Lonnie Wilkey

Before it Hits the Press

MACHINES (AND THE WORLD) CAN BE WRONG

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist & Reflector I recently stopped by a fast food restaurant and entered the drive-through line to purchase a sandwich. The sandwich totaled $4.10 so I gave the cashier a $5 bill and two nickels. The teenage girl (or at least early 20s) rang it up and  then gave me about 40 cents. I explained to her that I gave her $5.10 so my change should

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ANNUAL MEETING WAS A WELCOMED RELIEF

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Southern Baptists came to Nashville in droves for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in mid-June and they were a welcome sight for a city and state still trying to recover from the economic shutdown caused by COVID-19 in 2020. If you walked anywhere in the downtown area, you saw people lined up outside, waiting to get into restaurants. And,

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WELCOME TO TENNESSEE — A MISSION FIELD

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Tennessee Baptists extend a warm welcome to our Southern Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ who are in Nashville this week for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of you may be in Nashville for the first time while this may be a regular place to visit for others. Even without Opryland, a theme park that used to bring

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AVOIDING THE DEADLY SIN OF COMPLACENCY

Oʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ᴘᴏsᴛᴇᴅ Nᴏᴠ. 9, 2016 Editor’s note: The following column, written in 2016, has continued to be one of the most widely read articles ever posted on the B&R website. In 2020, it was the seventh most viewed article of the year. With COVID-19 still with us, it may be time to run the article again to remind us that now, more than ever before, we must not be complacent

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AVOIDING THE DEADLY SIN OF COMPLACENCY

Oʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ᴘᴏsᴛᴇᴅ Nᴏᴠ. 9, 2016 Editor’s note: The following column, written in 2016, has continued to be one of the most widely read articles ever posted on the B&R website. In 2020, it was the seventh most viewed article of the year. With COVID-19 still with us, it may be time to run the article again to remind us that now, more than ever before, we must not be complacent

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PERSPECTIVE ON THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Messengers from across the Southern Baptist Convention will travel to Music City in June (COVID-permitting) for their annual meeting to be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. The last time the SBC annual meeting was held in Nashville in 2005 , it drew 11,641 messengers. That number likely will go unchallenged in 2021, primarily because a large number of

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DIFFERING BETWEEN THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGER

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Over the years I/Baptist and Reflector have been “killed” countless times, not with bullets but with words. Why? We have been the messenger — the bearer or deliverer of bad news or news that strikes those who read it negatively and causes them to blame the messenger, not those who spoke or wrote the message in the first place. I have grown

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THREE CERTAINTIES OF LIFE: DEATH, TAXES AND JESUS

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] It’s long been said that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. After writing checks for my property taxes in 2020 and learning of the deaths of two dear friends and a family member in just the past two weeks, I tend to agree with that statement. But, there is a third certainty that far outweighs the first two:

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DEMONSTRATING WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Last year a friend gave me a copy of Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christmas. The book is not new, having been written in 1998. I had heard of the book but this was the first time I actually held it in in my hand and began to read through it. What makes the book significant for me is that Strobel

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40 YEARS – WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector [email protected] Psalm 144:4 (HCSB) reminds us, “Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.” That verse became real to me this year as I realized that 40 years ago this month, God started me on a journey I never expected. I had my plans, but I soon learned that plans made without God rarely pan out. When I graduated

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