When the Baptist General Association of Virginia's religious liberty committee met at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center in Richmond on Jan. 18, one committee member had traveled more than 600 miles to get there.
Paula Batts is a member of First Baptist Church of Dalton, Ga. Her church became a part of the BGAV last year when, as a result of its own self-defining and its inquiry into the ministries and missions of the BGAV, it made formal application for admission.
Paula Batts and fellow committee member Rob James listen during the committee's meeting.
Acknowledging that it seems a bit strange to think of herself as a Virginia Baptist, Batts said, “It was the mission work that was the real magnet. [The BGAV] is a model for the rest of us in that it has gone through a self-identification process. Churches like to be a part of a healthy organization.”
Batts comes by her interest in religious liberty naturally. She is the daughter of Walter “Buddy” Shurden, well-known Baptist professor and author of numerous books, articles and pamphlets on Baptist life.
“I have a dual interest [in the committee]. As I have watched my parents over the past few years and seen the passion it ignites in them it has sparked a personal interest in me.” She sees service on the committee as a mean of expanding her personal and church world and as a way to “come get acquainted with my Baptist cousins.”
Batts believes her church's inclusion in the Baptist General Association of Virginia is a healthy “way the lines of geography are being blurred.” She emphasizes that the BGAV did not come seeking First Baptist, Dalton, as a way to grow numerically; but when it was approached by her church (and First Baptist of Rome, Ga.., before it) the BGAV was willing to think beyond geography to include like mindedness.
The General Association's religious liberty committee is a standing committee established in 1955 to report on the nature and abuses of religious liberty and the separation of church and state.