Virginia Baptists Committed Spring Meeting
Thursday, April 16, 2009
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
100 W. Williamsburg Road, Sandston, VA
Lunch served at a modest price.
Please call Sandston Baptist Church (804 737-2171) to RSVP.
Virginia Baptists Committed will place in nomination these three individuals for officers of the Baptist General Association at the Annual Meeting in Roanoke, November 11-12.
Dr. William “Jeff” Bloomer, of Culpeper Baptist Church, current first vice president of the BGAV, will be presented as a nominee for president. Bloomer has been a professional educator and administrator for more than 40 years in Virginia’s public schools and colleges. He has served as a deacon in five churches, deacon chairman in three churches, and in many other local church leadership positions. He has served as moderator of the Shiloh Baptist Association and as its representative to the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. He has chaired three VBMB committees and served on its executive committee and budget committee.
Dr. Tim Madison of Madison Heights, will be presented as a nominee for first vice president. A graduate of Virginia Tech (BA ‘85) and Southern Seminary (MDiv ’88 and DMin ‘96), Madison has been pastor of Madison Heights Baptist Church since 1993. Prior to that, he pastored Winn’s Creek Baptist Church in Halifax. Madison has actively served in the VBMB as a board member, as chairman of the budget and support services committees, and as member of the executive committee for six years. He has also served on the budget committee and program committee of the BGAV. Locally, he has been the moderator of the Lynchburg Baptist Association.
Dr. Richard Childress of Franklin, will be presented as a nominee for second vice president. A graduate of Carson Newman College (BA, ’83), Southern Seminary (MDiv, ’86), and Southeastern Seminary (DMin, ’93), Childress is currently pastor of Franklin Baptist Church in Franklin, VA. Prior to that, he pastored churches in Virginia at Covington Baptist and at First Baptist, Appalachia. He has also served as a moderator for the Natural Bridge Association and as a Trustee for Virginia Intermont College. Currently, he is a Trustee for the Virginia Baptist Foundation and a Capital Stewardship Services consultant for the BGAV.
Virginia Baptists Committed is a statewide organization of Virginia Baptist clergy and lay members committed to supporting the BGAV. Its nomination process seeks candidates who support the BGAV and its Kingdom Advance vision, and such core Baptist values as priesthood of the believer, autonomy of the local church, soul freedom and religious liberty. Also, it seeks to follow the BGAV custom of alternating qualified clergy and laity as president, and the practice of electing a successfully serving first vice president as president the succeeding year.
VBC Breakfast at the BGAV
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
7:00 a.m.
Hotel Roanoke
Roanoke Ballroom D
David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance will be the Keynote Speaker
Cost: $20
You are cordially invited to the Virginia Baptists Committed breakfast that will take place at the Roanoke Ballroom D of the Hotel Roanoke during the Baptist General Association of Virginia annual meeting.
David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance will be the keynote speaker.
The cost is $20.00 per ticket.
Seating for the breakfast is limited to one hundred guests.
The deadline for purchasing tickets online has passed. You can contact us to see if there are still tickets available for purchase at the door.
Virginia Baptists Committed Fall Meeting
Thursday, September 25, 2008, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond, VA.
Lunch served at a modest price.
Please contact Lynn Fields by phone (540) 949-8187 or email to RSVP.
Virginia Baptists Committed Spring Meeting
Thursday, April 17, 2008
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at Madison Heights Baptist Church.
329 Main St., Madison Heights, VA 24572
Call the church at 434-846-5914 or email madhtsbap@aol.com for more information.
Lunch served at a modest price.
Lewis, Bloomer and Bloxom Nominated for BGAV Offices
By Robert O’Brien - rjo1965(at)gmail(dot)com
On September 27, attendees at the Virginia Baptists Committed’s Fall Meeting voted unanimously to nominate Joe Lewis, Jeff Bloomer and Pat Bloxom for BGAV offices when the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) meets on November 13-14 in Richmond.
The Rev. Dr. Joseph T. Lewis, current first vice president of Virginia Baptists, will be presented as a nominee for president. Lewis has been the pastor of Second Baptist Church, Petersburg since 1996. He has served widely on BGAV and associational boards and committees, and also was pastor of Fountain Creek Baptist Church, Emporia, associate minister at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond, and coordinator of Appalachian Ministries, Williamsburg, KY.
Dr. William “Jeff” Bloomer, of Culpeper Baptist Church, will be presented as a nominee for first vice president. Bloomer has been a professional educator and administrator for more than 40 years in Virginia’s public schools and colleges. He has served as a deacon in five churches, deacon chairman in three churches, and in many other local church leadership positions. He has served as moderator of the Shiloh Baptist Association and as its representative to the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. He has chaired three VBMB committees and served on its executive committee and budget committee.
Mrs. Patricia K. Bloxom, of Mappsville Baptist Church, will be presented as a nominee for second vice president. Bloxom is a a retired home health care and public health nurse. She is currently a member of the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. She has been a past chairman of the Eastern Shore Community Service Board, past president of Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia, past chairman of the BGAV’s Religious Liberty Committee, past WMU director for the Accomack Association, and a former BSU summer missionary. She has served in many other denominational leadership roles.
Virginia Baptists Committed is a statewide organization of Virginia Baptist clergy and lay members committed to supporting the BGAV. Its nomination process seeks candidates who support the BGAV and its Kingdom Advance vision, and such core Baptist values as priesthood of the believer, autonomy of the local church, soul freedom and religious liberty. Also, it seeks to follow the BGAV custom of alternating qualified clergy and laity as president, and the practice of electing a successfully serving first vice president as president the succeeding year.
By Robert O’Brien - rjo1965(at)gmail(dot)com
S. Kent Parks, formerly of Richmond and a veteran of 20 years of Baptist mission service in Southeast Asia, will become the international director of Mission to Unreached Peoples (MUP), effective November 1.
MUP, a broadly interdenominational agency, bases its U.S. office in Seattle, WA, and a Canadian office in Abbotsford, BC. Parks will establish the international office initially in Dallas, Texas, and will work in close relationship with the other two offices. His wife, Erika, will also join MUP as a missionary.
The 25-year-old MUP agency focuses on spiritual and physical ministries to unreached peoples around the world, and currently has 300 personnel who raise their own support and serve a number of people groups in 22 countries.
As MUP’s international director, Parks will focus on helping stimulate a global movement to raise up thousands of strategy teams to reach the almost two billion people who are from the least evangelized people groups. He will continue to emphasize MUP’s mission-”to obey the Great Commission of Jesus Christ by investing our lives, gifts, resources, and vocational skills in God’s work.” MUP seeks evangelists, church planters, disciplers, teachers, community development and healthcare workers, vocational tentmakers, and many more. The MUP network will continue to expand its role and vision and work to multiply its connections with other like-minded organizations and churches in North America and in other countries, Parks said. Continue reading ‘Kent Parks Named International Director of Mission to Unreached Peoples’
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
7:00 a.m.
Marriott Richmond
Dr. Jimmy Allen, Keynote Speaker
Cost: $20
You are cordially invited to the Virginia Baptists Committed breakfast that will take place at the Marriott Richmond during the Baptist General Association of Virginia annual meeting.
Jimmy Allen, Chair of the Program Committee for the New Baptist Covenant will be the keynote speaker.
The cost is $20.00 per ticket.
You can make a reservation for the breakfast via Pay Pal below or by sending a check made payable to VBC to
P. O. Box 3446
Petersburg, Virginia 23805-3446.
Breakfast menu: scrambled eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, muffins, danish, fruit breads, orange juice, coffee and tea.
Limited seating is available.
We hope to see you there!
By Michael Clingenpeel
One of the characters on the cartoon show “Family Guy” is a talking baby. Not long ago the tot described someone being “as lonely as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell after the Rapture.” The cartoon immediately cut to a vignette where Robertson and Falwell, both apparently left behind, stood talking. The Lynchburg pastor remarked to Robertson: “I don’t know why we were left. We hated all the right things.”
That statement is a tidy explanation of our nation’s perception of Baptists over the past couple of decades. One very vocal subset of Baptists in the United States has celebrated their hatreds—women ministers, Mormons, liberals, homosexuals, Disney, Democrats, modernity in general. Baptists now are known more for what we oppose than the ideals and causes we affirm.
Another Baptist witness needs to be heard and, if two former U.S. presidents and a host of others can coax us other Baptists out of our shells, we will get the opportunity to do it about a year from now.
Last month about 80 Baptist leaders, including Baptist General Association of Virginia executive-director John Upton, met at Atlanta’s Carter Center and announced a convocation that will give a face to a North American Baptist Covenant signed last year. The convocation, scheduled, January 30-February 1, 2008, in Atlanta, Ga., will attempt to unite diverse Baptists in a network to reverse a decades-old negative image of Baptists and address social issues.
Almost 30 Baptist entities are likely to be involved in the interracial, pan-Baptist effort, including the Baptist World Alliance, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist Churches, National Baptist Convention USA, and Canadian Baptist Ministries
Because Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton—both Democrats—are involved, some have criticized the convocation as nothing more than politics. But the organizers disagree. They say they also want to involve conservatives, high-visibility Republicans, and Independents and a wide array of Baptists to ensure the event will be about our common Baptist witness, not national politics.
Moderate Virginia Baptists need to support this pan-Baptist network. We need to clear our throats and find our voice for the sake of an authentic Baptist witness in North America. The date is January 30 through February 1, 2008. Be there.
Michael Clingenpeel, pastor of River Road Church Baptist in Richmond, is co-chairman of Virginia Baptists Committed. He is former editor of The Religious Herald.
By Walter B. Shurden
I believe … that “The New North American Baptist Covenant and its Celebration” that is presently in the planning stage for early 2008 in Atlanta, GA is one of the most exciting things that has happened in my half-century of traipsing around the Baptist yard of America.
By now, most Baptists and many other Christians are aware that “A New North American Baptist Covenant” has been adopted by Baptist leaders representing an estimated 20 million Baptists, and probably more. It all started with the majestic dream of one of the good and prophetic Baptists of our time, evangelical President Jimmy Carter. Without him, the Covenant would not be a possibility. President Carter wisely chose Mercer University President William D. Underwood to help him spearhead the movement.
What is “The North American Baptist Covenant Celebration”?
Foremost, it is a “covenant,” a good biblical word. It is a covenant that 18 Baptist leaders adopted on 10 April 2006 in Atlanta, GA at the Carter Center (online at www.centerforbaptiststudies.org/covenant.htm) “to speak and work together to create an authentic and genuine prophetic Baptist voice in these complex times. They affirmed their commitment to traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality. They specifically committed themselves to their obligations as Christians to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the marginalized, welcome the strangers among us, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.”
A second strategic planning committee convened at the Carter Center on 13 June 2006. At this meeting several significant developments occurred. One, the Covenant was reaffirmed. Second, those present underscored the necessity of celebrating the Covenant by crossing racial, ethnic, and gender barriers among Baptists. Third, these Baptists wanted to project an image of Baptist unity among those who represent prophetic and traditional moral values, especially themes of religious liberty and equality in the service of Christ. Fourth, two committees were appointed. The first, led by President William Underwood of Mercer University, would seek to find a time and place for a Baptist convocation that would be a massive Celebration of the North American Baptist Covenant. Dr. Jimmy Allen was appointed chair of the program committee of the future Celebration.
The last meeting for the Covenant planning celebration, now much publicized, met on 9 January 2007, again at the Carter Center in Atlanta. President Bill Clinton was present to endorse and affirm the Baptist Covenant and its celebration.
Why do I think that the Covenant Celebration is one of the most exciting things that has happened in my half century of traipsing around the Baptist yard of America? Continue reading ‘‘Living History: The New North American Baptist Covenant and Its Celebration’’
