Where Is the BGAV Heading?  Indicators

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                             Vol. XIII, No. 4, April 2000
 

The winter edition of CBF Virginia, the newsletter of the Virginia state chapter of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, offers the following two interesting items.

"CBF Missionary to Be Funded by Virginia

"Rachel Stephen is CBF's newest missionary and will serve as strategy coordinator for Slovak and Gypsy people in Slovakia and Czech Republic. She was a Global Service Corps volunteer there as an English teacher for two years. A native of Texas and graduate of Baylor University and Truett Theological Seminary, Stephen's mission position is funded by an on-going allocation from the Baptist General Association of Virginia. She was hosted by CBFV and Baptist General Association of Virginia at the annual convention in November 1999."

"Jim Baucom Nominated for National CBF Office

"Jim Baucom, pastor of Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, will be nominated moderator-elect for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship during the group's General Assembly in Orlando this summer. If elected, as moderator-elect, Jim will serve later as moderator during the 2001-2002 CBF year.

"Moderator is CF's highest elected office. Moderators preside during the General Assembly and coordinating council meetings. The council of 83 people meets three times a year to plan CBF missions and ministries....

"Baucom is a member of CBF's coordinating council and a past moderator for CBF Virginia. He is senior pastor of Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. He holds the Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Doctor of Ministries degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

"Baucom is also a member of the [CBF] national coordinating council, serving on the Global Missions Ministries Group. He was a member of the search committee that nominated Gray Baldridge and Barbara Baldridge as co-coordinators for Global Missions, to succeed Keith Parks."

Rev. Baucom has also been active and held influential positions in Baptist General Assembly of Virginia affairs. For example, he served as second vice president of the BGAV in 1997.

Virginia Baptists will want to note the continued and increasingly close association between the BGAV and the CBF.