, “no comment.” First, “no comment” is never a good answer. Secondly, and probably more importantly, not to comment is a wasted opportunity.  [Read more…]

By Steve Freeman
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention

Steve Freeman

As I write this article, our nation continues to struggle with the horrific events of Charlottesville, Va., that took place on the weekend of Aug. 11-12 when thousands of white supremacists gathered to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. Along with those white supremacist protesters came a group of counter-protesters.

As one could assume, violence broke out among the groups.  As discourse escalated, one deranged man protesting on the supremacist side, drove his car into a group of counter-protesters. This evil and violent act led to the death of one pedestrian and injured countless others. This was a weekend that outlined the atrocity of the great evil of racial discrimination that exists in our nation and abroad. I used the word “evil,” because we must understand first and foremost that racism in any form is evil — crafted by the devil himself as an attack on the crown jewel of God’s creation — the human race. [Read more…]