Tommy Mann

I enjoyed my time at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas. It was my first time getting to attend the annual meeting, although I have attended several of our state conventions here in South Carolina. I was there both as a student at Southwestern, and as a messenger from Putman.              On Sunday afternoon we got to   attend the Text-Driven Preaching Micro Conference led by Dr. David Allen. There was a panel of pastors and professors that make up the SWBTS School of Preaching, including Mac Brunson and Kyle Walker. Dr. Allen asked them questions and took questions from the audience. Sunday night began the Pastors' Conference where we heard sermons from Juan Sanchez, James Merritt, and Tony Evans.                            On Monday we were privileged to attend the closed-door questions and answers time with the members of the Executive Commit...

City Council is in the process of considering a change to the existing ordinance as it relates to the sale of alcohol in non-residential establishments. There has been some healthy debate on this topic, but the more debate I hear, the more I fear that most people do not understand what is really being considered. I also get the impression that even some council members do not understand this proposal. There are a handful of restaurants in Union that serve alcohol; the law allows that, and no one is considering changing that in any way. To hear people defend this new proposal, though, one would think those of us in opposition are trying to keep restaurants from serving beer. That is not the case. We are not pushing to become a dry city, nor are we trying to get restaurants to stop serving alcohol. The current law in Union forbids the operating of an establishment for the primary purpose of consuming alcohol; the proposal before Council would change that. If the ordinance ...

The Protestant Reformation was a time of religious awakening around the world, giving rise to new denominations, new Bible translations, and new heroes to admire. It was an era characterized by a new boldness to attack the papacy, exposing powerful men for their corruption, and castigating the entire church, calling into question anything and everything that originated from the Vatican. Amid all the clamoring to present new interpretations to timeless Scripture were men with larger-than-life personalities who were often quick to vilify anyone with whom they disagreed. Many of these emerging scholars agreed with each other on the major tenets of the Reformation, but they would quibble over the minutia, evening questioning the salvation of their near-likeminded opponent. Two of these reformers who found themselves at odds with each other were Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Their main area of disagreement: the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. Both men agreed that the ...