Open Board Meeting

Huguenot Road Baptist Church
April 22, 2010
11:00 a.m. to Noon

All members are invited to attend.  Attendees are encouraged to have lunch together at a nearby restaurant afterwards.

Huguenot Road Baptist Church
10525 West Huguenot Road
Richmond, VA 23235-2601
(804) 272-2072

Dr. Tim Madison of Mechanicsville, will be presented as a nominee for President. A graduate of Virginia Tech (BA ‘85) and Southern Seminary (MDiv ’88 and DMin ‘96), Madison is the pastor of Mechanicsville Baptist Church. He recently was the pastor of Madison Heights Baptist Church for sixteen years, and 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.

Rev. David Plott of Dublin will be presented as a nominee for Second Vice-President.  A graduate of the University of Tennessee, David moved to Virginia in the 1970’s, and became pastor of Belspring Baptist Church, Belspring, VA, in the Highlands Association, from 1977 to 1980. During that time, he also attended Southeastern Seminary, graduating in 1980.  From 1980 to 1988, he pastored Memorial Baptist in Bluefield, VA, in the East River Association, after which, he became the first Director of Missions of Goshen Association. In 1991, he moved back to Southwest Virginia to become the DOM for East River & Highlands Associations. David and his wife Becky have been active in Virginia Baptist work for many years, especially in partnership missions, and David was one of the advocates of the founding of the Bland Ministry Center of the East River Association.  David is a member of First Baptist Church in Radford, Va.

For over two decades Virginia Baptists Committed has endorsed candidates for president and the two vice-presidents of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Our goal has never been to gather power in the hands of a few Virginia Baptists. It has always been to ensure that one fully vetted roster of candidates committed to the BGAV is available for election at the BGAV Annual Meeting. We welcome the nomination of other candidates and respect the electoral process that leaves decisions in the hands of the elected messengers.

The Religious Herald announced recently on its website that Mr. Bob Bass, a layman from Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, will be nominated for First Vice-President by his pastor. Mr. Bass is a long-standing Virginia Baptist who has held leadership positions in his church and at every level of Baptist life. His commitment to missions through Baptist organizations is significant. When Virginia Baptists Committed learned that Mr. Bass would be nominated, we saw no need to field a different candidate for First Vice-President. Virginia Baptists Committed have had Mr. Bass on its short list of potential candidates, and with this announcement from the Religious Herald, VBC supports and encourages Mr. Bass’s election next month.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
10:00 a.m. to noon

River Road Church in Richmond
8000 River Rd, Richmond, VA 23229-8415

Nominees for BGAV Officers will be introduced and voted on at the meeting.
Lunch will NOT be served.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Sandston Baptist Church

100 W. Williamsburg Road, Sandston, VA

Lunch served at a modest price.
Please call Sandston Baptist Church (804 737-2171) to RSVP.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“MUP is multi-denominational but part of our hope is that we could offer another option to Baptist churches who still want to prioritize sending long term workers to unreached people groups,” Parks said. “We will retain our strong Baptists ties and identity.”

Parks, born in Kediri, Indonesia to Baptist missionary parents, brings a lifetime of experience to his new position, including 12 years in Indonesia and seven years in Malaysia. His parents, Keith and Helen Jean Parks, are former missionaries to Indonesia. His father is former president of the Foreign Mission Board and former global missions coordinator for CBF. A brother, Stan Parks, also born in Indonesia, was formerly a strategy coordinator for an unreached people group with CBF and is currently serving in Singapore as a strategy coordinator and trainer for church planting among unreached people groups. He has served since 2002 as co-facilitator of Ethnê (www.ethne.net), the global Unreached People Initiative of mission leaders from every continent, and since 2001 as co-facilitator of SEALINK, the SEAsia UPG network.

These positions derived out of his role (since 1999) as Southeast Asia regional facilitator for the Network for Strategic Mission on loan from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He and his wife, Erika, joined CBF in 1995 as strategy coordinators for an unreached people group in Indonesia after eight years in Indonesia with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board).

Along the way, he served as pastor of Megargel (Texas) Baptist Church for six years, as a seminary teacher and administrator in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, and as an innovator in initiatives to reach the nearly 28 percent of the world “that has little or no access to any form of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Kent Parks is married to the former Erika Alcorn of Valdosta, GA, and they have two daughters in college, Katy and Lindsay. He earned a B.A. degree in 1979 from Hardin Simmons University, Abilene, Texas; a Master of Divinity in 1982 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; and a Ph.D. degree (majoring in missiology and minoring in Biblical theology) in 1993 from Southwestern Seminary.