On Sunday, June 4, the members and friends of the Franklin Heights Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia, entered their new sanctuary for the first time. It was a moment which was long anticipated. When 6-year-old Cassidy James Anderson entered…
At the front door
Hazel Mallory died Saturday, June 24, from cancer. Her funeral was on Wednesday, June 28, at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond. For 31 years Hazel Mallory sat at the front door of Virginia Baptist life. As the administrative assistant…
Surprise ending!
Virginia Sanders sleeps beneath a painting of her long-time home on Sabot Street in Richmond's West End. The painting and plenty of memories remind her of the days when she was a busy homemaker with a professor-husband and four active…
A vision to fulfill
There is a grainy old photograph which pictures the very first assembly at Eagle Eyrie, the Virginia Baptist assembly and conference center near Lynchburg. The photograph shows a stark contrast between architecture and people. It was taken inside English Hall,…
300 candles brightly shining
On July 27, 1707, representatives of five churches formed the Philadelphia Baptist Association. It was the first Baptist association in the United States. Earlier, there were “yearly meetings” and occasional gatherings among the scattered churches; but in 1707 the urge…
The mystery of the call
The Baptist world is divided between two camps—the clergy and the laity. Baptist thought usually admits that both camps are expected to be Christian servants. But one of the mysteries to the laity is the matter of “the call” to…