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

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

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.