[1]FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (BP)–Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia held their second annual meeting as a state convention Oct. 27, approving 54 more churches for SBCV affiliation.
The convention now totals 212 churches.
Of the 54 new churches approved during the meeting at Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, 42 are uniquely aligned with the SBCV and 12 are dually aligned with the SBCV and the Baptist General Association of Virginia, which together encompass approximately 1,580 churches.
Messenger registration totaled 587 for SBCV sessions in which every vote was unanimous and every election was by acclamation, with attendance at one point reaching beyond 1,100.
The adopted 1999 budget of $3,300,000 is twice the 1998 budget of $1,660,000. Southern Baptist Convention national and international ministries will receive 50 percent of undesignated receipts, with no preferred or exception items, in accordance with SBCV policy.
Because some churches voted to instruct the SBCV to send the SBC more than half their donations, in the 1998 year 54.36 percent of CP funds went to the SBC. And of total contributions, both CP and designated, 66.86 percent went to SBC causes.
Kelly J. Burris, senior pastor of Kempsville Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, who has been serving as first vice president, was elected president, succeeding Terry L. Harper, pastor of Colonial Heights Baptist Church, who had completed the maximum two one-year terms.
The new first vice president is John Marks, pastor of Kingsland Baptist Church, Richmond. A poignant note was struck in the election of Rodney D. Houston, pastor of Chatmoss Baptist Church, Martinsville, as second vice president. Houston’s father, Thomas N. Houston, pastor of Laurel Hill Baptist, Earlysville, died of a heart attack in June, while Rodney and his wife, Betty Jean, were in Romania on an SBCV-International Mission Board-sponsored mission trip. David S. Eppling, pastor of East End Baptist, Roanoke, was re-elected secretary.
Executive Director-Treasurer Doyle Chauncey reported the 1997-98 fiscal year has been a signal time for the SBCV as it transitioned from an organizing to a functioning mode. The main convention office was moved from Virginia Beach to Glen Allen near Richmond; consultants and staff were employed, including a church planter intern and a Women’s Ministry/WMU associate; regional resource centers were opened; 10 new churches were started; and more than 3,000 baptisms were recorded.
Although the SBCV declared itself a state convention in September 1996, it previously had existed as a fellowship, beginning with 10 churches in 1993 and $32,000 in Cooperative Program giving. The SBCV growth, year by year, moved from: 1994, 52 churches, $84,000 in CP giving; 1995, 85 churches, $286,000 in CP giving; 1996, 115 churches, $688,000 in CP giving; 1997, 158 churches, $1,815,000 in CP giving.
The convention passed a resolution affirming the new article on the family in the Baptist Faith and Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention last June in Salt Lake City.
The Tuesday annual meeting was preceded on Monday by the SBCV Bible Conference, with messages from Paige Patterson, SBC president and president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church, Springdale, Ark.; and evangelist Jeff Smith of Georgia.
During the annual meeting, messengers and guests heard messages by Patterson; Bobby Boyles, pastor of Eagle Heights Baptist, Oklahoma City; and outgoing SBCV President Harper. –30– Reported by T.C. Pinckney. 11/2/98 8 LifeWay employees receive Career of Excellence Awards
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–“Excellence ought to be the goal of our lives,” President Jimmy Draper said Oct. 30 as he presented Career of Excellence awards to eight employees, bringing to 114 the number who have been honored since the award was established in 1987.
Noting “there’s nothing scriptural about mediocrity, laziness or sloppiness,” Draper said, “it takes a lot of years of hard work and consistency of excellence to achieve.”
Recipients were Clyde Hall, discipleship and family youth-children-preschool department; Aubrey House, LifeWay church resources group; Billie Koller, Glorieta Conference Center; Martha McClendon, trade sales and marketing department; Butch Savage, human resources department; Shelia Traughber, business support services department; Marshall Walker, communications department; and Mike Whittle, corporate services department.
In comments about different dimensions of excellence, McClendon said a positive attitude is “the one thing in our lives that we have 100 percent control over.”
She cited the Old Testament Joseph as an example of a person who maintained a positive attitude through difficult life circumstances, seeing challenges as opportunities.
Also, she said, “I’ve found a good attitude can be contagious.”
Whittle emphasized the importance of developing habits that help a person make progress toward excellence.
“Do you make it your habit to do something today that will improve your performance tomorrow?” he asked. “What can you do today that is above and beyond what is expected of you?”
He challenged employees to look for options to improve even the dullest parts of their work. “You’ll wind up making an art of what you are doing,” he said.
Walker cited the wisdom of a quote he saw recently on a restaurant sign, “the most important things in your life aren’t things.”
He said his priorities include his personal relationship with God, the love of family and friends and “work that challenges me to be my very best.
“The problem is not knowing what my priorities are but living my life in light of my priorities,” Walker said. “I have not attained excellence in discipline but, like Paul, I can say I am pressing toward the mark.”
After becoming a Christian at age 19, House said he realized “excellence for a Christian is not an option. From the moment I received Christ I tried to do everything at my best for the Lord.”