RICHMOND, Va. — Bob Bass, a Richmond layman long active in Virginia Baptist life, will be nominated in November as first vice president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia — which, if elected, could result in his nomination for president in 2010.
Bass will be nominated by his pastor, Travis Collins of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, who announced the move in an e-mail Sept. 30.
Bob Bass
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“Bob is a man, I believe, uniquely poised to lead us now,” said Collins, who will nominate Bass during the BGAV’s annual meeting in Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 17-18. “These are tentative days for denominations. Despite great leadership from the [Virginia Baptist] Mission Board staff, our own beloved BGAV has seen our revenues drop and our passion waver. Bob has the character, the vision, the experience and the servant-leadership skills to come alongside staff and lead us through these uncertain but promising days.”
For 38 years before retiring, Bass was president of Bass Construction, a Richmond commercial construction firm. He is a long time member of Bon Air Baptist Church, where he served as moderator for 33 years.
Previous Baptist involvement includes a stint as moderator of the Richmond Baptist Association and membership on the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. He also has been a trustee of Averett University in Danville, Va., and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign (now International) Mission Board.
He currently serves on the Piankatank Camp and Conference Center Commission, which oversees the Virginia Baptist facility near Hartfield, Va.
Bass’s late wife, June, who died earlier this year, had been a vice president of Virginia Woman’s Missionary Union, as well as a WMUV associational representative.
Bass has three children and nine grandchildren. His second daughter, Barbara Bass Robbins, is a trustee of the Religious Herald.
For 10 years, every first vice president has been nominated for — and been elected as — BGAV president. The practice is not a constitutional or bylaw requirement but was informally suggested in 1999 by then first vice president David Sapp, at the time a Richmond pastor.
Sapp, who excluded himself that year from the presidential nomination, said the practice would increase presidents’ ability to carry out their tasks. BGAV presidents’ terms are restricted by bylaw to one year and they may not be reelected — resulting in a steep learning curve in a compressed amount of time. Serving a year as first vice president would give presidents first-hand knowledge of BGAV affairs and they could “hit the ground running” on their first day in office, said Sapp.
While never officially adopted as policy, that pattern has prevailed for a decade and appears to have widespread support.
Bass’s lay status dovetails with another BGAV precedent, also without written authority — rotating the presidency between ministers and laypersons. In keeping with that pattern — which dates to at least 1945 — this year’s presidential nominees would be ministers. Candidates in 2010 — when, if he is elected in November as first vice president, Bass might be nominated — would be laypersons.
No other nominees for BGAV offices have been announced. Presumably current first vice president Tim Madison, pastor of Mechanicsville Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, will be nominated for president, probably by the moderate advocacy group Virginia Baptists Committed.
For nearly 25 years, VBC has successfully endorsed BGAV candidates, who generally have been elected without opposition. The group met Sept. 24 to discuss this year’s slate but has not yet announced its nominees.
Some Virginia Baptists have expressed dissatisfaction with what they perceive as a closed process and Bass’s nomination may reflect some of that sentiment.
“This will be my eighth annual meeting of the BGAV,” said Collins. “I’ve been surprised that, with rare exceptions, there is only one candidate for each office. I’m grateful for those who annually nominate the candidates, but I believe Bob is the right one for the job. So it seemed right, being a Baptist, to offer someone for nomination who is outside the pipeline that has developed.
“Furthermore, I believe we must be more intentional about getting all Virginia Baptists around the table,” Collins said. “Bob believes that, too, and we need Bob to help us utilize the leadership resources of all our Virginia Baptist churches ….”
BGAV churches contribute to the state association through one of three giving tracks, each of which funds Virginia ministries but varies in the way it supports national and international mission. Churches also have a fourth option of customizing their giving, essentially creating their own track.
The World Mission 1 track funds Southern Baptist Convention ministries; World Mission 2, a combination of SBC, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and other ministries; and World Mission 3, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship only.
Bon Air Baptist Church gives through a customized plan which supports a variety of national and international partners, but “because of our diversity,” the church also permits its members to choose among five options for their mission contributions, Collins told the Religious Herald.
In his e-mail statement, Collins said Virginia Baptists “need Bob and bold leaders like him in such a time as this. As a member of the Virginia Church Multiplication Initiative [a church planting endeavor] I am increasingly energized about the role of the BGAV. We need to recapture the vision and passion of the 2002 Kingdom Advance meeting in Charlottesville. And I believe that electing Bob is a good start in that direction.”
Robert Dilday is managing editor of the Religious Herald.