Editor’s note: Due to the sensitive information shared in this column, the name of the writer is being withheld at the discretion of the editor. The Southern Baptist Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF) report was released two weeks ago. There’s been a lot of reaction to its findings and opinions are widely varied. To some degree the survivors are still lost in the sea of rhetoric. Every one of them
By Randy C. Davis President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board A pastor recently asked me to give him one reason why he should stay connected to the Southern Baptist Convention. Without hesitation, I told him there are 3,600 reasons found in each one of our International Mission Board missionaries serving globally. Add to their number their 2,400 children and that’s a formidable missionary force. Together we – Southern Baptists
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] The nations have come to English Mountain in Newport. More than 300 children, teenagers and adults are at Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center for the All Nations Camp, sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. It is the largest attended camp since 2019, said William Burton, new churches team leader and ethnic specialist for the TBMB. The camp was canceled in 2020
By Paul Chitwood President, International Mission Board Jesus prioritizes children and their care. We see this in verses like Matthew 19:14, where Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven,” and Matthew 18:6, where Jesus says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to
By Chris Turner Director of communications, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board It was chilly and so quiet that the only sound present when I took my early morning walk was my labored breathing. The nearly 6,000-foot elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Yosemite National Park quickly reminded me I’m a sea-level kind of guy. The immensity of everything surrounding me — mountains, trees, open spaces — command attention and inspire
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Bootsie Coggins died on Mother’s Day. Very few people in Tennessee know who Edward “Bootsie” Coggins is. But in heaven and northern Greenville County in South Carolina, Bootsie Coggins is a spiritual giant, even though he was about five feet, four inches tall and 130 pounds or so soaking wet. Other than my mother, grandparents and my Aunt Lynn and Uncle Bill,
By Randy C. Davis President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board Not all classrooms have four walls and desks. Sometimes they have steering wheels and fabric seats. And not all professors carry gradebooks and give tests. Sometimes they are kindly pastors full of wisdom and practical advice. Both are invaluable, but I definitely needed a Dr. Fred Wolfe. The long-standing influence of Fred Wolfe on my life is immeasurable.
By Johnnie C. Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R In September 2001, I was in Moscow at the Cosmos Hotel when my phone rang at 11 p.m. Surprisingly, it was Andrei — a friend we had met in 1989. Andrei urgently wanted to meet with me before he and his family would emigrate from Russia within 48 hours. We agreed to meet in a fast-food kiosk near the hotel; and I learned
By Richard Land From Baptist Press Life is full of surprises, some pleasant, some not. I was reminded of this recently as I witnessed a pro-life controversy and debate revolving around an attack on the pro-life movement’s “incrementalist” approach in fighting to protect our unborn citizens by Southern Baptist self-described “absolutists” who assert that one must demand a ban on virtually all abortions with no exceptions, or one is compromising
By Clay Hallmark President, Tennessee Baptist Convention Listen to these words from John 9:1-5 from the Christian Standard Bible: As he (Jesus) was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed
Editor’s note: Due to the sensitive information shared in this column, the name of the writer is being withheld at the discretion of the editor.
By Randy C. Davis President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board A pastor recently asked me to give him one reason why he should
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] The nations have come to English Mountain in Newport. More than 300 children, teenagers and adults are
By Paul Chitwood President, International Mission Board Jesus prioritizes children and their care. We see this in verses like Matthew 19:14, where Jesus says, “Let
By Chris Turner Director of communications, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board It was chilly and so quiet that the only sound present when I took my
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Bootsie Coggins died on Mother’s Day. Very few people in Tennessee know who Edward “Bootsie” Coggins is.
By Randy C. Davis President and executive director, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board Not all classrooms have four walls and desks. Sometimes they have steering wheels
By Johnnie C. Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R In September 2001, I was in Moscow at the Cosmos Hotel when my phone rang at 11 p.m.
By Richard Land From Baptist Press Life is full of surprises, some pleasant, some not. I was reminded of this recently as I witnessed a
By Clay Hallmark President, Tennessee Baptist Convention Listen to these words from John 9:1-5 from the Christian Standard Bible: As he (Jesus) was passing by,
