RICHMOND –The Virginia Baptist Mission Board’s executive committee heard a variety of reports – both from individuals and from committees assigned specific duties — during its regularly scheduled session Sept. 8.
Eddie Stratton, treasurer of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, reported that August receipts from BGAV churches totaled $819,062, which is $108,850 below the same month last year. He also reported that through the eight months of 2009, BGAV receipts are $935,609 below budget.
Stratton, who also is treasurer of the Mission Board, said progress is being made by the Mission Board’s development office in establishing oversight of contributions made to the office’s endowment fund. Sixty-seven accounts held by the VBMB have been analyzed with the assistance of the CPA firm Goodman and Company to insure total compliance with the donor’s instructions.
Board chair Jeff Bloomer
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Trustees, which will be elected by the BGAV at its annual meeting in November, will oversee the funds and make recommendations to the executive committee concerning the use of interest generated, said Stratton.
Mission Board executive director John Upton brought updates on the work of four special committees.
A committee studying the feasibility of moving annual BGAV meetings from costly convention centers to church buildings is recommending that the state association continue to meet in convention centers, as it has done in recent memory. Committee chair Bob Moore, pastor of Bonsack Baptist Church in Roanoke, said his committee determined that a desirable location needed to meet three criteria:
- It must be large enough to accommodate expected messengers, vendor displays and breakout sessions;
- It must be near enough to supporting hotels and restaurants;
- It must be situated on streets or thoroughfares designed to handle traffic.
The committee found no church meeting the combination of needs. For that reason it recommends that the BGAV continue to meet in convention centers but that cost-saving measures be taken where possible and practical. The recommendation will be presented to the BGAV at its November meeting in Fredericksburg.
Upton reported that the covenant renewal committee has communicated with heads of the BGAV’s partner agencies, asking for their updated commitments to mutual ministry with the BGAV and to the values of Virginia Baptists. Nine covenants have already been returned with others expected soon.
The affinity committee, headed by retired Mission Board staffer Bob Dale, continues to explore ways to include churches in the BGAV based on mutual affinities rather than on strict geographical criteria, reported Upton.
Upton also indicated that a commission studying the possibility of restoring the 18th-century house of an early Virginia Baptist leader was not practical and has withdrawn claims to the materials in the house, releasing them to a contractor.
In 2007, the Jeremiah Moore House Commission began exploring ways to restore the house as a memorial to Jeremiah Moore, an early proponent of religious liberty who was twice imprisoned for preaching unlawfully. The founding pastor of First Baptist Church in Alexandria, he influenced both the political views of both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
The house, built in 1790 in what is now Vienna in Northern Virginia, was dismantled in 2003 after attempts to preserve it on its original site failed. The pieces were marked for possible future reconstruction and stored in a warehouse, under the authority of a private historical association.
Two years ago the historical association proposed rebuilding the house at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center near Lynchburg and the Jeremiah Moore House Commission was formed to study the possibility. The commission was chaired by Fred Anderson, executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society.
However, Upton reported, the commission has determined that the project is impractical. (For more information, go here.
Jeff Bloomer, president of both the Mission Board and the BGAV, reported that by Nov. 1 he will have visited churches in each of the BGAV’s 41 affiliated district association. He attended the graduation exercise of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and, while at the Southern Baptist Convention in June, also attended the 150th anniversary celebration of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Bloomer represented Virginia Baptists internationally in Interlaken, Switzerland, accompanying church mission groups that had gone there to lead vacation Bible schools, and in the Netherlands, where he attended the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance.
He reported that he had made appointments to fill vacancies in BGAV committees, notably, Brenda Jennings, a member of Mechanicsville Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, to serve on the committee on boards and committees and Jim Johnson, pastor of Williamsburg Baptist Church in Williamsburg, to serve on the scholarship committee.
Bloomer deferred to parliamentarian Dick Bidwell concerning a vacancy created by the resignation of BGAV second vice president Richard Childress, who left Franklin Baptist Church in Franklin to become pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. BGAV bylaws stipulate that officers must be members of BGAV churches. Bidwell indicated that any duties required “between now and the BGAV annual meeting, November 17-18, will be handled by the president and/or first vice president. Therefore, as a practical matter, it was concluded the position of second vice president need not be filled for the few months remaining in the term of the office.” By vote, the executive committee ratified the parliamentarian’s decision.
Upton then called the executive committee into closed session asking visitors, including the Religious Herald editor, to leave while other matters were was discussed. In a later conversation, Upton revealed the topics under consideration.
Walter Harrow
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First, he proposed to the executive committee that the assistant to the treasurer’s position, created when treasurer Stratton assumed additional duties in development, be expanded to include some personnel and administrative duties.
According to Upton, Walter Harrow, who holds the position currently, would continue in the post, becoming the assistant executive director. In effect, said Upton, Harrow would become the chief administrative officer for the VBMB. The expansion of Harrow’s responsibilities allows Upton greater freedom to use his relational gifts to maximum advantage as he travels throughout the state. It will also provide a smooth transition for additional duties Upton will assume when he becomes president of the Baptist World Alliance. Upton is will be nominated for a five-year term as BWA president in July of 2010.
Upton also discussed a position he envisioned six or seven years ago and the potential of finding the right person to fill it. Details are sketchy due to the sensitive nature of personnel matters, but more information will be reported when pending issues become firm.
Votes were not taken on either matter presented to the executive committee, but reports are that the committee reacted enthusiastically to both matters.
Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald.