Belmont Baptist Church creates long-term change in Charlottesville, Va., with CBF grant By Rickey Letson In 2006, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship launched a program called It’sTime. The eight-week study challenged churches to embrace a more missional perspective in their congregational life focused on purpose and passion, particularly as it related to their calling to meet … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Virginia
Persistent Planting
By Jessica Hearne, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Who knew it would be so difficult to grow watermelons? Isaiah certainly didn’t know when he started planting them on the Urban Farm five years ago. We can grow cucumbers just fine, and watermelons are kind of like cucumbers, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Maybe … Continue reading
CBF names two seminarians as 2022 Vestal Scholars
May 12, 2022 By Aaron Weaver DECATUR, Ga. — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has selected Beth Rooney Bailey and Luke Perrin as the 2022 recipients of the Daniel and Earlene Vestal Scholarship. The Fellowship’s most prestigious scholarship, named in honor of former CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal and his wife, Earlene, was created in 2011 … Continue reading
Arthur Ashe versus the Confederacy
With removal of Robert E. Lee statue, the Arthur Ashe Jr. memorial stands alone on Richmond’s Monument Avenue By Robert P. Jones The news broke this week that the Virginia Supreme Court has cleared the state to remove the last Confederate monument still standing on the city’s Monument Avenue, the massive tribute to General Robert E. Lee. … Continue reading
Finding God in the Pandemic
By Christie Thadikonda Where is God when it hurts? This has been an existential question for generations. As this question lingers in the minds of many including Christians, time has come to reflect on the presence of God. In his book God and the Pandemic, N.T. Wright encourages readers to move toward what can we … Continue reading
Susan Blanchard called as first director of Baptist House of Studies at Union Seminary
RICHMOND, VA – Rev. Susan Pierson Blanchard (M.Div. / M.A.C.E. ’97) has accepted a call to lead a new initiative for Cooperative Baptists beginning this fall at Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Richmond campus. As director of the Baptist House of Studies (BHS) program, Blanchard, an ordained Baptist minister, will help students navigate the institution and their ordination process. “I have felt a strong … Continue reading
DACA and Frontline Workers
By Greg Smith From time to time since 2017, our immigration legal services program would get a call from a youth-age or young-adult immigrant asking, “Is it time yet? Can I apply for DACA?” Every time the question was asked, I would usually respond, “Have you ever had DACA?” and if the answer was no, my response was … Continue reading
Asset-based Community Development and Policing Come Together in Danville, Va.
By Bekah Rhea On a relatively busy street in Danville, Virginia, is a home that, in the past decade, has become the epicenter of a thriving intentional community. In the springtime, you may recognize it by the flowers and plants attracting plentiful varieties of pollinators, giving the property the aura of a small Eden in … Continue reading
More than Tomatoes for More than Groundhogs
This story was written by Jessica Hearne, CBF field personnel and a Grace and Main leader and founding member. You can support her work either by donating to Grace and Main or directly to her support fund. You might have already guessed it but managing the leadership team of Grace and Main’s Urban Farm has been … Continue reading
Assisting Asylees to Begin a New Life
The following is a reflection from CBF field personnel Greg Smith, who serves in Fredericksburg, Va., with his wife, Sue. You can learn more about their ministries and support their work at www.cbf.net/smith. For LUCHA Ministries Immigration Legal Services, the final week of September was full indeed. Over a four-day period, I clocked 48 hours and, … Continue reading