July 13 likely will be a day that Bill Highsmith will never forget. Nearly 200 people gathered in the fellowship hall of Tusculum Hills Baptist Church in Nashville to help him celebrate his 80th birthday, along with his retirement (see story on page 8 of the print edition). While many people may not know who Bill Highsmith is, his legacy will live on for years to come, at least in
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist & Reflector [email protected] Suffice to say, our world is in a mess. COVID-19 is beginning its third year and has shown no sign of going away. People are still catching the disease and, sadly, some are still dying. Russia has invaded the Ukraine. Thousands of people have died and people are fleeing the country. Gas prices are skyrocketing. In Tennessee, gas has exceeded $4 a
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] In 1997, Richard Carlson wrote a book entitled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All Small Stuff. The book proved to be quite popular, spending 100 weeks on The New York Times best-sellers list. I believe the book was so popular because it’s human nature for people to “sweat the small stuff.” I think many of us condition ourselves for
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] As children, we often were afraid, whether it was because of the bully down the street, the darkness, strange sounds, scary movies or television shows, you name it. I was no different. For years, I would never watch “The Twilight Zone.” Now, it is one of my favorite old shows. The imagination of the writers was incredible. I understand that now. I
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Over the course of a week, I receive numerous e-mails. And, I check those e-mails faithfully, especially those that I know are from individuals or our associations and churches. I am always on the lookout for story ideas or suggestions that we can develop for the paper. After all, that is what we do. But, the overwhelming majority of press releases and
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] We are officially in the final days of the Christmas season. As you read this column in the print issue, Christmas Day is about three weeks away. As we know, however, the unofficial Christmas season began even before Halloween was over as stores began promoting Christmas gift buying and decorating for the season. Now is the time people are “getting ready” for
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] During Summit, Chris Turner, the TBMB’s director of communications, and I were having a conversation with TBC president Bruce Chesser and vice president Chuck Groover. The issue of statesmen and statesmanship in the Southern Baptist Convention came up. The general consensus was we have few if any. What a shame. When I think of Baptist statesmen in my era, the names Hershel
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] I have worn glasses for more than 50 years. It’s hard to find photos of me when I was a kid when I didn’t wear glasses. It wasn’t easy when I began wearing glasses in the fourth or fifth grade. I was called “four eyes” more times than I can count. Plus, back then, there was not the assortment of frames we
By Lonnie Wilkey Baptist and Reflector, Editor [email protected] The Twitterverse has been in a “twitter” since messengers adopted a motion from the floor of the 2021 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville to ask newly elected president Ed Litton to appoint a Sexual Abuse Task Force. Unfortunately, a lot of negative “twittering” has been directed toward members of the SBC Executive Committee who voiced concerns that the
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] For nearly all of my life, I have heard of the soap opera, “As the World Turns.” I can honestly say that I never recall watching a single episode. My grandmother, with whom I spent most of my daytime hours before going to school, was a “General Hospital” fan. The soap opera, which aired on CBS from 1956 until it was canceled
July 13 likely will be a day that Bill Highsmith will never forget. Nearly 200 people gathered in the fellowship hall of Tusculum Hills Baptist
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist & Reflector [email protected] Suffice to say, our world is in a mess. COVID-19 is beginning its third year and has
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] In 1997, Richard Carlson wrote a book entitled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] As children, we often were afraid, whether it was because of the bully down the street, the
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Over the course of a week, I receive numerous e-mails. And, I check those e-mails faithfully, especially
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] We are officially in the final days of the Christmas season. As you read this column in
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] During Summit, Chris Turner, the TBMB’s director of communications, and I were having a conversation with TBC
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] I have worn glasses for more than 50 years. It’s hard to find photos of me when
By Lonnie Wilkey Baptist and Reflector, Editor [email protected] The Twitterverse has been in a “twitter” since messengers adopted a motion from the floor of the
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] For nearly all of my life, I have heard of the soap opera, “As the World Turns.”
