By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director I recently reread an old letter that stopped me in my tracks. The author’s passion was evident, and I could imagine the anguished expression on his face. I’m sure tears streamed down his cheeks and into his beard as he wrote. “With Christ as my witness,” he penned. “I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart

By Johnnie Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R In our first year of marriage, I was a working, full-time college student with my wife expecting a baby. Though money was scarce, hamburger meat was just three pounds for a dollar. And we had some kind of meat every meal — well, until we didn’t one night. After we prayed, I looked over the meal and asked, “Where’s the meat?” Phyllis pointed to

By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director Okay, show of hands. How many of you have ever heard of Knowles Shaw (without searching for him on Google). Raise those hands high. Tennessee is a long state. Nobody? Honestly, before this column I didn’t know who he was either. But he’s worth knowing about. Shaw was an American composer, author, and evangelist from Ohio. Thousands across our state grew up singing

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Over the past year you have seen a lot of changes in the Baptist and Reflector — and there are more to come. We are in the process of developing a website totally dedicated to the B&R. This website will enable us to produce more material that our readers (and future readers) will want and need to read.

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector During last week’s ice storm in Tennessee I took a step and suddenly was looking straight up after falling flat on my back on an ice-packed street. I was unhurt (except for my pride) but it was a not-so-gentle reminder that life does, indeed, have its ups and downs. The week before, the Wilkey family welcomed Parker Andrew Beasley into the world. Parker

By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director We all have memorable days and we also witness historic days. It’s a notable milestone when memorable days are historic, and Tennessee Baptists experienced a notable milestone last November when messengers from Tennessee Baptist churches overwhelmingly selected Memphis pastor Michael Ellis to be president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Michael is the first African-American to fill that role in our 140 years as

By Michael Ellis TBC President & Pastor of Impact Baptist Church, Memphis Choices are one of the primary reasons I simply love going to a buffet restaurant. I have the freedom to choose chicken, fish, pork chops, ribs, salad, desserts, and all of the trimmings. Even though I have this freedom to choose from all of the selections, there are usually potential consequences. The possibility of experiencing stomach aches, larger clothing, and

By Randy C. Davis TBC Executive Director It is pretty easy for people associated with the Southern Baptist Convention to rattle off the names of some of our most influential pastors past and present. We’ve had W.A. Criswell, Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, and Jim Henry. There are contemporary pastors who are stalwarts of our denomination like Steve Gaines, Fred Luter, Jack Graham, and Johnnie Hunt.