Last week the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board honored the unsung heroes of our staff — the ministry assistants. They are the ones who work quietly behind the scenes to help the TBMB in our goal of serving churches. For most of my nearly 36 years with the Baptist and Reflector, Susie Edwards, Mary Nimmo and Betty Williams were the three women who served in those roles. A few others came

Messengers attending this June’s Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis will cast votes on items of significant importance. The deciding second-year vote on the “Law Amendment” is at the top of that list.   The Law Amendment, proposed initially by Virginia pastor Mike Law, passed on first reading at last year’s annual SBC in New Orleans by the required two-thirds vote. According to the SBC Constitution and Bylaws, to make a

Having Phillip and Ellen Wright come and join Lakeview Baptist Church has been one of the most encouraging and humbling experiences of my life.  When Phillip and I first met, I had no idea what was on his heart, and he didn’t know that I had been fervently praying for God to send men to our church who would come willing to serve. I would have never imagined that the

Casting Crowns, one of my favorite singing groups, has a song with this title, “Crazy People.” The song mentions several people in Scripture that did some crazy things for Jesus.  First, there was Noah who built an ark when there was not a cloud in the sky. Then there was David who picked a fight, as a boy, with a giant. Daniel turned a lion’s den into a petting zoo.

In recent years, campus ministers at Baptist Campus Ministries across Tennessee have placed greater emphasis on participating in Beach Reach over the spring break holiday. Beach Reach is a unique ministry in Panama City Beach, Fla., that utilizes simple acts of kindness to share the gospel with thousands of spring breakers.  As Ashlyn Trice, BCM associate campus minister at the University of Memphis, shared, “Beach Reach provides students with the

I remember “the good ole days” when a goat was simply that — an animal, one of God’s creations. I can recall the first time I heard a human referred to as a goat. It occurred during a sports talk show on the radio. I actually thought that the person who called someone a goat was going to get in serious trouble for disrespecting another human being. I finally realized

“Change” is an interesting word. A quick check of a dictionary app offers more than 10 definitions and all of those except two deal with some aspect of transition or transformation.  A few definitions that stand out are: “to make different;” “to make a shift from one to another;” and “to give a different position, course or direction to.” Tennessee Baptists are changing. We are shifting from the Five Objectives

The Tennessee Baptist Convention is celebrating a historic milestone this year — 150 years as a convention of churches committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ while meeting ministry and missions needs throughout the state. The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board will celebrate its 150th anniversary this year with a series of livestream events, beginning in May. The celebration will culminate in November at The Summit in Murfreesboro, where