RICHMOND, Va. — For the first time in 188 years, the predominantly white Baptist General Association of Virginia has an African-American president.
Suffolk, Va., pastor Mark Croston was elected to the top spot during the BGAV’s annual meeting Nov. 8-9 in Richmond, Va. Croston, pastor of East End Baptist Church in Suffolk, had been serving as the BGAV’s first vice president.
Messengers at the meeting also agreed to restore ties with Averett University, which were ended in 2005 in a dispute over homosexuality, and adopted a 2012 budget of $12.4 million, a 7 percent reduction from 2011.
Newly-elected BGAV president Mark Croston (left) receives the state association gavel from outgoing president Bob Bass. (Photo by Alice Rusher)
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Croston succeeds Bob Bass, a retired Richmond construction executive and member of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond. His election continues a more than 50-year-old pattern of rotating the one-year, non-renewable presidency between ministers and laypersons.
Croston has been pastor of the Suffolk church since 1987 and long active in BGAV life, serving as its second vice president in 2005 and as president of the Virginia Baptist Pastors Conference from 2006-2008. He has been a trustee of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and for more than 15 years has been a board member of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention, serving as its president from 2005-2008.
He also has been involved in the Virginia Baptist State Convention, one of two historically African-American Baptist conventions in the state. He continues to serve as first vice president of that organization.
Other BGAV officers — all elected without opposition — are first vice president Carl Johnson of Richmond, retired chief financial officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board; Allen Jessee, pastor of Community Heights Baptist Church in Cedar Bluff, Va., reelected as second vice president; and Fred Anderson, executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society, elected to a 30th term as clerk.
For more than a decade, BGAV first vice presidents have been elected as president in the succeeding year, though BGAV bylaws don’t require that practice. If the pattern prevails, Johnson will be nominated for president at the 2012 annual meeting, set for Nov. 13-14 in Roanoke, Va.
The Averett University action heals a conflict that ended a 146-year-old relationship with the Danville, Va., school in 2005 — a dispute largely centered on Averett’s response to what were seen as gay-friendly statements by the chair of its religion department and a student advocacy group.
Under the new relationship, Averett will once again be included in the BGAV’s budget — at least initially at the modest amount of $2,000 — and the state association will nominate three members of the school’s 27-member board of trustees.
The proposal, adopted by messengers at the meeting without discussion or apparent opposition, was initiated by Averett’s trustees and its president Tiffany Franks, who was elected about three years after the separation.
Last month Franks told the Virginia Baptist Mission Board changes had been made in Averett’s religion department and that the school is seeking a New Testament professor who will become the department’s head. She also reported that new policies regarding student organizations had been adopted. Both measures apparently persuaded a BGAV study committee and the Mission Board to recommend a renewal of ties.
“During our discussions we reviewed every core value of Virginia Baptists,” said Jeff Bloomer, a retired Culpeper, Va., school administrator who chaired the study committee — a clear reference to a 1993 BGAV resolution affirming “the biblical teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful and unacceptable to Christians.” That statement is now included in the BGAV’s “core values.”
“Dr. Franks and the trustees are committed to returning Averett to the Baptist fold,” Bloomer told messengers in introducing the proposal. “This agreement is embraced by faculty, staff, alumni and students.”
The day before the vote, Franks also endorsed the proposal and said the breach wasn’t primarily about attitudes toward homosexuality.
“This process began in the summer of 2008 when I had the privilege of starting as president at Averett,” said Franks, who is a member of West Main Baptist Church in Danville. “I have been listening and learning to understand the university’s history and what led to the separation. I promise you that the separation was far more about how the relationship [with the BGAV] was managed, nurtured, cared for and valued, and far less about any signal incident.”
“Baptist heritage is part of Averett’s DNA,” she added. “It’s been a part of us for over 150 years. We are a child of Baptists. This is what we know and value as an institution. Averett is larger than any one individual or groups of individuals.”
Spiritual growth and leadership development are key values for the university, Franks said.
“We are so committed to creating an environment which nurtures religious faith in students’ lives and want to provide opportunities to explore and study their faith,” she said. “We see ourselves as partners in ministry committed to developing leaders for our churches and our communities. Throughout this process it has become clear to me … that we can be stronger together than we ever will be apart.”
The 2012 budget of $12.4 million, which was adopted unanimously, is about $1 million less than the current budget of $13,350,000. That 7 percent decrease follows a 4.6 percent reduction adopted last year. The 2010 budget goal was $14 million.
The budget is broadly based on anticipated receipts this year, said budget committee chair Jim Slatton, a retired Richmond pastor.
“You are aware we are living in difficult times,” Slatton told messengers. “That is reflected in BGAV receipts. … This budget reflects the best estimates and calculations we have been able to make about cash inflow for this year and projections for next year.”
Last month, BGAV treasurer Eddie Stratton told Mission Board members that total receipts were $11,638,444 at the end of September. He predicted receipts for the year to total about $12.3 million.
Though the overall reduction is 7 percent, because of the way the budget is divided among state, national and international causes, allocations for most Virginia ministries actually will be reduced by more — some by as much as 15 percent. The Mission Board’s allocation — typically the largest line item in any given BGAV budget — is reduced by more than $460,000.
Apart from the reductions and the inclusion of Averett, two other changes are reflected in the budget.
- For the first time, a specific line item for new church starts is included, with an allocation of $100,000. The money will be administered by the Mission Board.
- The allocation to Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., is reduced from more than $22,000 to $2,000. Budget committee members said the school, despite several requests, had not submitted a covenant and other information required by the budget committee before allocating money.
Virginia mission causes are allocated $8,928,000 and world mission causes $3,472,000. The budget continues to offer churches three pre-set giving tracks and a fourth customized option, all of which divide funds between Virginia ministries and national and international ministries.
The percentage divisions in the pre-set giving tracks remain unchanged:
- The World Missions 1 track provides 66 percent for Virginia ministries and 34 percent for Southern Baptist Convention ministries.
- The World Missions 2 track provides 72 percent for Virginia ministries and 28 percent for a combination of Virginia, SBC, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and other ministries.
- The World Missions 3 track provides 72 percent for Virginia ministries and 28 percent for CBF ministries.
The customized plan allows churches to select or delete any item in WM1, WM2 or WM3 and adjust percentages to reflect their own priorities.
About 845 messengers registered for this year’s BGAV meeting — a figure observers said would rank among the lowest in recent years. Total registration, including guests, was 1,109.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.