Anyone who has ever lived in an old house knows that it requires periodic upkeep. Some things have to be replaced. Sometimes new parts are installed to make it energy efficient. And once in a while an old house requires a total renovation.
Virginia Baptists within the Baptist General Association of Virginia live in a very old house. It dates to 1823, and from its beginning, a board was created to manage in the interim between association meetings.
The original composition of the board was small enough to meet someone’s parlor. At first, the “board of managers” was comprised of three officers and 18 others; the first meeting was held in rural Caroline County at the home of Andrew Broaddus, a leading Baptist minister. They met in a hot August of 1823 and the main business was the appointing of the first state missionaries, two young men — Daniel Witt and Jerry Bell Jeter — who dubbed themselves the “Bedford plowboys” because that’s exactly what they were — farm boys from Bedford County.
Fred Anderson |
The board employed the young ministers to travel for a month across the western regions of Virginia (which included the present state of West Virginia) “which are most destitute of Evangelical preaching.” The purposes of the trip were “for dispensing the word of salvation, obtaining information … and, also, as far as prudence might justify, to procure contributions in aid of our fund.” They were paid $30 — one-half in advance and the balance when they reported. Later, they were sent to southeastern Virginia. They were the first board staff and their horses were the first board property.
There have been hundreds of board meetings in the intervening 190 years. At the board meeting in October of last year, the presiding officer presented an item from the executive committee, calling for the appointment of a committee on board governance. At the end of a trying session, the board approved with no discussion. The committee has been appointed and over the course of this year it will consider ways in which the Virginia Baptist Mission Board is structured, organized and functions — or at least that is the presumed task of the committee.
It will not be the first time that this old house called the board has been patched and refitted. The original structure served well for about 30 years, but in the meantime numerous societies were formed for specific causes, including education, foreign missions, home missions, Bible distribution, Sunday schools and religious publishing. The societies were composed primarily by the same constituencies. What good Baptist wouldn’t have supported each of those worthy causes?
In 1854 a committee of 15 was appointed “to consider and report on the propriety of uniting our different denominational societies into one General Association.” From independent societies the work was handed over to several boards, including one named the State Mission Board. (In time, efficiency reared its head again and the various boards were eliminated and many of the good causes absorbed into the State Mission Board.) After 1854, the board consisted of seven officers and 30 others. They were outgrowing most parlors and preferred space in Richmond churches.
After another 40 years, it was time once again to repair this old house. The leadership thought that it would be beneficial to have representation from the grassroots so two representatives were selected from five geographic divisions (Tidewater, Southside, Piedmont, Valley and Southwest) plus 20 others for a total of 30 board members plus officers.
After another 25 years, in 1921, it again was time for remodeling. The designers of this bold new scheme were respectful to wait until after the death of the unpaid executive leader, William Ellyson, who had served for 29 years. The reorganization was accomplished in the presidency of George White McDaniel, the dynamic 40-something-year-old pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond.
Another committee of 15 was appointed “to consider the desirability and practicability of so reorganizing our Baptist work in Virginia as to secure unification and simplification.”
President McDaniel thought “a more efficient board” would have all members coming from those geographic divisions — “say a board of 30 — six from each of the five divisions,” but he also thought the matter should be open for debate. “Discussion of the right sort never hurts Baptists,” he wrote to committee members. He knew that some favored having representatives from each of the district associations, which at the time numbered 29.
The committee chose to broaden the base by having someone appointed from each district association plus 16 at-large members and the BGAV officers. It made for an enlarged board of upwards of 50 members. The board became known as the Virginia Baptist Board of Missions and Education. (Another change in 1920 was the inclusion of women as messengers and, in time, service on the board.)
Over time, the enlarged board doubled with the formation of more district associations (now 42) and the provision for extra associational representatives based upon larger contributions. It became known as the General Board and today is known as the Mission Board. It contains slightly over 100 members and that is too many for anyone’s living room!
The basic composition of the board — that is, coming from the district associations — has remained in place for over 90 years. The current committee of 10 (plus four non-voting) can get out their building tools, make some measurements and consider renovations. It always is worthwhile to dream about remodeling as long as we can still recognize the home place. After all, our old house, as they say, has “good bones.”
Fred Anderson ([email protected]) is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies.