TobyMac’s New Album, NOBTS Convocation & Bible’s Removed from Schools.

Grammy-winning contemporary Christian artist TobyMac’s new album “Life After Death,” proclaims the goodness of God amidst the most devastating of circumstances.

The 15-track album, releasing Friday (Aug. 19) is the first for TobyMac (Kevin Michael McKeehan) since the death of his son and oldest child Truett in the fall of 2019 at the age of 21.

In an interview with Baptist Press, McKeehan said the first music he began to create after Truett’s passing simply reflected “the thoughts and feelings of walking through that season of loss.”

The first song to come was “21 Years,” a tribute to his son and an emotional song of lament expressing his grief-stricken thoughts to God.

The album also features a song reuniting DC Talk members Michael Tait and Kevin Max.
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Jamie Dew, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College president, welcomed new and returning students during Convocation and urged them to remember that worship is an encounter with God.

In a sermon from Psalm 90, Dew said “Never forget, when we deal with the things of God, we deal with the Almighty, the One who created with the simple word … when we come into His presence, acknowledge Him for who He is,” Dew said in the Aug. 16 service at Leavell Chapel.

Worship can become “familiar,” Dew cautioned. He reminded listeners that being in God’s presence is an “extraordinary moment” but that believers often miss out due to life’s distractions, pride, laziness, feelings of defeat, or even disbelief.
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Reports of the Bible’s being removed alongside other books from school libraries don’t tell the full story, said a statement issued by the Keller Independent School District (ISD) Aug. 18.

“Books that have been challenged by community members as being inappropriate for schools are required to be removed from shelves and held in a Parental Consent Area until the challenge process is complete,” said superintendent Rick Westfall

Materials placed in the Parental Consent Area are not completely off limits to students, said the Keller ISD in response to a list of questions by Baptist Press.

The parent who challenged the appropriateness of the Bible withdrew that challenge in December, but two other parents issued another challenge in the spring.

The Bible was “quickly determined to be appropriate” the district told BP. However, as part of a recently-adopted policy, the district is required to reevaluate all books that had previously been challenged.