Sarah Poole Batkins, the first student secretary (now campus minister) among Virginia Baptists, died March 8 in Richmond. She was 91. In September 1941, Batkins was employed as a joint venture of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board and Virginia Woman's…
More diversity
Thank you, Mike Gillen! Your article urging us to respond to the growing multi-ethnic culture around us put words to the thoughts in my own heart. I too desire to see more diversity in denominational leadership to truly reflect our…
Richmond area associations create new missions effort
On Sunday, Jan. 28, Baptists from across the Richmond area gathered at Lyndale Baptist Church in Chesterfield County to install Juanita (Nita) D. May as the regional ministries coordinator for Central Virginia Baptist Ministries (CVBM). You say you have never…
Aliens landed at Atlee
It may have sounded like a gathering new-age sci-fi trekkies, but “Alien” was the name given a conference for churches desiring to be innovative in their goal of reaching people with the message of Jesus. The conference was envisioned by…
‘Mainstream’ leaders credit freedom for staying Baptist
A refrain of freedom echoed through a Mainstream Baptist Network convocation in suburban Dallas Feb. 23-24. About 80 participants from across the South gathered for the sixth-annual event. During the session, seven speakers addressed the theme “Why I am still…
FIRST PERSON: On building bridges
Editor's note: Following this article is a brief email exchange between Dr. Rainer and me. When my three grown sons were small children, we would often play with a wooden train. Because they were so young, the boys would sometimes…
EDITORIAL: Some things can’t be ignored
It is a small country church that called as pastor a man they believed was God's choice for them. The members are good, salt-of-the-earth folks. Unsophisticated by intent, perhaps even naïve in their innocence, they believed the “man of God”…
Concerned about IMB
Having gone on record last year in the Religious Herald as being “optimistic” about the potential to be both a Virginia Baptist and a Southern Baptist, I must admit that my optimism is being greatly tested by the actions of…
Hands to the plow
Members of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's glocal missions and evangelism team staff are accustomed to sending Virginia Baptists within the state, across the United States and throughout the world as volunteers in mission service. But between Jan. 24 and…
Search committees
In light of the recent article of Chamberlayne Baptist Church's success with calling a new pastor [“Insights gleaned from a pastor search committee,” Feb. 22], I wanted to submit this letter I wrote a number of months ago to a…
World’s Baptists gather to say goodbye to Lotz
A capacity crowd of 750 Baptists gathered in the ballroom of a Washington, D.C., area hotel last week to honor the life and ministry of Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, as he plans to retire. The…
Gays in churches
Maybe I'm missing something, but the article about the North Carolina Baptist convention [“Gay-friendly church in N.C. invites investigation,” Feb. 22] seems to lack a detail. Does Myers Park Baptist Church encourage people with abnormal orientation to hold positions of…