By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector In most sporting events, there is a clear cut winner. A team wins or loses. It’s not as simple in life. Sometimes things happen and there are no winners — only losers. Such is the case in our nation today. The most recent example is in Charlotte, N.C., where a black man was shot by police on Sept. 20 and rioting broke out
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Growing up in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s I constantly heard adults bemoan the direction that television programming was heading. Little did they know. What seemed “over the top” then pales in comparison to programming on network television today. And even worse, there are more networks clogging the airwaves with questionable programming. In my early years there were the big three
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector My 3-year-old grandson, Eli Beasley, is playing soccer this fall. Personally, I think he is too young to play in a league, but Pappy deferred to his parents. Well, Eli is proving Pappy probably was right. He takes a notion to play and practice when he wants to, causing his mother a great deal of frustration. But when he decides to play, Eli
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made national headlines recently when he refused to stand for the National Anthem prior to a 49ers preseason National Football League game. While I’m not disputing his right to stand or not stand (and I do disagree with his decision to not stand), I do dispute his rationale. Kaepernick, who is biracial, told NFL media reporter Steve
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector When the United States Supreme Court redefined the biblical definition of marriage slightly more than a year ago to allow for homosexual marriage, some Christians thought it couldn’t get any worse. They were wrong. The slippery slope continues to get more slippery with each passing day.
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector It’s well documented that courts in the United States (including the highest court in the land) have not been very favorable to Christians and/or Christian-based beliefs when rendering verdicts in recent months. The best example occurred slightly more than a year ago when the Supreme Court took the biblical definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman and redefined
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector People love to talk, whether it is at home, work, or church. But what are we talking about? According to a survey recently conducted by LifeWay Research, six in 10 Americans prefer to talk about politics instead of God. The numbers do improve for evangelical Christians. Research shows that Christians prefer talking about God over politics by a 2-to-1 margin. Scott McConnell, a
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Last week at least two more police officers were shot and killed — this time in San Diego. The list of police officers being killed is growing at an alarming rate. Police officers have been cast in a negative light by some political leaders and media. That must stop. Police officers put their lives on the line every time they step out the
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Just recently I received an e-mail from a long-time friend and colleague in denominational journalism. He wrote, after browsing through some various state papers online, “I was thoroughly impressed with the B&R’s content and display. Everything there has visual appeal web-wise, even if just a headline, and is easily accessible and, then, quite a number of the stories are great reports.” High praise
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector One thing I have learned after working on newspapers for 30-plus years is that you have to be flexible. Quite frankly, this column was not planned, but the events of Thursday, July 7, caused me to completely change the plans that had been made for this issue. We had to delay the printed publication of some stories (some have appeared or will appear
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector In most sporting events, there is a clear cut winner. A team wins or loses. It’s not as
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Growing up in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s I constantly heard adults bemoan the direction that
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector My 3-year-old grandson, Eli Beasley, is playing soccer this fall. Personally, I think he is too young to
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made national headlines recently when he refused to stand for the National
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector When the United States Supreme Court redefined the biblical definition of marriage slightly more than a year ago
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector It’s well documented that courts in the United States (including the highest court in the land) have not
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector People love to talk, whether it is at home, work, or church. But what are we talking about?
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Last week at least two more police officers were shot and killed — this time in San Diego.
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Just recently I received an e-mail from a long-time friend and colleague in denominational journalism. He wrote, after
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector One thing I have learned after working on newspapers for 30-plus years is that you have to be