By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Easter comes early on the calendar in 2016.

Christians around the world will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior on Sunday, March 27. Normally, but not always, Easter usually falls during the month of April.

In today’s world we are used to established dates for most holidays — Christmas is always Dec. 25; Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November; Labor Day is on the first Monday of September; etc.

Easter is not that cut and dried. I looked at how the date for Easter is determined and it didn’t take long for my head to spin. I looked at various sites for a simple answer and it wasn’t easy. Those explanations included words not normally in my vocabulary. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Tennessee legislators have an incredible opportunity next week to prove that common sense is alive and well in the Volunteer State.

Whether they have the courage to make such a decision remains to be seen.

Legislators are considering HB2414 which is sponsored by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Old Hickory, and Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville. The bill is referred to as the “Bathroom Bill.” See story in The Tennessean. The bill would “require that a student use student restroom and locker room facilities that are assigned for use by persons of the same sex as the sex indicated on the student’s original birth certificate.” [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Lonnie Wilkey

Everyone who has been a Baptist all of his or her life knows the Christmas story and probably has participated in a Christmas play in which the mean innkeeper tells Mary and Joseph, “There is no room in the inn.”

Whether it actually happened that way or not, only eternity will tell. We do know our Savior was born in a manger.

In Nashville, there is an organization called Room in the Inn which draws its name from the Christmas story, seeking to provide shelter for the homeless. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Here is a B&R article on the 2016 presidential election that examines which candidates Protestant pastors would vote for if the election were held today. Keep in mind this survey was conducted only of ministers, not the general population, but it’s still revealing.

Pastors were able to provide answers depending on whether they are Republicans or Democrats.

For Republicans, the overwhelming winner was not Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, or Donald Trump. The winner by a wide margin was “Undecided” with 39 percent. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

LifeWay Research released a new poll on Feb. 3 asking the question, “Does God care who wins the Super Bowl?

Surprisingly, one in 10 actually thinks God cares whether this year’s Super Bowl will be won by the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers. One in 20 say they don’t know. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Lonnie Wilkey

As a person who has spent the better part of his career and adult life in the production of newspapers, it is sad whenever I hear that a print publication has “bit the dust.”

Such was the case last week  as I held the last print copy of the The Christian Index in my hand. The Christian Index has been in existence for 193 years, making it older than the Baptist and Reflector which celebrated its 180th anniversary last year.

The Christian Index has long laid claim to the fact that it is the oldest continuously published religious periodical in the nation. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

In 1981 I had been out of college for one year and was employed in the development office of Baptist College at Charleston (now Charleston Southern University) in South Carolina. I mostly edited their alumni publication but assisted with pamphlets and brochures and the dreaded “other duties as assigned.”

One of those duties included being asked to assist the former Southern Baptist Education Commission (which was disbanded in the late 1990s) with their annual meeting that was being held in Charleston.

I was assigned to assist Juanita Wilkinson who was the administrative assistant to the late Arthur L. Walker Jr., executive director of the Education Commission. I just helped her with some of the logistics since the meeting was held on the Baptist College campus. Little did I know that we would form a lifelong friendship. [Read more…]