Opinion Column

Reaching Tennessee’s Missions Field Through GOTM

By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director When Eric Watkins strides into one of the most dangerous housing projects in Memphis to take the light of Christ, Tennessee Baptists go with him. When Kent Hightower stands in the loose dirt of a rodeo arena in Morristown and preaches the gospel, Tennessee Baptists are with him. When Doylene and Ritchie Farley distribute food to hundreds of families in one of Tennessee’s

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Whatever It Takes — ‘Just Do It’

By Michael Ellis TBC President & Pastor, Impact Baptist Church, Memphis In 1968 Philip Knight, a former track athlete at the University of Oregon, and his college coach, William Bowerman, each invested $500 to form and stock their own shoe company, Blue Ribbon Sports. They later had their logo designed by a college student for $35. As a result of Knight and Bowerman’s “just do it” attitude their company, which

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Why Is Anyone Surprised?

By Paul Gunn Pastor, Tusculum Hills Baptist Church, Nashville Someday when you come to Nashville, take a drive along Nolensville Road and you’ll see a very interesting situation. Go in one of the international markets. Wow! Nolensville Road is an Epcot® (theme park of Walt Disney World featuring international culture) of sorts, although not a façade like the famous amusement park. This is the real thing — an international community

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Climate Changers — Part Three

By David Evans TBC Staff But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man

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Don’t Let Ministry Become ‘Either/Or’

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

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Would You Pay You What You Pay Your Pastor?

By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director New Hope Baptist Church in Leakesville, Miss., knew they were overpaying their 20-year-old preacher. He knew it too. At $125 a week, neither was real sure of what they were getting into. However, those sweet people were patient, kind, nurturing, and at every turn looked for ways to take care of their preacher boy and his new bride. For instance, there was the

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What Kind of ‘Preaching’ Does a Church Need?

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

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Why Plant New Churches in Tennessee?

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

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Winning Tennessee for Jesus Christ

By Roc Collins Pastor in Kingsport As followers of Christ we have been called to “Go and Make Disciples.” What a great task is ours! There is no one person who can fulfill that mission alone. God, in His infinite wisdom, has granted us the opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission by working together. Certainly we can get together to participate in ministry but there is another way. We can

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Still Serving A Purpose After 180 Years

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.

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Why Is Anyone Surprised?

By Paul Gunn Pastor, Tusculum Hills Baptist Church, Nashville Someday when you come to Nashville, take a drive along Nolensville Road and you’ll see a

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