Editor’s note: This is Part II of a two-part series by TBMB leader Randy C. Davis. Part I, “What’s Keeping You Awake at Night?” can be found online at BaptistandReflector.org

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

One of our Tennessee Baptist pastors recently asked what were things that kept me awake at night and what were things that got me going in the morning. I’m glad he asked. It’s been a great opportunity to evaluate if my personal and ministry goals align with what I hope the Lord wants to accomplish through me.

So here are five things that get me up in the morning, or put another way, here’s what cranks my tractor:    [Read more…]

Editor’s Note: The following is an open correspondence to Tennessee Baptists by Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

 

Tennessee Baptists, it’s time for vigilance and action.

We stood for life and were heard just a couple of years ago when we needed to speak into prolife legislation here in Tennessee, and now we need to stand and express our voices on a national level.

The Equality Act, which is a dangerous piece of legislation that President Joe Biden and his administration set as a priority to pass within his first 100 days, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives vote and is moving to the Senate. This bill, if it becomes law, has deep and wide sweeping implications across our country. Please contact your U.S. senators AND ask them to vote NO. Also, let the White House know of your opposition to this bill. [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

It only takes a spark to start a controversy.

It was just one article, but its publishing in 1896 ignited a flashfire reaction across the Southern Baptist Convention. Sides formed. People postured. Proverbial lines were drawn in the sand. Rhetorical flames fueled by passionate conviction rose higher and higher and threatened to gut any good work Southern Baptists had accomplished.  

But a voice of reason can extinguish the flames with a much-needed biblical perspective. 

E.E. Folk was that voice. 

Folk was the proprietor and editor in 1897 of the Baptist and Reflector. Folk was described as “a strong promotor of the entire denominational program on both the state and national levels.” His diplomacy was needed because when William H. Whitsitt, president at the time of Southern Seminary, published his article disparaging Landmarkism, he effectively tossed a match on dried kindling. 

Many Southern Baptists of the day firmly embraced a Landmarkist perspective. Outrage swelled. Entire associations called for Whitsitt’s immediate resignation. Others called for a rigorous academic inquiry to be made on the subject while others counseled Southern Baptists to reject “judgements” and expressions of “opinions” which would “injure the seminary.”

The battle raged on, but Folk stepped into the fray and wrote that while there were strong arguments on both sides, there was a larger view that was more important.  [Read more…]