CONFESSIONS OF A WHITE BOY ON MLK JR. DAY
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBMB Confession One: I struggle with racial prejudice against blacks. There, I said it. God has consistently convicted me of that and increasingly helped me let a lot of that go over the past 20 years. It occasionally rises up, but He reminds me that racial prejudice is rooted […]
DO YOU NEED TO HEAR A GOOD STORY?
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC At one time, I was a correspondent for the International Mission Board traveling throughout Latin America writing stories for The Commission magazine. I was in Honduras working with a missionary who was at the end of a very long year of helping the people rebuild their country following […]
B&R DEFIES IDEA THAT PAPERS ARE DYING
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC I hear the naysayers. They say newspaper is dead. Or, if not dead, is dying, or on life support, or limping to an inglorious death, or breathing its last, or turning blue. Or as one friend would say of newspaper’s current state, “It wouldn’t fog a mirror.” As […]
A SHOCKED RESPONSE TO HISTORICAL MOMENTS
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC Steve Gaines, pastor of iconic Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, sat at the table in the pressroom at the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting and waited for questions. Gaines had just been elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention by a historic vote of acclamation. “Any questions,” the moderator […]
MAYBE OL’ EL LOCO WASN’T SO LOCO AFTER ALL
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC I sized up the donkey standing about 15 feet in front of me; then I casually walked over. I kept my distance because I’m not an equine kind of guy, but I had something to say. I looked the beast of burden square in the eye and decided […]
WHO IS AT THE CENTER OF YOUR UNIVERSE?
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC Cogito, ergo sum. Meaning: “I think, therefore I am.” The statement is the self-evident revelation of Renaissance philosopher, René Descartes. The Frenchman reduced all of life to nothing by doubting the existence of everything; however, he reconciled that, since he had the mental ability to doubt his own […]
HOW WELL IS YOUR CHURCH EXECUTING THE 3 Vs?
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC The Great Commission is in the DNA of every church (or at least it should be), and hopefully every church has as its vision the idea of “reaching people for Jesus Christ.” But unfortunately, too often the community around the church doesn’t know that’s the vision because church […]
REMINISCENCES OF A DECEASED FRIEND
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, Tennessee Baptist Convention An old and influential friend died Jan. 13 and the best way I know to honor my friend is to reminisce about the good times. My friend actually isn’t a person, it is – or was – the communications department of the International Mission board made […]
SHOULD PASTORS SHARE THEIR VIEWS WITH THE MEDIA?
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC You know the adage, “Whenever you get two Baptists together you always have three (or more) opinions.” And I know this is hard to fathom, but preachers can sometimes be, well, opinionated. Almost all of them see the world through the lens of a biblical worldview so it […]