Phil and Bernice Rodgerson are living in one of “the villas,” the posh new quarters at Lakewood Manor, the Baptist retirement community in Richmond. Her baby grand piano anchors one corner of their spacious living room and his study is larger than the offices he occupied for so long at “the Baptist building.” The villa is bathed in light from many windows; and perched on the second floor, the couple must feel as if they are living in a tree house.
Fred Anderson
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They moved to Lakewood almost two years ago, leaving behind the house which Phil insists was designed by Bernice. Together they have established a new home surrounded by reminders of a long and full marriage of 64 years. Their anniversary week in May is full of celebrations. Four days before the anniversary, on May 19, the Virginia Baptist Historical Society will salute Phil Rodgerson for his lifetime commitments to Christian practice and social justice.
The salute comes in a program designed to celebrate diversity among Virginia Baptists, including the many ethnic and language churches in the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the broad acceptance of women in places of ministry. Phil Rodgerson pioneered in shaping a Virginia Baptist culture that one day accepted the diversity which was emerging.
Rodgerson retired from the Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff in 1993 after 27 years in varied positions, including leadership over missions, evangelism and ministries. He practically invented the term “demographics” as he studied population growth patterns. He conducted a landmark study on “The Urban Corridor,” the sprawling swath of Virginia from Northern Virginia down I-95 through Richmond and into the Tidewater. It was a study designed to herald a new diversity coming to the Old Dominion.
Rodgerson practiced a radical Christianity. He cared deeply about “the least of these.” Once, in Chicago, he posed as a homeless man and lived on the streets and in the homeless shelter to better understand the plight of the street people. He led in refugee assistance, especially for those from Southeast Asia and Cuba.
In a time when many Virginians were resisting change, he worked for a spirit of inclusion rather than exclusion. He befriended the first African American to come on the state Baptist Board staff; and he sought out and encouraged several African American pastors to lead their churches into membership in the General Association. At one annual meeting of the BGAV, he accompanied several black ministers to the only available seats, which just happened to be up front in the host church’s choir loft. He coached them to indicate interest by collecting an offering in their churches and, thereby, contributing to the work of the General Association.
Bernice and Phil Rodgerson at home.
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He displayed an ecumenical spirit. He broke an age-old religious rivalry by joining into a Baptist-Catholic dialogue which led to an interfaith marriage handbook for clergy.
He understood that Baptist women had felt shut out of the ministry. He encouraged an acceptance of persons who felt led of the Spirit to enter the gospel ministry regardless of gender. He also preached against salary inequities. He especially frowned upon the churches that wanted to call a pastor and expect the pastor’s spouse to serve as an underpaid or even unpaid church worker.
He practiced a rigid work ethic which almost bordered on the obsessive. As a member of the professional ministerial staff at the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, he was expected to be out and about among the churches; and he was gone from home for many weekends. In his characteristic humor, he jests that the frequent absences helped the couple make it to 64 years of marriage.
He majored on details and understood duties. He confessed that a former boss once described him as “a persistent cuss.” As a supervisor, he was a diligent taskmaster; but everyone respected him because they knew that he went the third mile himself.
Phillip Edward Rodgerson was never a stranger to hard work and devotion. Born in Norfolk in June of ’23, he grew up in a home which set high standards. As a child he was sprinkled as a Presbyterian; but at age 13, he was immersed at London Bridge Baptist Church in the former Princess Anne County (now the city of Virginia Beach).
As a youth Rodgerson knew the lessons from work. He sold vegetables from the family’s truck farm. He waited tables at a Virginia Beach hotel. But as a youth he also was the most unlikely person to be called into the ministry. His father was a railroading man and the son thought that he might become an engineer. The family laughs that he used to say that whenever the preacher came calling, he hid in a ditch. Once “the call” began to take hold, the only person in whom he confided his feelings was his mother.
Hazil Barham Rodgerson was one of those intrepid church ladies. She taught classes for children and led in the church’s WMU. She became known for her creative ways of teaching women about the missionaries. She also was the strong personality in the running of her home.
Henry W. Rodgerson was furloughed from the railroad but he still secured a one-way rail pass for his son to get to Georgetown College in Kentucky. After all these years, Rodgerson still remembers that he had $25 — “big money” — in his pocket from summer earnings.
At Georgetown, the young preacherboy met “the May Queen,” Bernice Lee Miller. He inquired about her and someone told him to forget about any intentions because Bernice had just broken off with another preacherboy and was not likely to be interested in a ministerial student. With his characteristic persistence, he tried anyway; and on their first date, he took her to play the piano for a church meeting where he was preaching.
There were several country pastorates in Kentucky before the return to Virginia in 1953. He had let it be known that he was itching to be involved in a new church plant and soon he was called to Bon Air Baptist Chapel in Richmond. It began with 25 people meeting in an old school. In his pastorate it became a full-fledged church and today it is among the largest and most vibrant of Virginia Baptist churches. It was the kind of a church that needed “a persistent cuss” for a founding pastor.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.