Heritage Column for February 16, 2006
By Fred Anderson
Joyce Journey signed on with one of those temporary job agencies; and one day they told her that they needed to place her in an office job with Virginia Baptists. “We need a Baptist that doesn’t smoke,” the temp agency person said, “And you are the only one on our list.” She came for just two weeks. She stayed for 25 years; and this month she will complete her career with the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, a career which has seen her advance from a temporary secretary to the director of the office of communications. She is one of those self-made professionals who was a quick learner and possessed a native ability for handling tough assignments with grace and finesse.
She almost didn’t take a permanent position. When her first supervisor, William H. Jenkins, asked her to consider remaining in his department, she protested that she only wanted something part-time. “Why?” quizzed Jenkins, a man used to persuading folks to his way of thinking. She replied that she had two sons who were active in Little League sports and needed to be flexible with her time as a homemaker. Bill Jenkins offered to work with her on her need to be off on occasion. He added that he really meant it and would abide by it. And she already had surmised that Bill Jenkins was a man of his word. She stayed and never regretted the decision.
The Mission Board staff has experienced several reorganizations across the years and Joyce Journey adjusted to new desks, new titles and new responsibilities. Reginald M. McDonough, one of three executive directors with whom she has worked, once observed: “Joyce has come up through the ranks.” And so she has.
She began at “the Baptist building” on Monument Avenue in one of those crowded office suites off the long corridor. When the time came, she helped pack boxes and move to the spacious new quarters on Emery-wood Parkway which soon was dubbed “the Virginia Baptist Re-source Center.” Joyce Journey be-came one of the valuable resources within the big white building.
She began working with Jack Price and, later, with Bob Lynch in planning the finite details of the annual meeting of the General Association. In 1997 she assumed full responsibilities for the annual meeting of the tribes when she be-came director of the office of communications.
Anyone who has ever attended an annual meeting senses that someone very skilled and organized must be the mastermind behind the operations. In the old days, the meetings were held in churches; and since 1982 the meetings have been held in large cavernous convention halls which also are venues for three-ring circuses. Joyce Journey always managed to keep the BGAV meetings from developing into circuses.
It wasn’t easy. After the messengers froze sitting on a false floor just over the ice-skating rink in the Roa-noke Civic Center, Joyce negotiated with the Center to drain the rink for future BGAV meetings. There was the time that a fire alarm glitch emptied the hall just when the messengers needed to vote on the budget and elect officers. When a handicapped messenger could not gain access to the floor at the Salem Civic Center, she knelt beside the man in the wheelchair, helped him get properly registered and got him to a ramp where he at least could see the proceedings.
“There physically was no way for the handicapped Virginia Baptist to get down onto the floor of the meeting. “It really bothered me that I could not fix it. It was out of my control and I felt that we just could not go back to that site until they could accommodate all persons.”
Joyce Murphy Journey is a born fixer. She remembers when things went wrong and needed fixing. Born into the cradle roll at Barton Heights Baptist Church in North Richmond and among the first 100 baptized when Barton Heights became Northminster Church, she already was a part of a loving church family when her father died at a young age. “The church members helped us in facing our pain simply by being there. The church members sent food baskets until we got back on our feet. The Ready Men’s Bible class painted our house. Knowing what the church did for us increased my commitment because that’s a really personal thing that people will face your pain and help you out.”
Joyce and Bill Journey also felt blessed by an even larger Christian community when their oldest son, Tom, was killed in a tragic automobile accident while in college. By then, they had not only their church but also Joyce’s colleagues to lend support. “If I had been working any place else I would not have been able to have done as well as I did,” reflects Joyce. “It makes a big difference when you are in a Christian atmosphere.”
Joyce Journey has carried a heavy load while giving an outward appearance of calm and control. She has prepared the Book of Reports and the Annual, maintained the church messenger registrations, edited and produced the Virginia Missions magazine and the Diary. She has been a public relations presence for Virginia Baptists. “The one thing you always remember,” says Joyce, “it doesn’t matter what’s going on. You just smile and pick up the pieces and keep going. My grandmother and mother used to say, ‘Remember, the Lord is in control!’”
Maybe “farewell” is premature. Joyce Journey laughs that from now on she can come as a messenger, sit out in the congregation and just enjoy the meeting. And she will know that somewhere behind the scenes someone else is fixing problems and hopefully smiling.
Fred Anderson may be contacted at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.