Wednesday, November 12, 2007
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.

You can make a reservation for the breakfast via Pay Pal

or by sending a check made payable to VBC to

P. O. Box 3446
Petersburg, Virginia 23805-3446.

Seating for the breakfast is limited to one hundred guests.

We hope to see you there!

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. (more…)

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!

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.

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? (more…)

IRVING, Texas (ABP) — A refrain of freedom echoed through a Mainstream Baptist Network convocation in suburban Dallas Feb. 23-24. About 80 participants from across the South gathered for the sixth-annual event.

During the session, seven speakers addressed the theme “Why I am still a Baptist.” They mentioned a broad range of issues, but freedom — and resolve — provided a common denominator.

“Many folks today are scared of being a Baptist, and [they] run off in fear,” Joe Lewis, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Petersburg, Va., said. “I stopped counting the friends who left.”

In the early 1600s, spiritual pioneers John Smyth and Thomas Helwys “began the Baptist movement demanding freedom,” Lewis said. Citing church historian Walter Shurden, Lewis noted that “four fragile freedoms” — Bible freedom, soul freedom, church freedom and religious freedom — are Baptist hallmarks.

After Lewis spoke, Tyrone Pitts recalled that his appreciation for religious freedom and its corollary, the separation of church and state, grew as he worked with other faith groups like the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

“Others in the ecumenical movement do not have this quality,” Pitts said. He is the general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, one of four predominantly American-African Baptist bodies.

“We are unified around soul freedom and liberty,” he said. “It was no accident that Martin Luther King was a Baptist, just as it was no accident that other key civil-rights leaders were Baptist ministers.” (more…)

The following is a list of Baptists who attended the initial New Baptist Covenant meeting held at the Carter Center.

1. Jimmy Allen, Chairman, Baptists Today; Former President of Southern Baptist Convention

2. Lloyd Allen, McAfee School of Theology

3. Rob Appel, Executive Director, Seventh Day Baptist Conference

4. Jedaias Azevedo, General Secretary, Association of Brazilian Baptist Churches in North America

5. Jeremy Bell, Executive Minister, Baptist Union of Western Canada

6. Ken Bellous, Executive Minister, Baptist Convention of Ontario & Quebec

7. Yvonne Best, Associate Director for Program Development, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society

8. Ron Black, Executive Director, General Association of General Baptists

9. Larry Brumley, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff, Mercer University

10. Richard Brunson, Director, North Carolina Baptist Men

11. George Bullard, North American Baptist Fellowship

12. Ruby Burke, North American Baptist Fellowship

13. Thelma Chambers-Young, Vice President, North American Baptist Women’s Union

14. Alan Culpepper, Dean, McAfee School of Theology

15. David Currie, Executive Director, Texas Baptists Committed

16. Lance Currie

17. Charles Deweese, Executive Director, Baptist History and Heritage Society

18. Ralph Duke, North American Baptist Fellowship

19. James Dunn, Executive Director Emeritus, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

20. William Epps, Editor-in-Chief, National Baptist Voice

21. Beth Fogg, Past Member, Coordinating Council and Advisory Council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Past President, Baptist General Association of Virginia

22. David Goatley, President, North American Baptist Fellowship, Executive Secretary, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society

23. Harry Gardner, Executive Minister, Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches

24. Gail Gardner

25. Kirby Godsey, Chancellor, Mercer University

26. Roland Grimard, Canadian Baptist Ministries

27. Sarah Hallstrand, Executive Minister, American Baptist Churches of Greater Indianapolis

28. Derrick Harkins, Vice President, North American Baptist Fellowship

29. George Harlov, Russian-Ukranian Baptist Union, USA

30. Gordon Harris, Interim Executive Director, North American Baptist Conference USA & Canada

31. Joyce B. Harris

32. Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications, Baptist World Alliance

33. James Hill, Baptist General Association of Missouri

34. A. Wayne Johnson, General Secretary, National Missionary Baptist Convention of America

35. Jerry Jones, Team Leader, Global Missions and Evangelism, Baptist General Association of Virginia

36. James A Keefer, Baptist Educators

37. Marv Knox, Editor, Baptist Standard

38. Robert L. Lamb, Baptist Educators

39. Patricia Lane, Strategist, Intercultural Affinity Group, Baptist General Convention of Texas

40. Bill Leonard, Dean, Wake Forest School of Divinity

41. Denton Lotz, General Secretary, Baptist World Alliance

42. Emmanuel McCall, Moderator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; Vice President, Baptist World Alliance; Pastor, Baptist Fellowship Group, East Point, Ga.

43. Ashley McNeil, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society

44. A Roy Medley, General Secretary, American Baptist Churches, USA

45. Phil Miller, Ministry Team Leader, Baptist General Convention of Texas

46. Gary Nelson, General Secretary, Canadian Baptist Ministries

47. Robert Parham, Executive Director, Center for Baptist Ethics

48. William Perkins, Professor, Morehouse College

49. Lewis Petrie, Vice President, Baptist General Conference

50. Johnny Pierce, Editor, Baptists Today

51. Tyrone Pitts, General Secretary, Progressive Baptist National Convention

52. Bruce Prescott, Executive Director, Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists

53. Michael Reel, Managing Editor, National Baptist Voice

54. Paul Reitzer, Baptist Educators

55. Albert Reyes, President, Buckner Children and Family Services

56. Herbert Reynolds, President-Emeritus, Baylor University

57. C.C. Robertson, President, National Missionary Baptist Convention

58. Don Sewell, Executive Liaison for Missions Relationships, Baptist General Convention of Texas

59. William Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

60. Jerry Sheveland, President, Baptist General Conference

61. Walter Shurden, Director, Center for Baptist Studies

62. T. Dewitt Smith, President, Progressive National Baptist Convention

63. Richard Swindle, Senior Vice President, Mercer University

64. Rev. Ademir Simoes, President, Association of Brazilian Baptists of North America

65. Alan Stanford, General Secretary, North American Baptist Fellowship

66. Yutaka Takarada, President, Japanese Southern Baptist Churches of America

67. Gerry Taillon, National Ministry Leader, Canadian Conference of Southern Baptist Churches

68. Bill Tinsley, WorldconneX Leader, Baptist General Convention of Texas

69. Stephen J. Thurston, President, National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.

70. Samuel Tolbert, General Secretary, National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.

71. Bill Underwood, President, Mercer University

72. John Upton, Executive Director, Baptist General Association of Virginia

73. Victor Upton

74. Daniel Vestal, Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

75. Houmphanh Vongsurith, President, Laotian National Baptist Fellowship

76. Charles Wade, Executive Director, Baptist General Convention of Texas

77. Rosemary Wade

78. Greg Warner, Executive Editor, Associated Baptist Press

79. Ross West, Director, Baptist Way Press, Baptist General Convention of Texas

80. Brent Walker, Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

81. Bertha Williams, Vice President, North American Baptist Fellowship