Churches send messengers to the annual meeting to conduct the business of the BGAV, including electing officers and approving the budget.  But the BGAV meeting involves much more than merely business.  Each year the program committee strives to plan worship services that include uplifting music and feature inspirational speakers.  This year’s speakers were Dr. Leith Anderson, Senior Pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and Interim President of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Dr. James Flamming, Pastor of First Church, Richmond.

On Thursday morning, in the first of his three messages, Dr. Anderson addressed the topic of leadership.  He defined a leader as someone who “figures out what needs to be done and does it.”  Because leaders learn from other leaders, it is important for leaders to have a mentor and to get to know that person so well that you can predict what your mentor would do even in a situation that he or she has never been in.  Anderson also encouraged church leaders to get to know their communities well and to be ready to adapt their ministry to changing social realities.  Finally, he reminded them that Christian leaders need to trust God for the long-term journey.

Dr. Anderson began his Thursday evening message by sketching a portrait of life in the Roman Empire, a society that practiced abortion and infanticide and that was decimated by epidemics of disease.  In the midst of this culture, the Apostle Peter challenged Christians to “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12, NIV).  Though persecuted, first-century Christians responded by preaching against abortion, rescuing abandoned children, and ministering to the victims of disease.  Though their numbers grew slowly at first, the Christian population in the Roman Empire steadily increased, so that by the time Constantine became emperor in the early fourth century, Christians were so numerous that the new emperor had no choice but to embrace Christianity and grant it legal status within the Roman Empire.  Dr. Anderson ended his message by urging Virginia Baptists to accept Peter’s challenge in the 21st century, just as first-century Christians did in the early church.

Dr. James Flamming

In his message Dr. Flamming emphasized the importance of new beginnings.  “The way to keep growing,” he observed, “is to never stop starting.”  Alluding to the theme of the annual meeting, “Voyage to Discovery,” Flamming encouraged individuals and churches to ask the Lord: “What is the voyage that I am to make?”  While acknowledging that some answers to this question will be unique to each individual, Flamming highlighted some common themes.  For example, all Christians are called to sow the seeds of the Gospel, without regard to the receptivity of the soil.  Speaking to the messengers as Christian leaders, he asserted that “the success of your ministry depends on doing it through other people.”  That is the way Jesus led and ministered.  And so, Flamming suggested, a good place for a new beginning would be to invite Jesus to switch seats in your life, from the co-pilot’s seat where he is only called upon in emergencies to the pilot’s seat where he is in charge of every decision.

On Friday morning Anderson explored what it means to glorify God.  He noted that the root of the classical Greek word translated “glorify” relates to a person’s reputation.  So, to glorify God is to enhance God’s reputation in the world, to make God look good.  Anderson noted that Jesus is the ultimate example of one who has glorified God.  On the Cross, Jesus made God look very good.  Anderson then related the stories of various people, ancient and contemporary, whose actions have made God look good.  He concluded his message by commending Virginia Baptists for the work that they have done to glorify God this year.