Members of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee met last week in Nashville.

I feel bad for the EC members who have joined the board in the last two years. They walked into the middle of a stirred up hornet’s nest that they did not stir up.

The situation with the Executive Committee continues to be a mess. We summarize most of what took place on page 2. For those interested, visit baptistandreflector.org. We have more extensive articles there. The pages of this issue simply weren’t enough to cover all that took place.

Four things stand out for me about what happened last week. [Read more…]

It seems impossible to overstate the importance of prayer. Throughout the Bible we read time and time again of the miraculous impact wrought from calling out to God. Because of prayer the Red Sea parted, water burst forth from a rock, manna fell from heaven, the sun stood still for three days, fire descended from heaven, the sick found healing, prison doors opened, and the dead experienced resurrection.  

Furthermore, you cannot read about the life of Jesus without observing His sustained devotion to prayer. In his book, The Power of Positive Praying, John Bisagno noted the observable characteristics of our Lord’s prayer life: [Read more…]

When you plant a tree, you plant it with a vision of what it will become. Saplings don’t offer shade, but mighty oaks do. The satisfaction in planting trees is knowing that someday others will sit under its outstretched branches and enjoy its shade. 

The joy in planting trees is knowing future generations will benefit from the intentional actions we’ve left for them. 

That is exactly why the Acts 2:17 Initiative in which Tennessee Baptists have engaged is so vitally important. An enormous amount of progress has been made since Acts 2:17 was launched 10 months ago at the 2022 Summit held at Bellevue Baptist Church. The purpose of this column is to offer an update as we head toward the big reveal at this year’s Summit.   [Read more…]

In 2015, a Washington high school football coach received national attention when he was fired by the Bremerton School District for kneeling to pray following his school’s football games, something he had done for at least seven years, before it was brought to the attention of the school board.

According to news reports, Joseph Kennedy filed a lawsuit in August of 2016, claiming that the school district violated his First Amendment rights. He lost his case in the lower courts, but continued his fight until the United States Supreme Court heard the case in June of 2022 and ruled in his favor that the First Amendment “protected his personal religious observance from government reprisal,” according to CBS News.

It was a long, uphill battle for the part-time high school football coach, who at the time of his dismissal, was receiving approximately $3,000, for that position. [Read more…]

Dooley

“I love Jesus, I just hate the church.”

“I am spiritual person, but I resist any particular dogma.”

“I believe that God wants me to be happy, so following my heart is what’s most important.”

“The story of the cross is a message of hope and love, not one of sin and forgiveness.”

“The Bible has insights that can improve our lives, but we should reject notions of right and wrong.”

Statements like these are tragically common in a world that many now describe as post-Christian. What is striking to me in recent years, though, is how many people want to hold onto the idea of knowing God while simultaneously rejecting the clear commands of Scripture. Politics, political correctness, and biblical ignorance influence many to unknowingly capitulate to the world’s fallen carnality. More disturbing to me, however, is the increasing number of churchgoers who seem to reserve the right to approach God on their own terms. Far too many professing Christians live like practical atheists, boasting of deconstructing their faith as if abandoning biblical orthodoxy is admirable. [Read more…]