Advance Notice, December 2006

John V. Upton, Executive Director

Welcome to the latest edition of Advance Notice. We hope that this monthly eNewsletter provides you with relevant, useful information and resources.

All of the contents are for your use. Please feel free to use the information and illustrations in sermons, in newsletters, church bulletins, and on your website. Additionally, you can easily forward it on to your church leaders and members so they can be connected to resources and information that enable the Baptist General Association of Virginia churches to advance the Redeemer’s Kingdom.

“Mary’s Answer”

Christmas is coming and soon we’ll be deep into the Christmas story. Do you know what I long to hear? I long to hear again the quiet response of a young girl to a strange visitor in her life. In other words, what happened to Mary is exactly what needs to happen to you and me and to every church. At the center of the story is a doorway through which we are to enter with our own hearing of strange news and our own answering of it.

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Kay Warren and Rick Muchow from Saddleback Church will headline this annual visioning event. Visit the website to learn more about P.E.A.C.E. Registration is now open!

Want to double your Sunday School in two years or less? Don't miss this conference with Josh Hunt on January 16.

Let the music ring out at the annual Handbell Festivals! Two festivals will be offered again this February.

Discover ways to make our witness greater through our lifestyle and teachings, as well as through the witness of our church’s properties and how that affects church attendance.

Senior High weekend is designed for students in grades 9-12 during the 2006-2007 school years. The weekend will include: celebrative worship, morning devotions, special interest conferences (targeted directly to the needs of senior high students), recreation and fellowship.

December is always a time for Christmas stories. In 1889 a new Baptist church was constituted in rural Powhatan County. A man donated land for a church to be constructed and asked only that the new church be named after his daughter Grace. About 1891 the building was dedicated with the sermon delivered by the incomparable Dr. William E. Hatcher, who was pastor of the Grace Street Baptist Church of Richmond.

Hatcher took the train out to the countryside and was met at Moseley’s Junction by an old man, Lloyd Phaup, one of the founders of Graceland. They walked a mile to the plain and simple home where the guest preacher was to be served dinner. Along the way, the old man shared a Christmas story. When Hatcher wrote his autobiography, he included “The Homecoming” story. It is a classic. The following is an abridged version.

As always, we want to hear from you with your feedback. How can we better communicate with you? How can we better serve you? Let us know your thoughts by sending an e-mail to Paige Peak at paige.peak@vbmb.org.

In this space we have been featuring many of our ministry partners that are a part of the BGAV. The desire is for more people to know and understand what makes up this entity called the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

The Religious Herald

Theodore Adams, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond and president of the Baptist World Alliance, once referred to the Religious Herald as “an assistant pastor.” “What pastor,” he asked, “could possibly hope to tell his people from week to week as much as the Herald conveys to them on news about the Christian world?”

After 179 years, the Herald continues its mission to “inform, interpret, and inspire in the context of the witness and work of the Baptist General Association of Virginia” by providing news and analysis—both in print and electronically—that affect BGAV churches. It also assists congregations with their own communications needs by printing church newsletters on the back page.

Read the complete article here.

That the Religious Herald has nearly 18,000 subscribers in all 50 states and in many nations around the world?
That the Religious Herald was privately owned, usually by its editor, until 1950, when it became an agency of the BGAV?
That a gift subscription to the Religious Herald makes a great Christmas gift that continues giving all through the year? To send a gift subscription to someone, look for the gift subscription form in the Herald or contact Marty Garber at mgarber@
religiousherald.org.

Jesus told his disciples, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.”

Heeding Christ’s call, Virginia Baptists move straight ahead into areas devastated by natural disaster, into places where there are no churches, into lives that are broken and empty—without looking back. Through Cooperative Missions, we commit ourselves to assist courageous churches and to plant new ones; to identify, equip, and nurture God-called leaders; to minister and evangelize globally and locally; and to support ministry partners in Virginia and around the world, as together we spread Christ’s love and salvation to a world that is suffering and lost.

We can’t advance the Redeemer’s Kingdom if we retreat from the commitments we’ve made. Let’s keep moving forward.

For free downloadable ads for use in your church bulletin, eNewsletter and/or website, click here.

Subscribeto the best source of news about Virginia Baptists and the Christian world at large! The Religious Herald is available at very reasonable rates.