Tolbert Fanning on Evangelists and the Lord’s Day

April 5, 2013

Brother “J. R. W.” of Kentucky tossed Tolbert Fanning a softball in the June 1858 issue of  the Gospel Advocate (pp. 170-171).  It was a subject he had constantly addressed as an editor and evangelist. It was one of the great themes of his life beginning with his time as an evangelist supported by the Nashville […]


Profiles in Character: A Look at Shepherding and Spiritual Leadership V

July 27, 2009

[This is a brief small group/Bible class series that parallels the sermons of Dean Barham at Woodmont Hills Family of God in Nashville, TN, for the month of July 2009. The is the final installment. Unfortunately, I offer the homily on this one to which you may listen here when it becomes available.] Leadership in Community 1 […]


Profiles in Character: A Look at Shepherding and Spiritual Leadership IV

July 25, 2009

[This is a brief small group/Bible class series that parallels the sermons of Dean Barham at Woodmont Hills Family of God in Nashville, TN, for the month of July 2009. You may listen to Dean’s lessons here.] A Shepherd’s Presence 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 This text is one of the most “pastoral” passages in all of […]


Profiles in Character: A Look at Shepherding and Spiritual Leadership III

July 15, 2009

[This is a brief small group/Bible class series that parallels the sermons of Dean Barham at Woodmont Hills Family of God in Nashville, TN, for the month of July 2009. You may listen to Dean’s lessons here.] A Shepherd Model Acts 20:17-38 Paul had spent several years in Ephesus ministering among God’s people in that city. […]


Profiles in Character: A Look at Shepherding and Spiritual Leadership II

July 9, 2009

[This is a brief small group/Bible class series that parallels the sermons of Dean Barham at Woodmont Hills Family of God in Nashville, TN, for the month of July 2009. You may listen to Dean’s lessons here.] Character Traits 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9 What do you want to be when you grow up? Or, […]


Profiles in Character: A Look at Shepherding and Spiritual Leadership I

July 1, 2009

[This is a brief small group/Bible class series that parallels the sermons of Dean Barham at Woodmont Hills Family of God in Nashville, TN, for the month of July 2009. You may listen to Dean’s lessons here.] THE DIVINE SHEPHERD Psalm 23 “God Who Has Been My Shepherd All My Life” Genesis 48:15 The “Shepherd” […]


My “Contending for the Faith” Articles–More 1970s

March 15, 2009

Yes, it is true. I wrote articles for Contending for the Faith, edited by Ira Y. Rice, Jr., in the late 1970s. Ira Y. Rice, Jr. was a good friend of my father Mark N. Hicks. Ira would stay in our home, it seemed, at least once a year. He would either hold a meeting […]


Leadership: A Teaching/Discussion Resource

March 9, 2009

Leadership Series Cordova Community Church, Cordova, TN (1998) This material was presented in the form of 30 minutes of teaching followed by 30 minutes of discussion within small groups. The new church plant was moving toward appointing their first shepherds. We probably moved too quickly as I think about it now, but this is the […]


Controversies over Hands–Forgotten Debates

January 4, 2009

David Lipscomb (1831-1917) and James A. Harding (1848-1922) belonged to the same theological orbit. They started the Nashville Bible School (now Lipscomb University) together in 1891. Harding, for a time, was an associate editor of the Gospel Advocate in the 1880s. They agreed on a host of theological issues, including opposition to rebaptism, renewed earth eschatology, […]