DEATH
• Retired Virginia Baptist pastor Donald P. Stroud died Feb. 15 in Yorktown at the age of 72. He served as pastor of churches in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia, before coming to Virginia and serving as pastor of Grafton and Yorktown churches in Yorktown. In retirement he served several churches as interim pastor. He is survived by his wife, Maree; a daughter, Laura Bass; and a granddaughter, Mackenzie. A memorial service was held Feb. 17 at First Church, Newport News.
ORDINATIONS
• Nancy B. Moore was ordained to the gospel ministry by Windsor Church, Windsor, on March 2. She currently serves as its senior adult minister.
Piney River Church, Lowesville, held a service on Jan. 27 to honor Hazeltine Wright Crady, widow of Rev. Wilson Crady, for her many years of ministry. She has served in many capacities, including music and missions. She was organist until 2007 when health issues forced her to resign. She was presented with flowers, a plaque and certificate of appeciation.
• Linda Garrett, pastor of Long Branch Church, The Plains, was ordained to the gospel ministry by Haymarket Church, Haymarket, on Feb. 17.
• Kim Eskridge, minister to children at First Church, Alexandria, was ordained to the gospel ministry on Feb. 10 by the church. She also serves on the church discipleship group at NorthStar Network.
EVENTS
• Chamberlayne Church, Richmond, is hosting “Money Mechanics,” a seminar to help with daily finances on April 27 at 4 p.m. Topics include budget making, home buying and selling, investing, planning a funeral and elder care. Advance registration requested. Call 804-266-8735 for details.
• Lakeside Church, Richmond, will host an afternoon of music with tenor Matt Brady accompanied by pianist Melinda Adelstein and organist Phyllis Coffman on April 13 at 4 p.m.
• The Virginia Baptist Women's Chorale will be in concert Sat., April 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Church in Lynchburg. The program includes both traditional and contemporary styles of music. The Chorale is composed of ladies from across Virginia who have music leadership roles in their churches.
• Henry and Richard Blackaby, best known for the Experiencing God series, will be at Highlands Fellowship Church in Abingdon on April 25-26 for a “Spiritual Leadership Conference.” Based on their book, Spiritual Leadership: Moving God's Agenda, the best-selling authors will teach on leadership from a biblical perspective, not only for those in ministry roles, but business and education leaders. Conference sessions will be on Friday from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00-11:30 a.m. and 1:00-3:30 p.m. Persons may attend any or all sessions. There is no charge but love offerings for the Blackabys will be taken at each session. A box lunch on Saturday is available for $7. This event is sponsored by the Southwest Virginia Christian Leadership Network, a ministry of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. For more information call the Network by phone at 540-777-3014 or toll free at 866-223-9344 or email [email protected]. Reservations should be received by April 14. More information is available at www.vachristianleadership. net.
• “Celebrating Our History” was the theme as Clarksville Church in Clarksville celebrated its 190th year in February. Sandra Hack Polaski from the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Curtis Freeman from The Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School and Tom Graves, former president at BTSR, were guest preachers and teachers and addressed a wide variety of topics including the role of the church as a gathered community, Baptist interpretation of Scripture and the priesthood of the believer. As Clarksville Church reflected on what it means to be Baptist, it is looking forward to refining its vision of who God is leading the church to be in the future.
REVIVALS
• Black Creek Church, Franklin; revival April 6-9; William Hartsfield, guest evangelist.
• Blackberry Church, Bassett; revival April 6-9; Terry Hall, guest evangelist.
• Franklin Church, Franklin; revival April 4-6; Roger Roller, guest evangelist.
• Laurel Hill Church, Verona; revival April 6-9; Rick Via, guest evangelist.
• North Run Church, Richmond; revival April 13-16; Jim White, guest evangelist.
• Round Hill Church, Round Hill; revival March 23-26; Roger Roller, guest evangelist.
• Zoan Church, Fredericksburg; revival March 30-April 2; Kevin Poole, guest evangelist.
MISSIONS MOMENT
Students from 13 area churches recently gathered at River Road Church in Richmond for “Heat Wave,” an event planned to raise money for Watering Malawi, a non-profit organization that works to provide the people in Malawi, Africa, with access to wells, clean water and irrigation. Approximately 200 students laughed and talked as they enjoyed a summer festival in the middle of winter. They played miniature golf, rode the mechanical surf board and jumped onto the inflatable Velcro wall. Adult volunteers dressed in Hawaiian shirts with straw hats. One hour into the event, Kathryn Fitzgerald and Kayla Miller shared about Watering Malawi and encouraged students to make an impact on the world through giving to missions. Everyone joined hands for prayer that teens would recognize their ability to agents of change in the world. The inspiration for Heat Wave came last summer as youth from River Road attended Passport camp. When they returned their shared their vision of hosting an event to raise money for Watering Malawi with their minister of youth, Rachel Hoffman. She told the students if they wanted to see it happen then they needed to make it happen–and they did. Plans were finalized, students invited friends and passed out flyers at their schools. One student went so far as to promote the Heat Wave on Facebook, and her online invitation spread to 378 people. They made decorations and transformed the fellowship hall into a tropical paradise. As a result of their passion and vision, the event raised $2,500 for Watering Malawi.