The officers of the Baptist Ministry Assistants of Virginia were in attendance at the National Association of Southern Baptist Secretaries Leadership Conference, hosted in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 1-4.
President Sandy Weakley, vice president of membership Nancy Wicker, vice president of publicity Nancy Greene, secretary/treasurer Marty Garber and conference coordinator Joan Newsome attended the national meeting to learn as much as possible to assist in the growing of the Virginia organization.
The women from Virginia met together and attended the workshops and worship services, and had an executive meeting to continue their planning of the 20th anniversary celebration of the BMAV, scheduled for March 2007. They had meals and fellowship with others from Virginia—Joy Dickens, Katherine Kemp and Zilphia “Bunny” Posey.
They met other sisters in Christ and wonderful workshop leaders. They learned more about their positions—publicity with Bob Bumgarner; event planning with Lana Rose; “Me a Leader?” with Bumgarner; policies and procedures with Lana Rose; and leadership tracks for president, secretaries, membership and treasurers with Dianne Cockrell, Joy Clay-Corby, Nancy Finn and Sherry Willingham.
Participants enjoyed the music led by Nancy Finn and Lynn Stone; Bible study with David Uth; and the banquet guest speaker, Gaye Martin.
David Uth reminded the participants that worship is an attitude—a response to all the mercies of God. We worship because God is good. Worship changes our perspective—it takes our eyes off our problems and on to God and then the problems don't seem as big because God is bigger than all of our problems.
Worship is a powerful witness to others. Children watch worshippers to see if worship is real and if God is real. Worship is our greatest weapon in warfare. We should sing about the ‘blood of Jesus' and remember the Christian martyrs. Remember Jerusalem, where the early Christians met God, which was the highest moment in their lives; remember moments when God overwhelmed us personally. Remember that God answers prayer. When in the dark, remember the light of God coming into our lives. Jerusalem is our highest joy—our moments with God and our relationship with God is our joy. David encouraged all to always remember our first personal moment with God, how he came into our life, to keep our focus on him.
“This conference assists with training of our state officers, but most importantly it also affirms our following in God's plan for us as individuals and as a group,” said Nancy Greene. “We continue to affirm God's love for one another and our organization. We pray for one another and our ministries. Thank you, Baptist Ministry Assistants of Virginia and the Baptist General Association of Virginia, for your continued support.”
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president,” said Sandy Weakley. “I enjoyed the opportunity to attend the leadership conference. It was a great time of learning and networking.
“The leadership team of NASBS did a wonderful job of planning this event—the workshops that were offered were so on target to our needs. The workshops I attended were event planning (what great timing, now that we are planning our 20th anniversary celebration!), president leadership track and policies and procedures (this will be a great help when we update job descriptions).
“This event was a spiritual blessing to me,” said Joy Dickens. “My life has been enriched by the Bible studies presented by Dr. Uth. I participated in all of Bob Bumgarner's sessions on ‘Me a Leader' and grained a new insight into why we are not reaching more of our young adults in our churches.”
“I am especially grateful to the Goshen Baptist Association for providing the funding for me to participate in these enriching experiences provided by our National Association of Southern Baptist Secretaries.”
“As your conference coordinator, I found major help in working out details for events at this conference,” said Joan Newsome. “Lana Rose, who has responsibilities in the Tennessee Baptist Convention for church annuity accounts, church secretaries and Ministers' Wives Fellowship, led the session. I now have aids for many areas of planning. I knew some of these things and, praise the Lord, we have had two successful events since I began wearing this hat, thanks to all officers working together. Now as we plan for our 2007 events, we have more of the tools in place to help us be even more successful.
“The experience was once again one of renewal and confirmation that I am where I am supposed to be,” said Bunny Posey. “These meetings are good to give us all a time to breath and relax.”
“It was a wonderful conference and I learned a great deal to help me in my office as vice president for membership,” said Nancy Wicker. “I truly enjoyed Pastor Uth. His Bible studies were very inspiring.
“This was a great conference and it was a special time of fun and fellowship with sister ministry assistants. I appreciate so much being able to participate.”