‘A PRODUCT OF EVERYTHING BAPTIST’
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 […]
DON’T LET THE WORLD ROB YOU OF YOUR JOY
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 […]
‘DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF’
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 […]
AS 2022 BEGINS, TRUST GOD’S WORD: FEAR NOT
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 […]
JESUS SHOULDN’T BE REDUCED TO A BOBBLEHEAD
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. […]
PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS, SPIRITUALLY
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 […]
WHERE ARE TODAY’S STATESMEN?
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. […]
LOOKING AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY NOW
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 […]
THINK TWICE BEFORE CASTING YOUR STONE
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” […]
AS THE WORLD TURNS, GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL
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 […]