Mackenzie Miller

Llambés siblings find second home at Boyce College

Moving from their family’s missionary work in Latin America to Louisville, Kentucky, the three Llambés siblings have flourished together at the same school.

3 Questions with Andy Naselli

3 Questions with Andy Naselli, assistant professor of New Testament and theology at Bethlehem Baptist College & Seminary 1. What advice would you give to students considering doctoral studies, but unsure whether they should pursue them?  Think through diagnostic questions such as these: What do you want to do with a Ph.D.? Would a different…

Marvelous metanarratives: Remnants of a Christian worldview

“Comics are the new Bible,” film critic Anne Billson recently declared, “and devotees never tire of seeing their idols save the world.” Her elevation of comic books to canonical status is certainly overstated, but she may be quite correct in suggesting that part of the current appeal of comics is their openness to the supernatural.…

Heroes of the ‘Hardshells’: The other 1980s comic about turtles

Created by then-M.Div. student Tom Williams, two years before the comic book debut of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a band of anthropomorphic terrapins graced the pages of Towers.

Missional apologetics: Mark Coppenger’s journey from the military to the mission field

From playing trumpet in the same band as former President Bill Clinton to getting bitten on the lip by a rat in Africa, Mark T. Coppenger has had a wide range of interesting and instructive experiences.

3 Questions with Gray Havens

EDITOR’S NOTE: David Redford is the lead singer of the Christian folk band, Gray Havens.  1. Are there authors or artists who have influenced the style you and your wife have developed? Listening to sermons expositing Scripture and lectures taught me what to say, and stories — like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia — taught me how to…

Jimmy Carter and the SBC

When Jimmy Carter’s presidential term was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1977, he became the first U.S. president to be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. At the time, it was an affiliation he embraced, and the denomination embraced him in return. That year, President Carter participated in a short video, “In an Act of Love,”…

From racial wounds to gospel healing, ONE co-founder Latevia Priddy pursues justice and racial reconciliation

Latevia Priddy, an African-American student at Southern Seminary, knows what it is like to be stereotyped because of the color of her skin. “My story would tell you that I would hate white people,” she said. Growing up in the projects of Paducah, Kentucky, Priddy realized that being poor and African-American ostracized her in many…

Feature review: ‘The Unfinished Reformation’

Gregg Allison and Chris Castaldo, The Unfinished Reformation: What Unites and Divides Catholics and Protestants After 500 Years (Zondervan 2016, $16.99) Hot takes and the social media echo chamber have rendered civil discourse on vital issues nearly impossible in recent years. As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the need for clarity and…

Book reviews: ‘Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical’; ‘Andrew Fuller: Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Mission’; ‘Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels’; ‘Live Smart’

Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical Timothy Keller Review by Andrew J.W. Smith In 2007, Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, wrote his rational defense of the Christian faith in The Reason for God. The book was a strong counterargument to postmodern skepticism, offering a compelling case why…

3 Questions with Robby Gallaty

EDITOR’S NOTE: Robby Gallaty is the senior pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and founder of Replicate Ministries. 1. What would you want a seminary student to learn from your story? I still don’t know how they let me into seminary. I was a year-and-a-half from drugs and alcohol and they let me…

Robert Konemann’s legacy of faithfulness

Even in the late stages of a brutal and physically exhausting disease, Robert Konemann was always there. At Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night services at his home church, Fisherville Baptist, at both Boyce and Southern Seminary graduations, in the lives of his wife and children. Konemann, who served as project manager at Southern Seminary starting in 2012, passed away…

Mohler on new academic year, opportunities for students

EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, SBTS President R. Albert Mohler Jr. discusses the 2016-17 academic year with Towers editor S. Craig Sanders.   CS: Going into the 24th year of your presidency, what are you most thankful for? RAM: I’m most thankful that as we look across the landscape of theological education and even Christian…

John Broadus on the salvation of sinners

Near Christmas 1857, John A. Broadus received a letter from a man inquiring about the nature of Christian salvation. Due to his travel schedule and bouts of ill health, Broadus was unable to respond to the letter until Jan. 26, 1858. His response was a thorough, heartfelt description of the biblical plan of salvation in…

Hall to lead a ‘new song’ of racial reconciliation as Boyce College dean

Matthew Hall, newly appointed dean of Boyce College, knows what it feels like to be different. He knows what it feels like to be an outsider, to wake up every morning knowing he’s not like everybody else. Hall was one of three children, and his family spent six years of his childhood as missionaries in…

Sampey’s Summers in Rio: ‘A passion for winning the unsaved to faith’

    Having joined the Southern Seminary faculty in 1887 as assistant professor of Hebrew, Greek, and homiletics, John R. Sampey served the institution until his death in 1946, a few weeks shy of his 83rd birthday. His long tenure at SBTS also entailed nearly 13 years as the seminary’s fifth president, during which time…

Faithfulness in persecution: Juan Sanchez discusses book on 1 Peter

EDITOR’S NOTE:  In what follows, Juan Sanchez, SBTS assistant professor of Christian theology and senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, talks with Towers writer Andrew J.W. Smith about his book 1 Peter For You.   AJWS: What does the church today need to hear from the book of 1 Peter?   JS: Well, particularly in…

Feature review: ‘1 Peter For You’

1 Peter For You (The Good Book Company 2016, $22.99), Juan R. Sanchez As any regular listener to “The Briefing” or anyone paying attention to the current political climate can attest, Christians live in a world growing more hostile by the day to their distinctive message. Keystones of Christian theology like the sanctity of marriage…