Sharon Baptist Church in King William County occupies one of the most historic buildings in the Virginia Baptist family. If walls could talk, the stories would be worth the listening. Sharon — a church which is older than the Republic…
HERITAGE: Taking the cup
Thomas Sandford Dunaway was a member of an old Virginia Baptist family which produced capable and effective clergy and laity. Their family seat was in Lancaster County in “the Neck,” but their influence was far-flung and long lasting. Tom Dunaway,…
HERITAGE: From choir boy to choirmaster
River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond’s West End is known far and wide for excellence in all areas: gorgeous classical architecture, a pulpit ministry recognized for consistently thought-provoking messages, well-oiled church governance in the best of Baptist tradition, a superior…
HERITAGE: Light in the forest
Virginia Baptists early established relationships with Indians. John Leland, arguably the most prominent of the 18th-century Virginia Baptist itinerant preachers, wrote that in the 1780s he preached in the “royal pavilion” of an Indian chief, John Tohan. Leland said: “After…
HERITAGE: Maholo
"Aloha” is the most often-spoken word in Hawaii. Said with enthusiasm, it signals love and affection and can be used both as a greeting and a farewell. It was a word frequently on the lips of a Virginia Baptist minister…
HERITAGE: Summer lessons
Hatcher Memorial’s old church house sits along busy Dumbarton Road in the Lakeside community of Richmond. It is dwarfed by the grand Georgian sanctuary which replaced it in 1955. It is a little worn at the heels; but just as…
HERITAGE: At the ‘Free Church’
The people came from Middleburg and the surrounding countryside of Loudon and Fauquier counties. They came on a beastly hot Sunday in June and they filled the old “Free Church” building now occupied by the Middleburg Baptist Church. They sang…
HERITAGE: A worthy name
William Webber recently visited the church which bears his name in Chesterfield County. He probably was a bit uncertain of the reception he might receive; after all, the last time he came to Chesterfield he was arrested and jailed simply…
HERITAGE: Dinner on the grounds
It’s that time of the year. Homecomings traditionally were held at churches in late summer or early fall when the crops had been laid by. Many churches picked a set date — the third Sunday in July or the first…