BLUEFIELD — Bluefield College celebrated its history Oct. 8 with an annual Baptist Heritage Day ceremony on campus, featuring a keynote address from an authority on Baptist life, Joseph T. Lewis, president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia.
For the ninth consecutive year, the entire campus community came together to “celebrate [the school's] Baptist tradition and [its] ongoing relationship with Virginia Baptists.” The occasion, organizers say, is designed to “help students, faculty, staff and the community remember that Bluefield College is a Baptist college,” and as a Baptist-affiliated institution there are “certain ideals the college cherishes and celebrates.”
Joseph T. Lewis (left), president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and keynote speaker for Bluefield College's Baptist Heritage Day, with BC president David Olive.
Each year during the event, the college presents a state or nationally known speaker who discusses principles that are important to Baptists. This year, Lewis shared greetings with the BC family on behalf of the 1,400 churches that make up the BGAV. He also spoke about why he is proud to be a Virginia Baptist.
Some Baptists, Lewis said, are afraid to profess their Baptist identity, because non-Baptists, he said, sometimes characterize Baptists as “strange.”
“But I want to tell you why I'm glad to be a Baptist and why I'm not afraid to say I'm a Baptist,” he said. “You need to know why I'm happy to be a Baptist.”
Lewis spoke about principles that are valued by Baptists and that are dear to his heart — principles like the authority of Scripture, the centrality of Jesus Christ, the separation of church and state, and religious freedom.
“Freedom is at the heart of what it means to be Baptist,” Lewis said. “Baptists are freedom-loving people, and I'm Baptist because I believe in the value of freedom.”
Virginia Baptists, especially, Lewis said, know what it means to be Baptist, and they have a “good, wholesome understanding of what it means to do church.” Bluefield College, he added, understands the importance of those same Virginia Baptist principles.
“I like what God is doing with Virginia Baptists, in general, and with Bluefield College, in particular,” Lewis said. “I'm proud of Bluefield College, for its work in preserving and promoting Virginia Baptist principles.”
In addition to his duties as president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, Lewis is pastor of Second Baptist Church in Petersburg, where he has served for the past 12 years. His pastoral experience also includes six years as pastor of Fountain Creek Baptist Church in Emporia and four years as an associate minister at Ginter Park Baptist Church in Richmond, where he was ordained to ministry.