The annual pastors conference of the Baptist General Association of Virginia met on Nov. 10 at North Roanoke Baptist Church in Roanoke, the day prior to the BGAV annual meeting.
Pastors conference president Mark Croston presided and introduced speakers, who included David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance, and T. Vaughn Walker, senior pastor of First Gethsemane Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Pastors conference officers Croston, Michael Jordan and Wayne Collis selected 2 Timothy 4:17-18 as the thematic text and assigned to each speaker a specific thought from the verses: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Other speakers were Peter McLewin, pastor of Ingleside Baptist Church in Norfolk; Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church of Richmond; and Jim White, editor of the Religious Herald. Special music was provided by a group called First Day from Bluefield college.
Officers for 2009 were elected: As president, Michael Jordan, pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Axton; Ernest Reid, pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church in Portsmouth, vice president; and Mat Brown, pastor of Branch's Baptist Church in Richmond, treasurer.
Although BGAV committee meetings and other ancillary gatherings were scheduled at the same time, an estimated 120 pastors and guests gathered for the conference.