Opinion Column

WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC DOES NOT CHANGE GOD’S CALL

By Bruce Chesser President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention Where do we go from here? It is a question that I am hearing from pastors and church leaders across the state of Tennessee. Much like the word to the Israelites after they crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land, “you haven’t traveled this way before” (Joshua 3:4). Bruce Raley, executive pastor at  First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, and I

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THERE WOULD BE NO CELEBRATION WITHOUT READERS

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] COVID-19 has caused a lot of planned activities in 2020 to be canceled or postponed. One of those planned events that we had to push back was a planned celebration of the 185th anniversary of the Baptist and Reflector. The B&R is the official news journal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and is one of the longest continuously published newspapers (both secular

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IS WHAT OFFENDS TRULY OFFENSIVE?

By Todd E. Brady Vice president for university ministries, Union University, Jackson It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. It’s not. Some think that meaning is determined by the one who looks at the picture. It’s not. A picture is worth the number of words intended by the author who painted it. The meaning of a picture is not determined by the viewer. For the

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WILL SOCIAL MEDIA KILL YOUR GOSPEL WITNESS?

By Chris Turner Director of communications, TBMB [email protected] The growth of a person’s character and gospel witness is like that of an oak. You really don’t see a lot of movement from one year to the next, but over time you see a sapling mature into a majestic tree.  And like a majestic oak reduced to ashes by a sweeping wildfire, a person’s character and gospel witness can go up

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LIVE DIFFERENTLY

By Mike Farmer Director of Missions, McMinn-Meigs Baptist Association, Athens In a world that is changing almost by the hour, most of us are longing for something stable and sure.  How does a person without faith in a living God face the chaos of the world today? Even if you have faith, these days can be difficult. How do we find stability? We find it in the Bible. We find

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HAVING A ‘DEFINE THE RELATIONSHIP’ TALK WITH GOD

By Clay Gilbreath Director of Missions, Big Hatchie Baptist Assoc., Covington I wonder, through this extended time of social distancing, does the Lord want to have a conversation with us, like He did with Peter by the sea one day, a “define the relationship” kind of talk.  You’ve probably had these before — “Will this dating lead to marriage?” “What is expected of each of us in this project or

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ONE PASTOR’S BETTER TWO-THIRDS

By Johnnie Godwin Contributing Columnist, B&R Phyllis and I shared the same splendid doctor for 25 years until last year. Our doctor retired, so we decided to ease over to another doctor in the same practice. But he didn’t know Johnnie or Phyllis. So I gave him one of my “retirement” books I had dedicated “To Phyllis — My Better Two-thirds.” At Phyllis’ next solo visit, she said the doctor

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STANDING FOR GOD’S TRUTH CAN’T BE AN OPTION

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] In today’s world, anyone who stands boldly on the Word of God will be ridiculed and criticized. Yet, it’s really not an option to not stand firmly on God’s Word. As Christians, we really don’t have a choice if we have truly given our lives over to God. Acts 16:13 (HCSB) reminds us, “Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave

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STRONG LEADERS MAKE KINGDOM STRONGER

By Randy C. Davis TBMB President & Executive Director One of the greatest and constant needs of the church since its birth at Pentecost is God-called, Spirit-filled, well-equipped leaders. One of the greatest joys in ministry is when those leaders unite in spirit, mind and effort to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fortunately, we have a rich history of that in Tennessee. Since the first gathering of Tennessee Baptists

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SMALL GROUP OPTIONS

By Bruce Chesser President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville. One of the more difficult challenges that we are all facing these days is in the issue of figuring out how to re-gather in our small groups and maintain social distancing. A classroom that normally holds 50 people would only accommodate about 10 people with true social distancing. The largest classrooms that might hold 100 or

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LIVE DIFFERENTLY

By Mike Farmer Director of Missions, McMinn-Meigs Baptist Association, Athens In a world that is changing almost by the hour, most of us are longing

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SMALL GROUP OPTIONS

By Bruce Chesser President of the Tennessee Baptist Convention Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hendersonville. One of the more difficult challenges that we are all facing

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