By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector On May 22, voters in the country of Ireland made a decision that will forever impact their nation. Ireland became the first country to hold a public vote amending its constitution to allow gay marriage (see story “Ireland Votes to Allow Gay Marriage”). With 62.1 percent of the vote, Ireland became the 20th country in the world to approve gay marriage. According to
By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director Okay, be sure to pay attention here. This first part could be a little confusing. “Z” is not “Y,” and both “Z” and “Y” are certainly not “X.” No, this isn’t algebra; it is the generational alphabet soup. As a member of the Boomer Generation, I’m just glad I wasn’t assigned to a letter. I think I’d be confused bobbing around with all
By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director I have a friend, I’ll call him, “Pamin” (pah-MEEN). He’s Egyptian, a Coptic Christian, lives in the United States and fears for his life. ISIS, he says, is rooted in the United States and he believes would torture and kill him — and other Coptic believers — given the opportunity. As hard as it is for me to relate to his journey, it
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector As one might expect, an editor’s desk (or e-mail box) can be filled quickly in the course of a week. Regardless of whether we get it the old fashioned way (via mail) or electronically, editors are inundated with requests from people who want us to share their messages. Normally, I very seldom use items that do not have a direct tie with one
By Bob Brown TBC Church Revitalization Team Leader Church revitalization is a stewardship issue over the congregations God has entrusted to every pastor and church member who are affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Several years ago, a man I barely knew walked into my office with a shoe box under his arm. He said that God had told him to give me something. After he handed me the box,
By Royce DeGrie TBC Senior Graphic Designer I have found in daily life, that people don’t like to talk about health issues because they are embarrassed or don’t want to seem “weak” so they just don’t talk about it. Your health is a deeply personal issue, especially for men. Men don’t want to come across as weak, so they “suck it up” and press on through the suffering. Many won’t
By Johnnie Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R “We can do it!” greeted me from every mobile that hung from the ceiling of a fast-food chain. It was their motto, and I loved it. So I located the manager and told him I wanted to buy one of those mobiles. His reply? “We can’t do that!” I told him his store’s motto said they could. But policy and procedure wouldn’t let him
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector As many of our readers know, the Baptist and Reflector is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year. One of our features has been “Glimpses of the Past.” We find articles and editorials from past issues and reprint them. It has been fascinating as I have gone through those issues. And it has been amazing to find that many of the issues that we
By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director I’ve noticed a growing verbal trend that makes me uncomfortable to the point that it deeply concerns me. Someone will toss out the Cooperative Program’s unofficial motto, “We can do more together than we can do apart,” but with a mildly sarcastic tone. My concern is with the veiled attitude behind the sarcasm that guts the statement of meaning and reduces it to
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector In the April 8 issue of the Baptist and Reflector, we reported that the legal fate of marriage in the United States will be debated April 28 before the Supreme Court. With that date just six days away, it is imperative that Tennessee Baptists and Christians fall on our knees to pray for those nine justices of the Supreme Court who will make
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector On May 22, voters in the country of Ireland made a decision that will forever impact their nation.
By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director Okay, be sure to pay attention here. This first part could be a little confusing. “Z” is not
By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director I have a friend, I’ll call him, “Pamin” (pah-MEEN). He’s Egyptian, a Coptic Christian, lives in the United
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector As one might expect, an editor’s desk (or e-mail box) can be filled quickly in the course of
By Bob Brown TBC Church Revitalization Team Leader Church revitalization is a stewardship issue over the congregations God has entrusted to every pastor and church
By Royce DeGrie TBC Senior Graphic Designer I have found in daily life, that people don’t like to talk about health issues because they are
By Johnnie Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R “We can do it!” greeted me from every mobile that hung from the ceiling of a fast-food chain. It
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector As many of our readers know, the Baptist and Reflector is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year. One
By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director I’ve noticed a growing verbal trend that makes me uncomfortable to the point that it deeply concerns me.
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector In the April 8 issue of the Baptist and Reflector, we reported that the legal fate of marriage
