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John V. Upton, Executive Director |
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Welcome to the latest edition of Advance Notice. We hope that this monthly eNewsletter provides you with relevant, useful information and resources.
“Virginia Tech Tragedy”
Darrell Cook, the Baptist Collegiate Minister at Virginia Tech, walked me through the campus on the day students returned to classes. Obviously, the students looked dazed, as if living in a surreal world starving for normalcy again. You could hear the haunting sadness in each human voice like a groaning from someplace terribly dark. My eyes couldn’t penetrate to the awful place where the groans were coming from. But there was no mistake what general direction the voice came from – the voice rose from someplace underneath, from someplace darkly cavernous – underground in the soul, underwater almost – the voice was moaning. It was Psalm 130 all over again, whose words also rose up from that very dark, very low place: “Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord.”.
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In Luke 19:10, Jesus says, “I have come to seek and save people who are lost.” Jesus’ use of the word “lost” appears to be a term of endearment. Loving lost people seems to be a priority for Jesus. Shouldn’t lost people be a priority for Virginia Baptists as well? 670 is a five-year master plan that is currently being developed to help Virginia Baptists reach lost people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. However, before we move forward with this plan, we want to make sure that 670 will be received by Virginia Baptists as the Master’s Plan and not just a master plan. Therefore, we are asking the Virginia Baptist Family from all over the Commonwealth to join us in a time of prayer over the next four months.
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There is no doubt that strong, positive, spiritual leadership is necessary in order for a church to share the love of Jesus with people in their community and around the world. In order for a church to carry out the Great Commission, beginning with her own community, dramatic change has to take place in the DNA of that church. Learn how at the Pastor-Deacon-Church Leadership Retreat, May 11-12, 2007 at Eagle Eyrie.
Senior adult singers won't want to miss this great musical experience with conductor Dave Schwoebel. Singers may participate with their choir or ensemble, or may attend individually to sing with the mass choir. This annual event is not to be missed!
Since 1998, Transformers! has been an opportunity for adults to be actively engaged in a large group, hands-on mission setting. This summer, groups will be working in Staunton and Weber City. Registration is open.
Summer youth workers and youth ministry interns...get an Extreme Makeover that will help you re-tool and upgrade your youth ministry program for this summer. And, full-time and volunteer youth ministers, take advantage of workshops that will help you craft new blueprints for your year-round programs.
Are you ready to “Take the Next Step” to advance God’s kingdom? Then join us at MC2 (Missions Connection Celebration) for a week of hands-on mission/service projects, Bible study, skill development, worship, fellowshipping, and story sharing.
In May 2007 our minds and hearts continue to be absorbed with the tragedy at Virginia Tech, which captured the world’s headlines on April 16. It set into motion a response by Virginia Baptists – individuals, churches, collegiate ministries, Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff – which illustrated once again Christ-like compassion.
For many of us, it brought to mind another time of crisis... [More]
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The Virginia Baptist Collegiate Ministry is the church’s mission on the college campus—building community, making disciples for Christ, and developing Christian leaders. If the mission statement of VBCM reveals the “what” of our ministry, it is our values that reveal the how.” The following statement of values, developed by our collegiate ministry staff, indicates the spirit and character that we seek to instill in all of our programs:
- We value proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- We value guiding students to discover and apply biblical truth.
- We value building Christian community.
- We value equipping young adults for leadership.
- We value assisting students to discover their gifts and to use them in mission.
- We value partnering with local churches.
- We value maintaining high professional standards in our unique role as collegiate ministers.
Visit www.vabcm.org.
Crisis Care Chaplains
Disaster, crisis, or trauma could be defined as “an occurrence that causes human suffering or creates human needs that the victims cannot alleviate without assistance.” One overarching goal of VBMB Crisis Care Chaplaincy is to help crisis victims, primary and secondary, gain or regain a measure of cognitive and spiritual control over their lives. The VBMB Crisis Care Chaplains are trained through two internationally accepted intervention models, the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) and/or the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). Training for Crisis Care Chaplaincy will be offered as part of this summer’s MC2 Mission Connection Celebration.
A document called “Insights for Processing Trauma” is available here.
Two articles about helping college and university students deal with stress resulting from the Virginia Tech shootings are available on the website of the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org).
 Virginia Baptists responded to the tragedy at Virginia Tech through Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Crisis Care Chaplains, and the Disaster Relief Childcare Unit. Together we were able to bring God’s comfort and hope into the midst of grief and despair through ministries that are supported by the combined giving power of over 1,400 Baptist General Association of Virginia churches to Cooperative Missions.
Thank you, Virginia Baptists.
For free downloadable ads for use in your church bulletin, eNewsletter and/or website,
click here.
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.
Each month, we will provide you with downloadable calendars to guide you in reading the Bible through in 2007. This month, we are including the June 2007 calendar. We are strong believers in reading God’s Holy Word, and we pray that these calendars will help you and your church in reading the Bible regularly. Each calendar is provided in two formats (8.5 x 11 and 5.5 x 8.5, the latter designed for bulletin inserts) and may be viewed and downloaded here.
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