By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector There appears to be a disturbing trend popping up in society today. Some churches, whether they mean to or not, are giving aging Baby Boomers (another way of saying senior adults) the impression they are not welcome. These churches are putting all of their eggs into the “Millennial basket.” Millennials are generally defined as those born between 1981-97. Boomers are those born between

By Johnnie Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R After graduating from seminary, I was somewhat like Paul when he cooled his heels in Athens waiting for Timothy and Silas to rejoin him from Berea (Acts 17). We were dead set on finishing up requirements for foreign mission appointment. So Phyllis and I had moved back to my hometown of Midland, Texas, for a year. I held three jobs to get total indebtedness

By Jimmy Inman Teaching Pastor in Jefferson City Of the many questions we were asked about starting a church in east Tennessee, one of the most common ones was, “Why are you starting a church where there are already so many churches?” It is a legitimate question. My scriptural conviction is that every church is called to be a part of planting new churches locally, nationally, and internationally, and our

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Six years ago, Bob Smietana, then religion editor of The Tennessean in Nashville, wrote an article questioning the future of Baptist state papers and interviewed several editors, including myself. Smietana wrote that “Baptist papers face three major challenges: declining denominational loyalty, soaring print and postage costs, and the rise of online media.” All three challenges are still valid today.

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector BRENTWOOD — Nearly one year ago Bob Brown was contemplating leaving the pastorate of First Baptist Church, Dandridge, to join the staff of the Tennessee Baptist Convention as church revitalization specialist. Church revitalization is one of the 5 Objectives adopted by messengers at The Summit held last November at Brentwood Baptist Church.

By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC Is newspaper dead? It is a legitimate question. It’s no secret, the newspaper industry in general — and Baptists state newspapers specifically — have fallen on hard times, and both are in a nosedive that at times looks to have reached terminal velocity. But are newspapers really dead? More importantly for you as a reader of this publication, is the Baptist and Reflector

By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director Baptists love baptisms. Baptisms are part of our DNA. We know people are coming to Jesus when the baptismal waters are stirred, and that stokes our engines. We love the stories about large numbers of people coming to Christ during revivals, whether overseas or here in the states. Being present on the Day of Pentecost would have been a Baptist’s dream day. Two