By Larry Robertson
Sr. Pastor, Hilldale Baptist Church, Clarksville

The ride ahead is going to get bumpy, so make sure that your seat backs and tray tables are in their upright positions, your seat belts are securely fastened, and all your carry-on items are securely stowed.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision legalizing same-sex marriage has changed the landscape of America in unprecedented ways, but this journey has just begun. And what the future holds is anybody’s guess.

Nevertheless, I have great hope about the future! All Christians should be able to sing, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness!” and mean it. [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

Picture this scenario from a pastor’s perspective. A same-sex couple contacts you on Thursday and asks you to officiate their wedding ceremony. You politely decline. Friday the couple is making the rounds on the local news. In their mind, you’re a narrow-minded bigot violating their 14th Amendment rights. Your cell phone blows up with interview requests. You decline, and by Sunday when you pull into the church parking lot, news reporters and their trucks everywhere.

Driving through the lot, out the other side, and continuing on to Alaska may look like a reasonable option at the time, but it’s really not. What should you really do? Actually, it’s what should you have done long before now that would have made a difference and prepared you for the moment.

There are generally two types of organizations in the world — those who have had a crisis and those whose crisis hasn’t occurred yet. Preparation is critical if your church is to weather the storm and maintain its witness. Here are a number of tips to help you and your church be prepared for addressing difficult issues — not just the same-sex marriage issue — and to effectively communicate your position on anything. [Read more…]

By Chris Turner
Director of Communications, TBC

BRENTWOOD — The intersection of a biblical worldview and the philosophy of a secular culture often converge in the youth minister’s office, and there has been no greater collision in that intersection than the recent 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

“Youth ministers are faced with helping parents and teenagers sort through the reality of a biblical view of human sexuality and marriage,” said Bruce Edwards, youth specialist with the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

“The culture and the court are validating lifestyles contrary to God’s intended design for sex and marriage. Unfortunately this issue isn’t going away so churches and ministers can’t just stick their heads in the sand and hope it will.”

Youth ministers stand at a unique place in the lives of both parents and teens, Edwards said, and stand in a unique position of ministry as a result. That is a lot of responsibility, especially when dealing with such an important topic that needs to be handled with great wisdom for all involved. [Read more…]

By Vicki Hulsey
TBC Childhood Ministry Specialist

When children are given more opportunities to discover God’s plan for marriage, their tendency to ask tough questions may increase as they see people they know choosing to live a lifestyle that is different than God’s design for marriage. Below are some tips to share with parents when answering tough questions:

• Take each question seriously. A child who feels embarrassed may be uncomfortable in asking questions in the future.
• Make sure responses are age appropriate. Avoid giving more information than a child asks for or needs.
• Use language a child can understand when answering questions.
• Remember that children have short attention spans.
• Before answering a question, try to think how you might have felt at this age. Keep in mind that what was confusing to you as a child may be magnified for today’s children.
• Locate Bible passages in advance to help children discover what God has to say about creation and marriage. Give the child opportunities to read the passages, preferably from his Bible. Be prepared to explain unfamiliar words.
• Refrain from turning this important time into a lecture by listening carefully to the child, encouraging him to express his own thoughts.
• Pray for God’s guidance for you and the child before, during, and after the conversation. Leave the door open for future conversations.

By Vicki Hulsey
TBC Childhood Ministry Specialist

Kids are full of questions. If you are a parent or children’s leader at church, you might often hear questions like:

• Are we there yet?

• Who else is going?

• When are we going to eat?

• What are we going to do next?

• Are you sure?

• Why can’t I?

• Do we have to? [Read more…]

By David Evans
TBC Staff

The recent Supreme Court decision confirmed what many people have already observed. Our culture is shifting and behaviors once understood as contrary to a biblical standard have now been legally validated. Although the world proclaims with the social media hashtag, “#lovewins,” it seems that #religiouspersecution is on the rise. Those who claim to be tolerant express intolerance toward religious freedom. How should the church respond?

Of course the only answer is that we respond with Jesus, but even that raises the question: How do we continue to share the story of Jesus in today’s culture? Well, the short answer is pretty much the way that Jesus did it. We must be loving, clear, and intentional. The place to begin is with ourselves. To prepare, we must: [Read more…]

By Randy C. Davis
TBC Executive Director

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had been key players in one of history’s most significant dramas in the founding of the United States. Years had passed since that fateful July 4 Independence Day. Now, they were two stately gentlemen near the end of their lives exchanging letters and reflecting on bygone days.

“My friend,” Adams wrote to Jefferson. “You and I have lived in serious times.”

It has been my joy over these past five years as executive director to walk closely with Tennessee Baptist pastors and ministers — no doubt, some of the greatest people on this planet. I say to you, “Friends, you and I live in serious times.”

The culture across our nation and throughout our state is changing rapidly before our eyes. I don’t believe any of us would have projected five years ago that we’d see the monumental societal shift in issues like same-sex marriage. Know this: I’ve been praying passionately for my brothers and sisters involved in vocational and lay ministries. You are all on the front lines of a spiritual war. You are fighting for the spiritually lost souls of family, friends, and your communities. At my core I’m a pastor, and from this pastor’s heart, please hear a deeply sincere, “Thank you.” [Read more…]

By Lucyara Usery
TBC Staff

Blessed to be an American? You should be. Yet, you didn’t choose where you were to be born. God’s sovereignty directs that. Citizenship will shape a lot in life but it will also reflect God’s creative nature. Does your church reflect His nature? Does your church intentionally reach out to a varied universe of citizens?

On Sept. 10, 2001, mid-morning, my husband and I arrived back in the States from a week-long trip to Brazil. We had been married a little over three years then. I was still trying to transport pieces of a hand-painted, 12-person china set Mom had prepared to give to each of her four daughters. We were down to a soup tureen and a few other odd pieces, all brought as carry-on luggage. The next day, travel as we knew it was going to change dramatically.

The TV was off and the living room floor was flooded with luggage items waiting to be put away. The phone rang and my husband told me that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York. I grew up under American-backed military dictatorship in Brazil but I knew nothing of international terrorism. [Read more…]

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

It’s time to take down the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol.

As a South Carolina native and born and bred Southerner, I never thought I would ever say those words, much less put them into print.

The issue of taking down the Confederate flag in South Carolina did not happen overnight. It has been “on the table” for years, but what happened last week brought it to the forefront again.

In my heart I know that flag had nothing to do with the evil carried out by Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist who murdered nine Christians at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.

Roof was a tool and pawn of Satan. What happened at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was Satan’s handiwork.

From afar, I have said to family and friends in years past that we don’t need to take the Confederate flag down. It’s part of the state’s history.

Rest assured, I have never approved of slavery. To my knowledge, our family never owned slaves. I have never flown a Confederate flag or ever plan to. [Read more…]