In the summer of 1789, the General Committee—an early and loose organization of Virginia Baptists—met in Richmond. In a spirit of national pride, they endorsed a letter of congratulations to the Republic's first president, a fellow Virginian, George Washington. Although…
Showing courage
Only two years into his big city pastorate at First Baptist Church of Richmond, Jeremiah Bell Jeter at age 36 engineered a major change. It was a threatening change not only to members of his congregation but also to fellow…
Spreading love
In 1942 Alma Cree finished business school in Henderson, N.C, and did the unthinkable. She had grown up hearing about the Foreign Mission Board and imagined that it would be “a good place to work.” She wrote a blind letter…
Beginnings and endings
Noah Calton Baldwin was the grand old man among the Baptists of Southwest Virginia. For nearly 60 years, he was a central figure in the religious life of the frontier from Marion to Abingdon. He was the father of the…
Treasure houses
On a recent Sunday evening the lights were dark at the First Baptist Church of Richmond. The members were down Boulevard at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts where they were honoring their pastor, Peter James Flamming. On the last…
Face toward Mount Gilead
On a recent Sunday morning, this columnist—like Jacob of old—arose, turned the ignition in his Pontiac van (well, that part was unlike Jacob) and set his face toward Mount Gilead. The Mount Gilead in this story is due west from…
Play acting at Beaver Dam
When the trophies are awarded to church anniversary committees, please send a large one to the 175th anniversary committee of Beaver Dam Baptist Church in Fluvanna County. The plans for the D-Day invasion were not as well conceived and detailed!…
Sunshine and seeds
Growing up on a farm in Southside Virginia, Cora Anne Davis learned that two things—sunshine and seeds—go together; and until her death on Nov. 9 at age 69, she spread plenty of both everywhere she went. The sunshine came from…
On church democracy
It was on Election Day that this column was written. It was early in the morning and this columnist had yet to add his one vote to the process. The mid-term election campaigns of 2006 were among the ugliest in…
Almost Baptist!
Growing up in Georgia, I devoured collards, cornbread and the columns by Louie D. Newton in the weekly issues of The Christian Index, the Georgia Baptist newspaper. Newton was a well-known pastor, former editor of the Index, and a denominational…
Return to Straightstone
Last week this column shared some of the history of Straightstone Baptist Church in Pittsylvania County. When the church recently celebrated its 200th anniversary, Rolen C. Bailey, a former pastor, was among those who returned to Straightstone. He served as…
Cut into the darkness
The sun was setting in the west and the shadows were lengthening when this columnist headed out one Saturday on his way to a Sunday speaking engagement in the country. The destination was Straightstone Baptist Church in the northeast corner…