If cordiality is the standard by which Baptist General Association of Virginia annual meetings are measured, the meeting just ended was one of the best. Newly-elected BGAV president Carl Johnson thanked the messengers at the close of the final session…
OPINION: Bible interpretation, personal experience and homosexuality
A man I once knew, now deceased, liked to express his opinion on various topics, such as divorce. He was proud that he still maintained that divorce is wrong, even though his own son was divorced. He gave examples of…
OPINION: The call of the question
The simple phrase “I move to call the question” was all it took to stop the discussion and have Ginter Park Baptist Church disassociated from the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Based on what I observed at the annual meeting,…
OPINION: The majority has spoken
After attending/voting at the Baptist General Association of Virginia 2012 annual meeting in Roanoke on the recent issue regarding Ginter Park Baptist Church with their ordination of an openly homosexual man, I feel that many will weigh in with a…
OPINION: On this I take my stand
“On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” These are the words of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms on April 18, 1521. On this date, Luther refused to recant his reformation…
VITAL SIGNS: The hardest issues we face
One of the most helpful insights I have gained in recent years for understanding the leadership culture of congregational life is the concept of managing polarities. Polarities are ongoing, chronic issues that are unavoidable and unsolvable. They are the hardest…
Christians support UN status for PLO
By Bob Allen One hundred Christian leaders in the Holy Land issued an open letter Nov. 14 asking western governments to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for independence and freedom. The letter from the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical…
OK Baptists affirm ‘personhood’ of unborn
By Bob Allen Oklahoma Baptists applauded an attempt to amend the state’s constitution to declare an embryo a human being from the moment of conception in a resolution at the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s Nov. 12-13 annual meeting at…
BGAV adopts $12.1 million budget for 2013, elects officers during annual meeting in Roanoke
ROANOKE — A proposed budget for Baptist General Association of Virginia ministries in 2013 which sparked wide-ranging debate for a month was adopted Nov. 14 without discussion or apparent opposition. The BGAV approved the $12.1 million budget and elected officers…
A Q&A with Carl Johnson, the Richmond layman who took the helm as the BGAV’s president Nov. 14
Richmond layman Carl Johnson was elected president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia Nov. 14 during its annual meeting in Roanoke. Johnson, a retired denominational financial officer and a member of First Baptist Church in Richmond, answered a range…
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Performing the business of ministry
By Jeff Brumley Pastor Tony Lankford had a relaxing-but-productive day planned for himself on Monday. His plan was to prepare the message he will preach this coming Sunday on Daniel in the lion’s den. “I was going to go to…