"8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” (1 Cor 13:8–10).
For those of us who take the Bible seriously, the first part of verse 8, “Love never fails,” is both difficult and crucial. It’s a type of statement that most of us learn early on not to make; I’ve always been taught to avoid the words “never” and “always” because there are almost always exceptions that I have not imagined. So when the Bible says, “love never fails,” we should be clear about what that statement means.
One of our big problems today is that many people, including far too many Christians, teach and preach that love does sometimes fail. These critics argue that, too often, the components of biblical love (as defined in 1 Cor 13:4–7), including patience, kindness, refusal to dishonor, refusal to keep record of wrongs, and so on, do not yield the desired result. Therefore, these critics advise us to be impatient, unkind, untrusting, skeptical, and so on. 
When we look at the world through the lens of cold reason, then sure, it’s clear that love often appears to fail. But biblical Christianity is not about reason or hard evidence; it’s about faith, the “assurance of what is not seen” (Heb 11:1).  As a bible scholar and tax professional (my day job), I’m all for working with hard facts and solid logic. But since Christianity requires us to accept as truth things we can’t see, we are often called to believe things that seem unreasonable.
When we try to figure out God’s will, then, sure, we apply careful reasoning to evidence. We read the Bible as carefully as we can, look for any other evidence that may be available, then do our best reasoning, hopefully guided by serious prayer, to figure out what God wants from us today.  But when we’ve reached a conclusion about God’s will, the time has come to act. 
We Christians are not God’s buddies or counselors; God is the general, and we’re the foot soldiers.  God tells us what to do; we do it. Period.  Enlisted men may or may not be given partial information about the grand strategy.  Assuredly, they are never told the entire battle plan. They’re only told enough to know what they must do.  Consequently, they have no way to know whether the campaign strategy is working – and from the general’s perspective, the foot soldiers do not need to know. All they have to do is follow orders. 
Like everyone else, very often I have a hard time believing that love never fails.  So Paul helps us out with the rest of verse 8 and verses 9-10:
“But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”
In the New Testament, prophecies, tongues, and “knowledge” (Greek gnosis) are extra-biblical means of learning what is true.  (If Paul were writing today, he might refer to science and logic.)  Paul anticipates our preference for determining truth by relying on extrabiblical means: scientific findings, our senses, logical reasoning, and so on.  But these things are appropriate only for our temporal world.  Eternal reality (what Paul calls “completeness” in verse 10) goes beyond human logic and scientific investigation.
This means that we can never know what is really going on when we love, or when we choose not to love.  There are times when love seems to fail.  The greatest example of this, of course, is Jesus’s death: out of love, Jesus allowed himself to be arrested and crucified.   Jesus’s love certainly seemed to fail when he was on the cross!  But there was a bigger picture that his followers could not see. 
And in the same way, when we obey God by loving as per the commands of 1 Cor 13:4–7, there is a big picture that our partial knowledge does not reveal to us.  “Love never fails” is not Paul’s finding of fact; it’s a statement of faith that loving others has a part in God’s plan.  We do not know the plan, because we do not need to know.  Our job is to love.  Therefore, our reasoning task is to figure out how to be patient when our patience is tried; how to be kind to people who are unkind; how to avoid remembering past offences, and so on.
No matter how much we Baptists like to proclaim that the Bible is true, it can be very hard to believe the clear statement, “love never fails.”  But believe it we must.  Therefore, out of faith, let’s put energy and effort into using 1 Cor 13:4–7 to help us figure out how to obey the “royal law” (James 2:8), “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Over the coming months, I’m planning to post each week, alternating between longer posts that examine aspects of the Bible, theology, or religion, and shorter posts that highlight a book or other resource.  If you, dear reader, know of anything that might benefit our local pastors, please email me the details so I can add it to this blog.   
Last week, I highlighted our calling as pastors to cultivate love (1 Cor. 13:1) and to teach our congregants to love.  After I posted, it occurred to me to mention an underappreciated classic I was required to read in seminary: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Strength to Love.  If you do not know much of King’s thought beyond a few lines from “I Have a Dream” and his emphasis on nonviolent resistance, then you need to read this book!  Originally published in 1963, Strength comprises fifteen sermons King preached and later edited for this book.    
These sermons display impressive depth and maturity.  King addresses real problems of his day, going well beyond race relations: competition with the USSR and the prospect of nuclear war were heavy on people’s minds. King responds by drawing not only on the Bible but also on philosophy, history, civics, and black Christian tradition to argue that we have excellent reasons for hope. Our difficulties may be great, but history shows that God is greater.  Things will turn around; God’s plan will come to pass.
To my amazement, Amazon recently dropped the e-book price to $2.99!  The paperback version is $12. With so little to lose, there is no reason not to buy; all Hampton Roads pastors must have this on their tablet or bookshelf.

Back after hiatus, looking forward to sharing what's been on my heart.
In my last post I explained that the New Testament teaches that the best way to love God is to love other people. In Matthew 22:39 Jesus explains that the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is like the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength and all your mind.”  To clarify this principle, Paul teaches us that all God’s commands are “summed up” in the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom 13:8–10). So if loving God is our top priority in life, then our first order of business must be the work of loving others.
Of course, “love your neighbor as yourself” is much easier said than done! What exactly is the action required? What exactly does God want us to do in obedience to this command?  
Fortunately, the Bible gives us some great foundational ideas. One of the best passages that explains God’s view of love is the famous “love” chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. Ironically, many Christians tend not to talk about this chapter in a church context; it’s so popular at weddings that we tend to apply it most to marriages and other personal relationships. I’m not against wives and husbands using these teachings to deepen the marriage.  But the context of the chapter is not marriage, but church relationships.
As most of us know, 1 Corinthians focuses on church practice – more than any other book in the Bible. Throughout this book Paul addresses church disputes, to help Corinthian Christians work together for the glory of God.  First Corinthians 13 was written primarily for church folks whose strong disagreements threaten their unity. The situation in Corinth looks a lot like the church’s predicament in Hampton Roads today! So we do well to accept that 1 Corinthians 13 is written not just for our church members, but for us.
The chapter begins with a comment that should grab the attention of everyone whom God has called to proclaim the Gospel: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1). Our preaching and teaching can be meaningful only when it comes from a place of love.  It’s hard to imagine how the New Testament could be any clearer on this point! Yet far, far too many preachers who claim to be faithful to God’s Word nevertheless promote hatred. I understand why: in 21st century America hate gets attention and motivates listeners to action. But if Paul is correct, then God calls us to resist hate-filled preaching.
Some preachers justify hate by defining “love” in a way that allows hatred, perhaps emphasizing terms like “tough love” and sayings like, “love the sinner, hate the sin.”  To an extent (limited!), these ideas might be helpful. But extra-biblical ideas like “tough love” cannot be our starting point. To “love our neighbor as ourselves,” we must begin with and prioritize biblical love – for example, 1 Cor. 13:4–7:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
These verses are simple and direct; nothing like the complex theology of Romans or Ephesians. There are three distinct ways that preachers and other Christian leaders must apply these verses.
First, our preaching must feature patience and kindness, and should never dishonor others. We should be careful not to be easily angered; we are not allowed to keep record of wrongs. We must strive to consistently protect, trust, hope, and persevere – not just regarding our friends and to those who agree with us, but regarding those with whom we disagree on serious points of theology and ethics.
Second, our preaching must help our audiences to model this definition of love in their lives. We must encourage our listeners to be kind to everyone, not just family and friends.  We must help our congregants to avoid delighting when our opponents suffer, and to rejoice whenever truth comes to light – even when truth makes our political opponents or folks with bad theology look good.  How do we avoid dishonoring those who have different values?  When Jesus commands us to love our enemies he is talking about 1 Corinthains 13-style love.  Our job is to help our friends to live out this kind of love. 
Third, in this age of deep division and polarization, love must be the criteria that we use when we evaluate others who claim to speak for God. How can we judge who among modern speakers, writers, and media personalities really is speaking for God, and who is not?  If 1 Corinthians 13:1 is correct, then we should evaluate those who speak and write publicly by the extent to which they are helping us to be loving.  Does so-and-so encourage me to be kinder and more patient?  Am I learning how to be less easily offended; am I motivated to forget past wrongs?  Am I becoming more protective, trusting of my opponents, believing that we will be able to work together for good?  No matter how much a message may resonate with me personally, if it does not meet the New Testament definition of love, then it cannot be from God.
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).  So even when people on the radio or cable news have a point of view that resonates with my theology, if they are not promoting love, we must recognize that their message cannot be from God.  
In my next column, we take this idea further by examining the rest of 1 Cor 13, verses 8–13.

Six months of discerning where God is leading the PBA begins now. The singular theme for the next six months is holy disruption. This simply means that the future vitality and sustainability of the PBA will require nothing less than an interruption of God’s Spirit among us. The time ahead will be fast and furious. We will start with two bold measures right out of the gate.

First, we are focusing on building trust among our pastors so that we will be able to honestly and courageously make the decisions that will need to be made. We will maintain our monthly Pastor’s Luncheons, but will also be meeting at a Panera’s all other Wednesdays in different locations.

The sole purpose is for us to share together what we perceive to be God’s direction in the churches that we serve. This gives us an opportunity to share our hopes and dreams of ministry for the upcoming year. It also invites us to be able to encourage and support each other as we face a new year. The value of the PBA is only as good as its ability to support the pastors, leaders, and congregations that make up the PBA.

Our first Panera luncheon will be on Wednesday, January 7, at the Panera’s in the Denbigh area (12531 Jefferson Ave). It is understandably challenging for our Williamsburg pastors to travel to Newport News for meetings. We will seek to accommodate our Williamsburg pastors and leaders at this gathering. All pastors and leaders are invited to all of the Panera luncheon gatherings.

Second, on Wednesday, January 21, we are hosting Josh Hayden for a conference with pastors and leaders for an extended lunch from 12 - 3. Josh has recently authored Remissioning Church: A Field Guide for Bringing A Congregation Back to Life. The focus is on disruption and is based on nothing other than the death/resurrection model of Jesus.

Josh’s work is right in line with what we will be doing during these six months. Because it will set the tone for everything else, we are bringing him in as early as possible. Everything we do will flow right out of this model. We will meet together for an extended Pastor’s Luncheon that day.

FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO THE PBA YOUTUBE PAGE FOR MORE
INFORMATION:   https://youtu.be/fjaPS_wabXE

I remember going to Midnight Mass every Christmas Eve when growing up. I grew up in a Catholic family. It was our tradition. I think part of the reason was to take our minds off the games and toys we were looking forward to getting in the morning, and to keep us up so late that when we got home, we were able to go to sleep.

After reluctantly going to bed and finally falling asleep, my parents would head up into the attic to get all the stuff Mom and Dad have stashed there. They would spend the next couple of hours putting the train set together for me and my brother, Andy, and the doll house for my sister Patty, making sure to do it all without making a racket and waking us up.

It was interesting to learn years later that Mom and Dad, Mom mostly, would keep their eyes open for specials throughout the year. They would buy something on sale and stash it up in the attic safe and sound until Christmas Eve, when they brought it down and placed it under the Christmas Tree. We already knew they loved us, but this was their very special expression of their love; an all-out, extravagant display.

Two thousand years ago, our Heavenly Father expressed His extravagant love for us by sending his only Son into the world. Jesus wasn’t sent just to tell us about Father’s love, but to demonstrate His love; for while we were sleeping (sinners), Christ died for us. Picture the first "Christmas tree." It was an old, rugged cross. And beneath it is an enormous pile of gifts, each with an individual’s name tag. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ... and the wages of sin is death ... but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Two thousand years ago, our Father purchased the greatest Christmas gift ever given for everyone. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Picture a Cross with millions of boxes containing everlasting life gifts, and notice there is one there with everyone's name on it.

But just because God has purchased and offered the gift to everyone doesn’t mean everyone has eternal life. Only those who have stopped by the Cross and have received and opened their gift personally get to enjoy it. Have you received your gift of eternal life? Will you respond by accepting your gift today?

Our final Pastor’s Fellowship for 2025 will take place on Wednesday, December 10th at 12 noon. I know this is short notice, but pastors please plan to attend this gathering! Our new Transitional Director, Brian Williams, will be with us for that meeting for a question and answer session with our pastors. As usual, Mike Mines will have a great (free) lunch for us. Please contact him to let us know if you will be there.

I thought I had planned out my last couple of months before retirement very well. But God had different plans. I still plan to end my employment with the PBA on December 31st, but I could never have foreseen what has taken place. On Thursday, October 30th my wife Peggy mentioned that she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go to the Emergency Room. We went to Riverside Hospital that afternoon and they did a barrage of tests and decided it was her heart. They scheduled a catheterization for the following Monday thinking the worst thing they would need to do would be to insert a stint in one of her arteries. While conducting the catheterization the doctor discovered more damage and told us she would need to undergo bypass surgery. We met with the surgeon, and he scheduled the surgeon later that week. The bypass went very well but she had some complications that caused the procedure to take much longer than they anticipated.

Fast forward to now, she is home for a long period of recuperation. Needless to say, I have needed to be with her almost constantly. I have been working from home since she left the hospital. I am just now able to spend some time in the office.

I want to thank the leadership and people of the PBA for patience and grace through this period. We have received nothing but support and promises of prayers from everyone. Being able to spend time with Peggy and to work from home has been a huge blessing! She is on her way to complete recovery.

Meanwhile, we are still planning to move to Virginia Beach – and have secured a rental home there. I will continue to serve Buckroe Baptist Church as their Interim Pastor as long as they need me. This means I will be on the Peninsula regularly for a while. Our biggest prayer now (aside from Peggy’s health) is that our home in Newport News will sell soon so we may plan our move. Please feel free to continue calling on me. And please lend your support to Brian Williams who will serve as Transitional Director for the PBA beginning in January. When the Leadership Team decided to call a Transitional Director my first thought was that Brian Williams would be perfect for that position. I kept that thought to myself, but eventually the search team came to that conclusion. I know the PBA is in good hands moving forward. Chuck

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide
information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know
about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches
currently without pastors:

We met at First Baptist Church of Newport News on Monday, October 27th, for our annual meeting. The Business Session was held at 3 PM. During that session, we approved a 2026 budget of $158,337. We also elected the following Officers for 2026:

• Moderator – Yulanda Humphreys (Buckroe Baptist Church)
• Treasurer – LaMonte Williams (Freedom Life Church)
• Assistant Treasurer – Dan Gaske (Walnut Hills Baptist Church)
• Clerk – Susan Gaske (Walnut Hills Baptist Church)
• Assistant Clerk - Hsiaopei (Rose) Chang (PBA Staff)

We still need to elect a Vice Moderator for 2026. The Leadership Team will address this need in an upcoming meeting.

Our staff gave reports in the Business Session. We heard from the PAL Lodge Fundraiser effort. As we reported last month, we did not receive enough pledges to do the repairs needed to the lodge. The Leadership Team will be making a further recommendation in the near future about this as well. We also elected Brian Williams to serve as a Transitional Director upon Chuck’s retirement. Please see the article below for details on this.

Chuck gave his final address to the Peninsula Baptist Association during the Business Session using Ephesians 4.1-5 as his text, with a focus on keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. He will be retiring on December 31st, 2025.

At 6 PM we had a time of worship and celebration. We want to thank praise team members from FLOW Church and Immanuel Baptist Church for leading worship in music. Several people, including staff members and leaders from throughout the association spoke nice words about Chuck, and his ministry with the PBA. Following this time there was a reception in the Fellowship Hall which included a delicious carrot cake (Chuck’s favorite). We also want to thank Randy Shepley, Leslie, Nikki, Chris and the members from First Baptist for serving as such great hosts for this meeting.

During the evening session of the Annual Meeting, the staff created a very creative way to take up a Love Offering for Chuck, using a fishing theme (Chuck’s favorite hobby). You, or your church, may still contribute to the love offering. The simplest way is to go to our website https://thepeninsulanet.org/. You will find a box labeled “Give” on the upper right side of the home page. Click on the box and you will find an option for contributing to the love offering.

On October 27, after being offered the position of part-time Transitional Director of the PBA for a period of six months, Dr. Brian Williams was presented for approval at our Annual Meeting. He was enthusiastically received by all present. He will begin his official duties on January 2, 2026.

Brian addressed those gathered in our evening session in a videotaped message since he was unable to be with us in person. He was attending a BGAV training meeting at Eagle Eyrie. You may view his message to us here. This will take you to our home page, scroll down for the message.

Here are some of Brian’s Plans:

The Peninsula Baptist Association office will be closed on Tuesday, November 11th for Veteran’s Day. We will also be closed on Wednesday, November 26th and Thursday, November 27th for Thanksgiving. As always, if you have an emergency during any of these days, feel free to contact Chuck by text or email.

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches currently looking for pastors: Buckroe Baptist Church, Gloucester Point Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church, Hornsbyville Baptist Church.

We are planning for a big gathering this year! The meeting will begin with a Business Session at 3 P.M. During this session, we will vote on a 2026 Budget and 2026 Officers. We will hear reports from our staff and a report on our PAL Lodge Fundraising Efforts. Chuck Harrison will be giving his final address to the association during the Business Session.

Chuck came to serve as the Director of the Peninsula Baptist Association in November 2010. He has guided us through many changes during the past fifteen years. He has consulted with many of our churches through times of congregational change. And he has helped pastors navigate the challenging times we live in.

Our Transitional Director Search Team is also hoping to recommend a candidate to become the Transitional Director at this meeting. (More about this later in this newsletter.) This Transitional Director will serve during the process of searching for our new Director. The Transitional Director will be leading the association through a visioning season to help prepare this network of churches for the future.

The Business Session will be followed at 6 P.M. by a service of Worship and Celebration. Details of this meeting are being kept under wraps to avoid disclosing any surprises. It will include a time of looking back over the time Chuck has been our director, and a time of looking to the future of the PBA.

It is our hope that both of these services will be well attended by the people of our churches. Of course, to vote during the Business Session, you must be an official “Messenger” from your church. Anyone may attend the Business Session, but only official messengers may vote.

This is one of those unique points in time for our association. As we look to the future God has for us, we need to hear from as many voices as possible. Please consider attending – even if you do not regularly attend these meetings.

Earlier this year, the PBA Leadership Team decided to form a search team in order to find someone to serve as “Transitional Director” while we search for our new Director. That team has been hard at work! And they bring us this brief report:

After a two-year hiatus, our Scholar-in-Residence Dr. John Herbst is back to writing his blog on Bible and Theology. The blog is aimed at pastors and other serious students of the Bible. Click on the "Scholar-in-Residence" button under “Resources” on our website https://thepeninsulanet.org/ to see what John has to say about the Word of God and how to apply it today!

Our online giving option is now available on our website. Go to https://thepeninsulanet.org/, and click on the “Give” button on the top right of the homepage. You will find “Introduction to Giving” instructions there. We chose to go with a company called “Vanco” that specializes in online giving to Christian ministries.

Our effort to raise funds for needed repairs at the Peninsula Association Lodge (PAL) at the Eagle Eyrie Conference Center officially ended on Tuesday. As you know, the bathroom facilities in the lodge are in critical need of upgrading.

Unfortunately, the pledges fell way short of raising the amount needed. Our Leadership Team will be making a recommendation of next steps at our Annual Business Session on October 27th at 3 P.M. at First Baptist Church of Newport News.

We received an email from Kay Griffin, Treasurer of Yorktown Baptist Church, announcing that the church has called a pastor. Here is a portion of that email:

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches currently without pastors: Buckroe Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church, Hornsbyville Baptist Church.

This full-time pastoral role oversees children’s ministry (K–5th), youth ministry (6th–12th), and discipleship support for parents. It is designed to offer holistic, gospel-centered leadership to the family ministry of Gloucester Point Baptist Church—strengthening homes, developing young leaders, and partnering with parents in spiritual formation.

Our Leadership Team has decided to extend by one month the Fundraiser for upgrades at the Peninsula Association Lodge at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center. If you recall, our aging bathroom facilities are in need of a major upgrade. Part of this upgrade is to make one of our bathrooms compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines.

All of the upstairs bathrooms will be upgraded in this plan. This included reconfigured shower stalls. The results should be a much more useable facility for our churches. The cost of this work will be approximately $45,000. So far our pledges fall way short of this goal.

We know some of our churches have plans to make pledges but have not notified us of these plans. We ask that you not send any funds at this time. However, we would like to know what churches are planning to pledge. Because the small amount of funds the PBA receives for use of the lodge go into upkeep and repairs, we do not have funds available for this project. Please let us know by the end of September if you or your church will make a pledge!

First Baptist Church of Newport News has graciously agreed to host our annual Peninsula Baptist Association meeting on Monday, October 27th. Details for this meeting are still being worked out by our Leadership Team. We will notify you when these plans are finalized. This meeting will be an opportunity to look back on the years Chuck Harrison has been our Director, and to look forward to what God has in the future for this network of churches.

Please begin making plans to have your church well represented at this meeting. Attendance in recent years has not bounced back to Pre-Covid days. This is a great opportunity for our churches to come celebrate together as we look to the future. As always, we hope to have official messengers from our churches at the Business Session. However, the meeting is open to anyone who would like to participate.

Once again, the PBA had a Summer Mission Team to help any church who requested with summer sport camps and/or vacation bible schools. In 2025, we helped with five sport camps and two vacation bible schools. One of the interesting things this involves is three distinct age groups. The sport camps are for children usually up to age 14. The team itself is comprised of teenagers. The third group that the team helped with was senior adults.

So, the PBA was involved with those three age groups. All of the Sport Camps and Vacation Bible Schools are run by the local church who used the PBA team as additional help. PBA help included sport leaders and/or group leaders. The senior adult events were PBA sponsored. The ending event for the summer was the Senior Adult Awesome August rally held at The Lighthouse Church. The summer team acted as table staff for the meal and as part of an interactive session during the rally. Craig Waddell, Jay Russ, Jay Lawson were the other program presenters. We had sixty-five senior adults in attendance and it was a great time for all who came.

Our next Pastor’s Fellowship will take place next Wednesday, September 10th at 12 noon. This meeting will include lunch. Please let us know if you plan to attend so we may prepare enough food.

Our partners at The Edge Christian Camp have shared the following upcoming events:

• JR Harvest Rally - September 27th, Speaker - Stephen Roofner

• Teen Harvest Rally - October 4th, Speaker - Jake D' Andre

• Men's Retreat - October 23rd-25th, Speaker - John Reynolds

• Ladies Retreat - November 6th-8th, Speaker - Sharon Rabon

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide
information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know
about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches
currently without pastors:

First Church Ministries called Rev. Bobby Larew as pastor, beginning on July 7, 2025.

This full-time pastoral role oversees children’s ministry (K–5th), youth ministry (6th–12th), and discipleship support for parents. It is designed to offer holistic, gospel-centered leadership to the family ministry of Gloucester Point Baptist Church—strengthening homes, developing young leaders, and partnering with parents in spiritual formation.

Click here: Gloucester Point Baptist Church - Family Discipleship Pastor for a full position description and link to apply.

The Lighthouse Church (formed from the merger of Parkview Baptist Church and Crossroads Christian Community Church) is looking for a new Administrative Assistant. This Part-time position (25 hours per week) will focus on Business, Finance, Communications, and Marketing.

The Administrative Assistant supports the smooth operation of the church and church office by providing clerical, organizational, and communication support to the lead pastor, staff, and other church members. This position plays a crucial role in managing key administrative tasks and facilitating effective communication both internally and externally. This position requires exceptional organizational and interpersonal skills, as well as the ability to handle sensitive information with the utmost confidentiality.

For the complete position description or to apply, submit a resume, cover letter, and references to pastor@yourlighthouse.live.

Matthew 22:36–40
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This passage sets the standard for the Christian’s behavior: we accept Christ’s command to love God beyond all else in our lives. Where we disagree, however, is what we must do to love God. What does loving God look like?  
In verse 37, Jesus quotes Deut 6:5. The book of Deuteronomy is structured as a kind of “emperor/vassal” contract, in which the emperor promises blessings and the vassal declares love and service, promising to honor and obey the emperor. “Love” in Deuteronomy 6:5 refers to following God’s commands in general, so many Christians understand Jesus’s citation of this verse to mean that we should investigate and obey biblical rules and principles as best we can.    
Learning and obeying rules is not a bad way to begin the task of loving God.  Yet this is not quite what Jesus has in mind, as he follows this first command with one that is “like” it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” While this second command seems clear enough, what does loving other people have to do with loving God?    
One clue is the clause that begins verse 39: “and the second is like it.” This looks strange, as the two commands appear very different from each other. We typically think of loving God as a matter of obedience. Therefore, in Deuteronomy, loving God entails practices such as observing the Ten Commandments, establishing a just society, and worshiping God respectfully. Loving others as we love ourselves is more about treating others with kindness and understanding, as per the Golden Rule. So how are these two commandments like each other?
To see the connection, it helps to recognize the Law of Matthew 22 as a system for obeying God. The Law tells us how God wants us to behave. Christians are often inclined to set Old Testament Law against New Testament Grace, but the New Testament itself is more nuanced. While the Law cannot save us, the New Testament nevertheless encourages us to know and obey it. We demonstrate our love for God by obeying the Law that God has given us in the Bible.    
This is essentially Paul’s argument in Romans 2:12–15, that the law helps us to distinguish God’s will from sinful behavior – God’s view of Right and Wrong. But when we accept that the Law exists to guide our behavior, we run into the difficulty of interpretation.  It’s easy to say, “Obey the Ten Commandments.”  But is it acceptable, or even right, to tell your boss that you think his new policy is great when you think it has problems?  What does it mean to “take the Lord’s name in vain?”  How do we honor sinful parents? There are many, many scenarios in which the Law does not clarify what God wants us to do. So how do we know what to do to demonstrate love for God?
In two of his letters Paul gives us a clear answer.  Amid a discourse about how God expects us to behave, he proclaims, “for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14).  And to develop this idea, he offers,
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8–10).
In other words, for the Christian all Old Testament Law is subject to the overriding command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The reason that God forbids adultery and murder and stealing and coveting is that these are unloving behaviors; they harm others. So even the Ten Commandments must not be observed slavishly, but thoughtfully: at times, the best way to love someone may be to say “that speech was great!” when it really wasn’t, or to take a work shift on a Sunday so that a co-worker can attend to a family need.  
So if the Law exists to teach us how to love God, and since the Law can be summarized as, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” it follows that the best way to love God is to love other people.  “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the Christian’s primary task.
What about evangelism?  I agree with most Baptists that making disciples (the ruling clause of Matt 28:19–20, the Great Commission) is the core of our mission. Yet according to the New Testament, even evangelism can only be effective when it comes from a place of love (1 Cor 7:1).
For many of us, it’s uncomfortable to talk about love as the church’s main objective. We may be more used to teachings about the work of Christ on the cross, sin and repentance, or personal spiritual growth. To be sure, these are all worthy of attention. But if we take the New Testament seriously, our main focus as Christ’s body in Hampton Roads in 2025 must be loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. When we do not stress this, we cannot claim to be putting God first.
Next week, I’ll be drilling down on how to go about loving our neighbor.

One of my objectives for this blog is to share ministry resources, usually books and websites. Some of the thinking behind my previous post comes from a book that I highly recommend for church leaders, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt argues that most of us, most of the time, make decisions based more on our feelings than on sound reasoning, and that the more educated we are, the less likely we are to use reason to form our opinions.
Concerning political and religious disagreements, Haidt argues that human concepts of morality derive from five innate foundations: care for the safety of others; fairness; loyalty; respect for authority, and respect for sanctity.  While conservatives, whether religious or political, instinctively worry about all five of these foundations, liberals tend to prioritize the first two.  Haidt cautions that the word “innate” does not mean “hardwired from birth,” but rather indicates that an adult’s instinct comes from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
The Righteous Mind is not a "Christian" book and so does not consider the impact of the Holy Spirit on our ideas about morality.  However, it is hard to deny that true followers of Christ nevertheless strongly disagree about theology and ethics. Therefore, we must consider how much of our theology is truly shaped by our human nature.  This is where information from The Righteous Mind can help us minister to the people that God has called us to serve.

As the Peninsula Baptist Association has been redesigning its website and rethinking its mission, I’ve been on hiatus for much longer than expected. So I’m glad to announce that Preaching the Word is back!  It’s exciting to write about the Bible and Christian Thought for the benefit of my friends and co-laborers in Hampton Roads.   
I will devote the next few columns to exploring some foundational issues and sharing some personal convictions that guide my faith and ministry.   
A passage that has been on my mind for a while is 1 Corinthians 2:1–5:

“1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.” (NIV)

Considering Paul’s biography and mission, these verses seem counterintuitive. Paul first visited Corinth to teach people faith in Christ Jesus and how to live in Christian community.  Paul was smart and educated – possibly more educated than anyone else in the entire Bible. It would therefore seem natural for Paul to draw on his gifts and training to fulfill the work that God had given him. If Paul’s “human wisdom” could lead people to faith in Christ and to righteous behavior, why not use it?
Here’s my answer.  At this point in his life, Paul had grasped an important truth about temporal knowledge. While his learning, intelligence, and logic undoubtedly gave him a sense of assuredness about many things of God and faith in Christ, Paul knew from experience that his convictions could be very wrong, and even harmful. The Paul (aka Saul) of Acts 8:3 was nothing if not convinced in his heart that it was God’s will to drag Christians off to prison!  But a feeling of certainty was not enough for him to know God’s will.
Therefore, Paul had come to the Corinthians “in weakness and in fear and trembling,” knowing that no matter how convinced he was that God wants people to do such-and-such, he could still unintentionally lead God’s people in the wrong direction. He had determined to insist on only the most core theology, that we are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ.  All other knowledge about God was to come to the Corinthians through the Holy Spirit, informed by Scripture and by interaction with Paul and others.
In 2025, the personal convictions of Christians, especially pastors and church leaders, are frequently dangerous and often damaging. And the danger increases as we become more educated.  We like to think that our education and smarts, combined with our spirituality, give us a superior understanding of God’s desire for us, but in fact many of our beliefs and views originate with our human “gut. Rather than allowing evidence and logic to inform our thinking, we use evidence and logic to develop reasons to support our feelings.
We see this in our (painful) American history. In his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln noted that the Civil War came about even though Christians from all over the USA “read the same Bible and pray to the same God.”  At that time, both North and South were filled with Bible-believing Christians, including northern abolitionists and southern slaveholders like Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. All may have felt led by the Holy Spirit and informed by God’s Word, but we cannot now deny that in the end, many confused sinful human desires for the Spirit’s prompting. I can be hard to tell the difference, even for “mature” Christians!
Acting on feelings of certitude is a sure path to disunity and conflict. When we “know” that we’re right, there is little room to hear perspectives and views of those who are wrong. Why pay attention to someone who does not believe what I “know” to be true? When we reach the point of assuredness, we inoculate ourselves against being convinced otherwise.  And when contrary evidence comes our way, we find reasons to discount or ignore it.
I write this post as a Baptist, posting on a website for an organization that is primarily Baptist. The label “Baptist” has always allowed a wide range of practices and beliefs, and anyone who has been a Baptist for any length of time knows that we disagree with each other about all sorts of things. Yet God has managed to work effectively through Baptist organizations for centuries. Why?  Not because we share the same convictions about doctrine, but rather because we push aside our disagreements so that we can do mission. Sure, we talk and argue about our convictions, but we agree with Paul that the work of the Great Commission always takes precedence.
Yes, there are a few foundational beliefs on which we must insist: reconciliation to God through Christ’s work on the cross, Christ’s divinity and humanity, God’s revelation to us through the Bible, and some others. However, this list must remain concise and specific, and everything we identify as “non-negotiables” must always be subject to careful review and examination: “we’ve always believed/done it this way” is a famously weak rationale. In recent decades our reputation as Baptists and Evangelicals has suffered from the dogmatism of some of our forebears about race, the place and role of women in society, the reliance on the King James Version, and other issues, largely because we do not want to deal with the possibility that some of us have been wrong about some things.  It can be very hard to seriously, honestly re-examine our firm convictions.  But at the same time, it’s sinful for Christians to refuse to do this work.
In 2025 God has assigned to the Christians of Hampton Roads a critically important task.  It is our mission to be agents of peace in a community deeply divided over issues of race, politics, and fundamental moral principles.  While our job may be difficult, it should be up our alley: Article XVI of the Baptist Faith and Message reads the same in 1925, 1963, and 2000: “It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.” Today God calls us to be agents of peace according to the spirit and teachings of the One who taught and preached the way of peace to humankind. Self-righteousness may feel good, but it is not the way of Christ and will tend to exacerbate division instead of healing it.
“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1). This warning comes late to us who are already teaching! The danger is real: we risk God’s anger when we lead people in the wrong direction.  So let’s be like Paul and heed the danger. If Paul avoided certainty about more than a very few things, we should do the same. Let’s tamp down our assuredness so as not to injure the cause of Christ.

Dear Churches and Donors of the Peninsula Baptist Association,

We want to say, "Thank you!" for your unwavering support and generosity toward our organization. Your contributions have been essential to our ability to continue carrying out our mission and serving the needs of our churches and communities.

We also want to take this opportunity to introduce our new e-giving platform, VANCO. This platform provides a secure and user-friendly way to give online to the work of the Peninsula Baptist Association, and we are confident that it will make giving more convenient for many churches and donors within the association.

You may give now at this link: https://secure.myvanco.com/L-ZXC6. You may also access the site by going to our website https://thepeninsulanet.org/ and click on the “Give” button on the top right of the home page.

Whether you choose to give online or in person, your support is vital to the continued success of our work as a network of churches. We are so grateful for your generosity and commitment to our shared mission. Thank you again for all that you do.

The PBA Leadership Team met on July 7 to form a Search Team to seek a replacement for Chuck Harrison as our PBA Director. The Search Team comprises the Leadership Team and Future (Vision) Team members. Larry Brayboy accepted the position of Team Leader, and Yulanda Humphrey the position of Assistant Team Leader. We decided to search for a Transitional Director to start January 5, 2026. We expect this Transitional Director to review our recent survey results and work with the association to clarify our purpose and mission.

We have been meeting weekly to determine the job description, time expectations, and the candidate's qualifications and compensation. A draft of these items has been compiled and should soon be completed. We will be sending requests for candidate applications soon.

Please keep us and the Association in your prayers. We welcome your thoughts, questions, and any suggestions. If you know of someone with whom we should share the request for candidate applications, please let us know.

The Peninsula Baptist Association Lodge at the Eagle Eyrie Conference Center has been a great resource over the years for our churches to utilize for private retreats, or to take part in events hosted by Eagle Eyrie. However, the facility is showing its age. The lodge has needed some renovations for a long time. Last year we decided to get estimates for updating the bathroom facilities. These updates include having an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant bathroom, as well as refiguring other bathrooms and showers on the second floor.

We have a bid from a contractor near Eagle Eyrie to do the work for $45,000. Quite honestly, the PBA does not have the funds for these repairs. Our Leadership Team decided to ask the churches if they would make pledges toward the renovations. We will complete our fundraising efforts for renovations at the end of August. So far, we have heard from a few churches, but pledges are nowhere near what we would need to complete these repairs.

If your church plans to help with the renovations, please let us know. We are asking that churches not send money at this time – just let us know of pledge amounts. If we receive enough pledges we will go ahead with the work this winter. If we do not receive enough pledges, we will make a decision this fall as to what to do with PAL lodge.

Yours in Christ,
Rusty Beck
Fundraising Coordinator

Due to financial restraints, we are not able to pay a supervisor for the PBA Fun Trailer this year. The trailer will continue to be available for use by our churches on a first-come-first-served basis for a cost recovery fee. It will be up to the churches to repack the trailer in the proper way before returning it to our office. As a reminder, the Fun Trailer has “bounce house” types of amusements, a popcorn machine, and a snow cone machine that churches may use for community events. If you would like to reserve the trailer, contact Mike Mines in our office.

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out the list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”. Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide
information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know
about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them.

Churches currently without pastors:


First Church Ministries called Rev. Bobby Larew as pastor, beginning on July 7, 2025.

This full-time pastoral role oversees children’s ministry (K–5th), youth ministry (6th–12th), and discipleship support for parents. It is designed to offer holistic, gospel-centered leadership to the family ministry of Gloucester Point Baptist Church—strengthening homes, developing young leaders, and partnering with parents in spiritual formation.

Click here: Gloucester Point Baptist Church - Family Discipleship Pastor for a full position
description and link to apply.

The Lighthouse Church (formed from the merger of Parkview Baptist Church and Crossroads Christian Community Church) is looking for a new Administrative Assistant. This Part-time position (25 hours per week) will focus on Business, Finance, Communications, and Marketing.

The Administrative Assistant supports the smooth operation of the church and church office by providing clerical, organizational, and communication support to the lead pastor, staff, and other church members. This position plays a crucial role in managing key administrative tasks and facilitating effective communication both internally and externally.

This position requires exceptional organizational and interpersonal skills, as well as the ability to handle sensitive information with the utmost confidentiality.

For the complete position description or to apply, submit a resume, cover letter, and references to pastor@yourlighthouse.live.

As you are hopefully aware, we are in the middle of a Fund Raiser for renovations of the Peninsula Association Lodge at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center outside of Lynchburg, Virginia. This lodge is a great place for church retreats, children’s camps, youth events, etc. The Conference Center is in a beautiful location in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Our lodge is able to accommodate 33 people, large enough for many different purposes. With a kitchen and gathering room it is self-contained for private events and located at a premium spot for larger events sponsored by Eagle Eyrie.

The lodge is showing its age, with the need for some major renovations, particularly of the bathroom facilities. We have a plan from a local contractor to renovate our upstairs bathrooms to provide better use and to make one of the bathrooms Americans With Disabilities Act compliant. The work will cost about $45,000 dollars, which we hope to raise from our churches.

So far we have had only a few pledges from churches to help offset this cost. We plan to run the Fund Raiser through August and then make a decision for moving forward. All we ask at this time is if your church is willing to make a pledge. If so, please let us know. Don’t send us money at this time!

As part of their ongoing “Fanning the Flame” series of gatherings, the Baptist General Association of Virginia will be hosting a free webinar on “Equipping Leaders in the Age of AI”. This webinar will take place on Thursday, July 24th from 10 AM to 11:15 AM. Liz Baker, Founder and Executive Officer of Nimbology www.nimbology.com will be the speaker for this webinar. She will focus on the following three areas:

For registration information, contact Brian Williams at brian.williams@bgav.org.

Our office will be open Monday, June 30th through Wednesday July 2nd from 9 AM to 3 PM this week (as usual). However, since the 4th of July falls on Friday, the office will be closed on Thursday, July 3rd for the holiday. Please feel free to contact us on our mobile phones if you need us when the office is closed.

Due to financial restraints, we are not able to pay a supervisor for the PBA Fun Trailer this year. The trailer will continue to be available for use by our churches on a first-come-first-served basis for a cost recovery fee. It will be up to the churches to repack the trailer in the proper way before returning it to our office. As a reminder, the Fun Trailer has “bounce house” types of amusements, a popcorn machine and a snow cone machine that churches may use for community events. If you would like to reserve the trailer, contact Mike Mines in our office.

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out the list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources.’ Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches currently without pastors:

This full-time pastoral role oversees children’s ministry (K–5th), youth ministry (6th–12th), and discipleship support for parents. It is designed to offer holistic, gospel-centered leadership to the family ministry of Gloucester Point Baptist Church—strengthening homes, developing young leaders, and partnering with parents in spiritual formation.

Click here: Gloucester Point Baptist Church - Family Discipleship Pastor for a full position description and link to apply.

If you have been following our recent newsletters, you know we are conducting a fundraiser to make some much needed repairs to your Peninsula Association Lodge at Eagle Eyrie Retreat Center. We are attempting to raise $45,000 for renovations of our upstairs bathroom facilities at the lodge. This fundraiser will continue until the end of the summer, at which time we will make a decision based on the amount of money raised.

Eagle Eyrie hosts many events throughout the year that are open for people from your church to attend (see below). In addition, PAL lodge may be rented at an extremely reasonable rate by member churches of the PBA for church events/retreats.

Please let us know if you or your church would like to make a pledge toward this campaign.
Please don’t send us any money at this time! We will keep you informed as we draw closer to September.

Here are some upcoming events at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center. If you plan/decide to go to any, remember that PAL Lodge is available for your lodging. When you register note your desire to use PAL and that you are to be using it on the “Owner Basis” rate, which will allow you receive the reduced rate for the use.

JUNE 11-14  Passport Kids
June 16-20   Centri-Kid 1
June 23-27   Centri-Kid 2
June 29 – July 3      Centri-Kid 3

July 21-25 Missions Connection Celebration (MC2)
July 28 – August 1        Music and Worship Arts Camp

Love God, love family, love country, love music! There is so much that divides us today even on Sunday mornings. God inspired pastor Mike Mines to host the first of these Unity Shed concerts last year to celebrate racial unity in the church.

This year’s concert will be held on Thursday, June 19th, 7 PM at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, 221 34th Street, Newport News. Join with worshipers from places like Korea, China, Jamaica, Africa, and the U.S. to celebrate our unity in Christ. In the sanctuary of this church building, you will be standing on floors that slaves hid beneath as you hear songs of faith, freedom, and unity!

This is a free concert that you don’t want to miss. Help us make history at the UNITY SHED! We are better together! For more information, go to:

Some of our PBA pastors recently joined other pastors from our area at a free luncheon and meeting with professors and students from the Regent University Psychological Services Center. They shared with us that Regent offers various psychological services to pastors and churches often at no cost. They would be happy to meet with pastors or churches to talk about topics such as pastoral burnout, addictions, marital counselling and family counselling. Their services are delivered by doctoral students under the guidance of experienced, licensed clinical psychologists.

If you are interested in learning more, talk to Jim Moynihan.

The PBA recently hosted a “Digital Church Proficiency Workshop” with Tom York (a contractor with the Baptist General Association of Virginia), and Gary Long (Chief Marketing Officer for the BGAV). They provided a “digital snapshot” for each church that attended this free event. This snapshot graded each church in Google Business listing (which helps people searching for a church online to find your church), various aspects of having an effective website, and Facebook presence. The workshop took an interactive approach to addressing these topics based on best practices of churches.

The digital snapshot also provided participating churches with basic demographic information about the people living near their church building. This information included education level, median age, employment, and income levels in your community.

About 40 people from our region attended this event.

Due to financial restraints, we are not able to pay a supervisor for the PBA Fun Trailer this year. The trailer will continue to be available for use by our churches on a first-come-first-served basis for a cost recovery fee. It will be up to the churches to repack the trailer in the proper way before returning it to our office. As a reminder, the Fun Trailer has “bounce house” types of amusements, a popcorn machine and a snow cone machine that churches may use for community events. If you would like to reserve the trailer, contact Mike Mines in our office.

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor." If you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out the list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under "Resources”. Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them.

Churches currently without pastors:

• Buckroe Baptist Church
• First Church Ministries
• Grace Baptist Church
• Hornsbyville Baptist Church
• Yorktown Baptist Church

Dear Church Members
Having served the Peninsula Baptist Association for the past 15 years, I feel it is time for me to step down as Director. I will continue to serve through 2025, with my final day being December 31st.  I have notified the staff and leadership of the association about my intentions. For me, this has been a wonderful time of ministry with the churches and people of the association. I will cherish the times we have shared together.

Several people have asked if I am “retiring”. I am not sure anyone really “retires” from doing ministry. I plan to continue serving God in whatever capacity he leads. As of now, I don’t know what that will look like. Peggy and I plan to move back to Virginia Beach in January and continue seeking God’s will for our future.

I believe it is time for a fresh vision for this network of churches. The association is in a season of discerning the future under the leadership of a PBA Future Team. This team, under the guidance of Jim Moynihan, will be contacting all of the pastors in the association in order to interview them as part of this process of future discernment. This effort is a continuation of the “Prayer and Listening Sessions” we conducted last year. We gained a lot of valuable information in those sessions. Along with the input they gather from the pastors, this team will make recommendations about the future.

We have not yet made plans for a “going away party”. Perhaps we will do something in conjunction with the annual meeting in October. SO stay tuned! Meanwhile, there is much work to be done. This includes the fundraiser for repairs to PAL Lodge at Eagle Eyrie. At this time we are receiving pledges toward that work. You will see more below about this. And, of course, I am still available to serve our pastors and churches in any way that I can for the remainder of the year. Please feel free to call me at any time. And be in prayer for God’s future for the Peninsula Baptist Association.

Yours in Christ,
Chuck Harrison


FUN TRAILER

Due to financial restraints, we are not able to pay a supervisor for the PBA Fun Trailer this year. The trailer will continue to be available for use by our churches on a first-come-first-served basis for a cost recovery fee. It will be up to the churches to repack the trailer in the proper way before returning it to our office. If you would like to reserve the trailer, contact Mike Mines in our office.

ASSOCIATIONAL MISSIONS OFFERING

As you know, associations around the country plan an Associational Missions Offering each year during the spring. Since we are in a Fund Raising Campaign for work at the PAL Lodge at Eagle Eyrie, we have decided to give all money collected for our Associational Missions Offering this year to that cause. Our Mission Statement of the PBA is: “A Network of churches, equipping and connecting churches for Kingdom Ministry”. Since PAL lodge is a resource belonging to our churches, we feel this is an appropriate use of this Misson Offering money.

FUNDRAISER FOR PAL LODGE

As we mentioned in last month’s newsletter, we are currently trying to raise funds for some much needed work at the Peninsula Associational Lodge (PAL) at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center in Lynchburg. This work will focus on renovations of our upstairs bathroom facilities in the lodge. This will include an Americans With Disability Act compliant bathroom, as well as reconfigured showers to make your stay at PAL Lodge more enjoyable. The work will cost $45,000.

Last month, your church received an information packet about this repair work. (If your church did not receive the packet, please let us know and we will resend it.) We are asking for pledges toward these upgrades through the month of August. Please don’t send money at this time! However, if your church would like to make a pledge toward this work please let us know as soon as possible. After August, we will decide on next steps.

Rusty Beck, retired pastor of Parkview Baptist Church, who has been involved with PAL lodge for many years has agreed to work with us in this Fundraising Campaign. We want you to have all of the information your congregation needs in order to make a decision regarding this fundraiser. Please let me (Chuck) know if you have any questions or concerns. I’d be happy to meet with you whenever possible.

PASTOR’S LUNCH DATE CHANGE!

In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned a unique opportunity for our pastors to attend a free lunch meeting designed just for us by the Regent (University) Psychological Services Center. Please note that the date for this meeting has been changed from May 14 to May 15. Everything else remains the same. Here is information about this luncheon:

We're excited to share that Regent University in Virginia Beach is now offering valuable
psychological health support services to our pastors and congregations, often at no cost! To get a better sense of our needs and how they can best serve us, they're hosting a free informational luncheon for our pastors.

This is a fantastic opportunity to explore the resources offered by Regent's Psychological
Services Center, which is part of their APA-accredited Doctor of Psychology Clinical Program. You can be assured of high-quality care, as their services are delivered by doctoral students under the guidance of experienced, licensed clinical psychologists.

Luncheon Details:
• Date: May 15, 2025
• Time: 11:30 AM
• Location: Regent University, 1000 Regent University Drive, Suite 188, Virginia Beach

If you are interested in attending this meeting (even if you have previously signed up), click on the following flier and sign up using the QR code at the bottom of the flier. If you run into any problems signing up, please contact Jim Moynihan at JimMoynihan@duck.com or text 757-870-9789.

ASK Pastor Luncheon
Flyer.pdf

PASTOR SUPPLY AND INTERIM LIST
We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out our list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”. Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

DIGITAL CHURCH PROFICIENCY WORKSHOP

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Peninsula Baptist Association

Livestreamed worship services, relevant websites, and social media connections have
become necessary parts of many churches’ weekly offerings. For small- to medium-sized
churches where resources and dollars may be tight, getting the most reach with your
digital presence may be overwhelming.

We invite you to join other church leaders in our area for a workshop sponsored by the
Baptist General Association of Virginia to improve your church’s online presence. (Note: A
church does not have to belong to the BGAV to participate in this workshop.) Each
registered church will receive a personalized Digital Snapshot of their current digital
presence. Participants will then learn valuable insights through local trends and relevant
case studies and get easy and affordable tips to improve your church’s digital presence
immediately!

Topics will also include how to engage with your congregation digitally and how to
navigate the changing digital landscape driven by AI and increased online access.

All church leaders and volunteers are welcome – especially those responsible for online
ministry and digital processes within the church – so please share this invitation with
others. Lunch will be provided.
To register for this free event, go to the following website by Friday, May 23rd.
https://secure.bgav.org/site/Ticketing?view=Tickets&id=100982

PBA CHURCHES SEEKING PASTORS

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide
information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know
about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches
currently without pastors:

Buckroe Baptist Church
First Church Ministries
Grace Baptist Church
Hornsbyville Baptist Church
Yorktown Baptist Church

Hopefully, you know by now that we are conducting a Fund Raising Campaign to renovate the bathrooms at Peninsula Association Lodge at Eagle Eyrie. If not, please see “FUND RAISER FOR PAL LODGE REPAIRS” which appeared in our March Newsletter.

We formed a team last year to examine the needs and receive estimates. We received an estimate from New London Construction to renovate all bathroom/shower facilities in the amount of $65,000. We asked that they also provide an estimate for only the second floor of the lodge. This will include an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant bathroom, and renovation and refiguring of the showers. They estimated that part of the project to be $45,000. Additional information about the second floor project is available on request.

Our Leadership team has reviewed the estimate and decided two things. First, we don’t have the funds to complete the project. And second, we decided to conduct a Campaign among our churches to raise the funds to complete this project.

This campaign will run from now through August. At that time we will decide how to move forward based on the pledges that have been received. We are not asking for churches to send funds at this time – only to make pledges. If your church is interested in making a pledge toward this project, please let us know!

Rusty Beck, retired pastor of Parkview Baptist Church, who has been involved with PAL lodge for many years has agreed to work with us in this Fund Raising Campaign. We want you to have all of the information your congregation needs in order to make this decision. Please let me (Chuck) know if you have any questions or concerns. I’d be happy to meet with you whenever possible.

From Mike Haywood:
The PBA Summer Mission Team is a group of young people that can help churches with Sports Camps and Vacation Bible Schools. We also have sports equipment at the office that may be used at these events. The following dates have already been requested by churches:

June 23 -27 Daytime and evenings
July 7 - 11 Daytime and evenings
July 14 - 17 Evenings
Aug, August 4 – 8 Evenings

That leaves the following dates/times open if a church would like help with events in the
summer:

July 14 - 18 Mornings
July 21- 25 Mornings or evenings
July 29 - August 1 Morning or evening

If you would like one of the above time/date slots or if you would like to discuss what we can do, contact Mike Haywood (757-508-7557) dirtybluepinto@aol.com, respond to this email or call the PBA office at 757-596-4587.

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out our list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”. Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

We provide this information to assist churches seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide
information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know
about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them.

The PBA’s lodge at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center needs some work! Peninsula
Association Lodge (PAL) has served our churches for many years as a place to stay for ministry programs at the Conference Center, as well as a place for churches to hold their own retreats and events.

For some time we have wanted to make changes to the bathroom facilities to make them more private, more accessible, and more efficient. The time has come to begin this work. We received estimates from a contractor recommended to us by Eagle Eyrie as one they use often. To renovate all upstairs bathroom/shower facilities will cost approximately $45,000. This is money that we don’t have.

We are asking our churches to join us in a Fundraising Campaign to raise the money for this
work. We would like the work to begin this fall (after the “busy season” for use of the lodge). So, in coming weeks you will be hearing more about the campaign and how churches may pledge toward funding the work.

As you know, the Peninsula Baptist Association is “A Network of Churches, Connecting and
Equipping Churches for Kingdom Ministry.” Like all of our resources, PAL lodge belongs to our churches. It has been a valuable resource over the years, as churches utilize the facility for a variety of ministry events. We hope that your congregation will pledge toward this very worthy cause.

As mentioned, you will be receiving more information in coming weeks. And we will send
diagrams of the work to be done. But we wanted to get the word out as soon as possible. We will be accepting pledges from churches or individuals through the end of August. Meanwhile, the lodge continues to be available for use. Registration may be made through Eagle Eyrie, at https://eagleeyrie.wufoo.com/forms/retreat-application-form/.

If you complete the Retreat Registration Form, make sure to indicate “Owner Basis” under the line “For Lodges”. It is important that Eagle Eyrie know that your church is part of the Peninsula Baptist Association in order for you to get the special “owners” discount.

Leland Seminary, one of our ministry partners, is set to launch a Doctor of Ministry degree this fall in collaboration with Truett Seminary of Baylor University. Leland will work with Dr. Preben Vang, Director of Truett Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry Program to provide this degree program. If you may be interested in pursuing such a degree, you may learn more by contacting Dr. Ken Pruitt, President of Leland Seminary at kpruitt@leland.edu.

Here is an interesting idea:

This past summer, the dog park at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church was in trouble. For 25 years, Phideaux (pronounced “Fido”) Field had been a labor of love for Forest Hill, ever since an older church member decided the church’s spacious lawn, which was unused most of the week, was the perfect place for a dog park.

Members of the Richmond, Virginia, congregation went along with the idea. The church even set up a Facebook page, where dog owners could talk with each other and make plans for doggie play dates. “It’s more than a dog park,” said one of the members, “It’s a mission of the church.” Forest Hill is one of a handful of congregations nationwide that run dog parks — often viewing them as a community service or a way to get to know their neighbors. They are also a way to put church property to use for the public good, at a time when trust in organized religion is declining.

Recently, the church’s insurance company decided the dog park was a bad risk, church
members struck a deal with the city of Richmond to lease the dog park at no cost. The city pays the insurance and did some upgrades, while the church continues to provide volunteer support. In early October, the new park was dedicated. This article come from
https://religionnews.com/2024/11/21/got-an-empty-church-lawn-why-not-turn-it-into-a-dog-
park/.

For more on how your church may connect with your community, contact Jim Moynihan at
jimmoynihan@duck.com.

Two churches have already contacted Mike Haywood about Sport Camp and/or Vacation Bible School help this summer, one from June 23-27 and the other from July 7-11. If you are
interested in having the PBA Summer Mission Team (high school age) help you this summer for either of these two type events with our team and/or sport equipment, or if you have
questions, please contact Mike at: 757-508-7557 or dirtybluepinto@aol.com.

On Wednesday, March 12th at 12 noon, we will be joined by Timothy Murray and others from the Regent University Christian Psychology department to talk about ways their program may connect with churches. We will provide lunch for this meeting. Please let us know if you plan to attend.

This is from an email Timothy sent me:

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out our list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”. Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

We provide this information to assist churches that are seeking a senior pastor. We can only
provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them.

Churches currently without pastors:
Buckroe Baptist Church
First Church Ministries
Grace Baptist Church
Hornsbyville Baptist Church
Yorktown Baptist Church

John Herbst, our Scholar-in-Residence, sent this to us: A Methodist church in Hampton is
looking for a computer-savvy church administrator to work 9 AM to 2 PM, Monday-Friday. For more information about this, you may contact John at: herbstot13@gmail or 434-228-0210.

Our PBA Leadership Team has been studying our church contributions as they relate to our
annual budget. We have determined that our “anticipated income” for 2025 does not meet our current budget. Because of this, we will reduce our budget, and make sure no expenditures exceed budgeted amounts.

In the coming weeks, we will be challenging our churches to evaluate the amount they give to the work we do together and consider if they can increase their contributions. We know that these are challenging times for our churches, as many are struggling to meet all their needs. We commit to evaluating our financial situation throughout the year and making changes as needed. We will keep the churches informed about any changes we make.

We have another challenge before us. Several months ago, we created a team to evaluate needs for a long overdue upgrade to the bathroom/shower facilities at Peninsula Association Lodge (PAL). We have a bid from a reputable contractor to renovate the upstairs bathroom facilities, adding an Americans with Disability Act compliant bathroom, and reconfiguring shower facilities for better privacy. The cost for these upgrades will be approximately $45,000. The lodge will remain available for use until repairs begin (probably late fall or winter).

We do not have available funds to complete this work. So we are planning a Fund Raising
Campaign, asking churches to make pledges toward completing these upgrades. More details about this will be sent to each PBA church.

As you know, the PAL lodge at Eagle Eyrie is available for use by churches for retreats, camps, and other events. The cost of using the lodge is extremely reasonable. Reservations may be made by contacting Eagle Eyrie at www.eagleeyrie.org, or by email at info@eagleeyrie.org, or by calling 434-384-2211. And don’t forget, if you reserve the lodge, in order to get the “owner discount” make sure Eagle Eyrie knows it is for a PBA church. On the Retreat Application Form, under “Lodge” indicate “PAL Lodge”, also select “Owner Basis”.

For those PBA Churches with GIRLS IN ACTION Programs, or are otherwise interested, on April 25-26 (Friday and Saturday), and April 26-27 (Saturday and Sunday), Eagle Eyrie will host “GA Mom and Me I” and “GA Mom and Me II” events. For more info for this and other upcoming events , go to https://eagleeyrie.org/all-events/.

As we mentioned in our January Newsletter people from Buckroe Baptist Church, Temple of Faith Ministries, and Kingdom United Fellowship came together on Martin Luther King Day (January 20th) for “A Day of Service”. People from those churches, along with students from Hampton University and Old Dominion University, Air Force personnel, and others from the community gathered to work around the Buckroe campus. This effort was coordinated by Rev. Charles Cheek from Kingdom United Fellowship. Pictured, students painting a mural on one the walls.

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out our list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”. Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor, please contact us.

I am thrilled to announce a new retreat that will become a staple for Peptalk Ministries for
years. Based on my book, Discerning God's Puzzling Call for Every Believer, this retreat offers 24 hours of concentrated focus for participants to learn the process of discovering God's specific call for their lives. There are several specific steps for you to take in the journey toward clarity in your life. Your purpose in God's kingdom work can be found. This immersion into the quest will help you navigate the path to understanding.

The retreat will feature plenary sessions with time between to process in the beautiful setting of Crossroads Camp and Conference Center. You will have opportunities to learn from other pilgrims who are sharing the journey for clarity. Coaching packages have been created for those wishing to dive deeply into this vital spiritual discernment process (see below).

I understand if you have struggled to learn God's plan for your life. It was the most frequently asked question of me as a pastor. Nobody should live their life of faith in a fog of uncertainty of purpose.

This retreat and the book may be exactly what you have been waiting for!
Mark your calendars now for April 11-12, 2025.

There are three package options available to you for this retreat.
Standard Registration - $199.
Silver Registration (retreat plus 2 coaching sessions - $399 value) - $339.
Gold Registration (retreat plus 4 coaching sessions - $599 value) - $479.
Register now as space is limited! Fill out the form below now. No money needed now. You
will be sent an invoice. To register, go to peptalkministries.com/retreats.

We provide this information to assist churches that are seeking a senior pastor. We can only
provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them.

Churches currently without pastors:
Buckroe Baptist Church
First Church Ministries
Grace Baptist Church
Hornsbyville Baptist Church
Yorktown Baptist Church

We begin the new year with some big challenges for the PBA. You will remember that we spent a lot of time last year listening to you and to God about our future. We gathered a lot of information from our listening sessions and are forming a team to review this information and make recommendations for moving forward. If you would like to serve on this team, please contact Chuck.

We are also facing a large expense to update the bathrooms at the Peninsula Association Lodge (PAL) at Eagle Eyrie. We formed a team to explore the options. We have a proposed bid from a contractor to complete this work. Consensus among our Leadership Team is that we do a fund raising campaign to allow churches to share in the cost of updating our lodge. We will make a decision on this plan in the coming weeks.

We face additional financial challenges as well. Our church contributions for 2024 fell short of our budget projection. Our financial leaders will also be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the possibility of reducing our budget for 2025.

We know that God has a plan for our network of churches. Please pray for our leadership as we make wise financial decisions entering this new year!

For several years Rev. Charles Cheek (co-pastor of Kingdom United Fellowship) has coordinated efforts for people to spend the Martin Luther King Holiday, (January 20th) doing acts of service.

The focus this year will be on two locations: the Buckroe Baptist Church Campus (home of
Buckroe Baptist Church, Kingdom United Fellowship, and Temple of Faith Ministries) and The Lighthouse Church (formerly Parkview Baptist Church and Crossroads Christian Community Church).

Volunteers will meet at 9:00 AM for Welcome and Assignments (Coffee, Water, Juice, etc.) in the Temple of Faith Sanctuary on the Buckroe Campus. Lunch will be provided there as well. Volunteers from Huntington-Ingalls, Langley Air Force Base, and others will also participate. We would love to see a good showing from our churches as well! Contact Charles Cheek at cecheek2004@gmail.com for more information.

Our first Pastor’s Fellowship of 2025 will take place next Wednesday, January 8th at 12 noon at the PBA Resource Center. We will meet for a free meal, fellowship, and more. Please let us know if you plan to attend so that Mike can prepare lunch for everyone!

We provide this information to assist churches that are seeking a senior pastor. We can only
provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them.

Churches currently without pastors:

We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out our list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”.

Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preacher or Interim Pastor,
please contact us.

Merry Christmas
From the PBA Staff
Chuck Harrison, Mike Mines, Jim Moynihan,
Mike Haywood, Rose Chang

PBA WEBSITE
Our PBA Website is up and running. The address is https://thepeninsulanet.org. There is still
much work to be done on the site, but we decided to go public with what we have done so far.

Again, we thank Pastor Dillon Evans of Gloucester Point Baptist Church for building the
framework for the site. Dillon has a background in website development. Churches may
contract with Dillon to build a website.

SENIOR ADULT WINTER HAPPENING
STEVENS MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH
244 RICHNECK RD, NN, 23608
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5TH
12 NOON TO 3 PM
COST $5 FOR LUNCH

You may pay at the door, but you need to register by calling or emailing MIKE HAYWOOD at
757-508-7557 or dirtybluepinto@aol.com.

PBA LEADERSHIP TEAM
Our Leadership Team will meet Thursday, December 12th at 12 noon at the PBA Resource
Center. Lunch will be provided. If you are on the Leadership Team please let us know if you are
able to attend.

REPORT FROM EDGE CAMP
Our friends at The Edge Christian Camp (formerly Eastover) have had a very productive year!
They had 190 decisions for Christ during their summer camps, along with many decisions at
their other events. Here are just a few highlights at The Edge:
• A project to revamp and enlarge their main service Meeting Space.
• Adding an Observation Deck and Fountain to the pond near the office.
• Rewiring the electricity at the Dining Hall to bring it up to code.
• An International Mission Trip to Brazil in February.
If you would like to keep up with what is happening at The Edge Christian Camp, you may
contact them at info@theedge.camp.

PBA CHURCHES SEEKING PASTORS
We provide this information to assist churches that are seeking a senior pastor. We can only
provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us
know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches
currently without pastors:
Buckroe Baptist Church
First Church Ministries
Hornsbyville Baptist Church
Yorktown Baptist Church

PASTOR SUPPLY AND INTERIM LIST
We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an “Interim Pastor”. If
you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a
pastor, please check out our list on our website www.thepeninsulanet.org, under “Resources”.
Also, if you would like to be added to the list either as a Supply Preach or Interim Pastor, please
contact us.

HOLIDAY CLOSING
Our regular office hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 AM to 3 PM. We will be closed for the
Holidays from Monday, December 23rd to Wednesday, January 1st. If you need to speak to a
staff member during this time, feel free to email or call.

PBA NETWORK NEWS - November 2024
ANNUAL MEETING RECAP
 
Our Annual Meeting took place on Tuesday, October 29th at Orcutt Baptist Church. The Business Session was at 3:30 PM. In that meeting, messengers approved a 2025 Budget of $214,089. This budget represents a small increase of $2007 over the 2024 Budget.
Messengers also elected the following officers for 2025:
Moderator – Yulanda Humphries, Buckroe Baptist Church
Vice Moderator – Jay Russ, Stevens Memorial Baptist Church
Treasurer – LaMonte Williams, Freedom Life Church
Assistant Treasurer – Dan Gaske, Walnut Hills Baptist Church
Clerk – Susan Gaske, Walnut Hills Baptist Church
Assistant Clerk - Hsiaopei (Rose) Chang, PBA Staff
We also received reports from our PAL Lodge Study Group (see below), and our Prayer and
Listening Sessions (also see below).

Our Worship Celebration was at 6 PM. Our theme was “Speak Lord for Your Servant is Listening” from First Samuel 3:9. The theme was drawn from our year long effort to listen to our people and to listen to God. This effort was supported by six “Prayer and Listening Sessions” throughout the year.
Musical worship was led by the Orcutt Baptist Church Worship Team. David Peppler of Peptalk Ministries shared about God’s Call for every believer. We invited David to our meeting to sell and sign copies of his new book “Discerning God’s Puzzling Call for Every Believer”. David is available to come speak to churches. Copies of this book and his previous book “Healthy Endings, A Leader’s Journey through a Church Legacy Transition” are available directly from David at peptalkministriesllc@gmail.com or from outlets such as Amazon.

Our PBA Ministerial Staff also shared what they are hearing from God. We will continue this effort to seek a new vision from God in the coming months.

We want to thank Pastor Ben Caldwell, along with the staff and members of Orcutt Baptist
Church for providing a welcome atmosphere for our meeting!

NEW WEBSITE
We are continuing to develop a new website for the PBA. To see our work so far, please click on www.thepeninsulanet.org. Check in regularly as we will continue to update the site! Many thanks to Dillon Evans, Pastor of Gloucester Point Baptist Church for developing the site.

UPDATING PAL LODGE FACILITIES
Based on report from a study group, the consensus of the PBA Leadership Team and the annual meeting attendees is that significant updating of the PAL Lodge at Eagle Eyrie should occur, with main updating in bathroom/shower areas.
Pending costs and availability of contractors, we hope by next spring to have:
• Installed 7 private, sliding-door shower stalls / dressing areas.
• Converted toilets to Americans with Disabilities Act compliant heights.
• Made one of the toilet stalls wheelchair accessible.
• Updating of lampshades, curtains, light fixtures, and electrical outlets may also be
undertaken.
To facilitate future use of our “new” PAL Lodge, a reminder that, when you register your intent to attend an event at Eagle Eyrie, you may designate on the registration form: your desire to stay in a lodge as your first choice, check “Owner Basis”, and that you are from Peninsula Baptist Association, in order to receive a reduced lodging fee.

PASTOR’S FELLOWSHIP
Our next Pastor’s Fellowship will be held on Wednesday, November 20th at 12 noon at the PBA Resource Center. Lunch will be free, as usual. Our “guest speaker” will be our own Brian Williams (pastor of Ivy Memorial Baptist Church) who will share about a project he has been working on for the past few years. “Co-Vocational Church” may be a new idea to you:
• It is a refocusing of the vision of the church away from a sharp distinction between
“clergy” and “laity”.
• It is a focus on the collective gifts within each congregation.
• It is a focus on the mission of the church.
• It is a focus on a multi-leader model.
If you plan to attend, please contact us so we can plan appropriately for lunch.

UPCOMING OFFICE CLOSURES FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Our regular office hours are Monday – Thursday from 9 AM to 3 PM. We will be closed on
Monday, November 11th for Veteran’s Day. We will also be closed November 27th
- 28th for Thanksgiving. Then we will be closed December 23rd-30th for Christmas, and December 31st
and January 1st for New Years.

PBA LISTENING SESSIONS THEMES
1. FEELING ISOLATED FROM ONE ANOTHER (both churches and pastors).
• Some churches have made connections with other like-minded local ministries and
churches but not usually with other PBA churches.
• Geographical distances and different church “personalities” contribute to this.
• Additional comments:
o What things can we do together to help us build better relationships with one
another and our churches?
o Do we want to get to know one another or to just make contacts without having
to build relationships?
o Are we doing enough to really get to know each other so God can build his
kingdom?
o We have to be more intentional about this.

2. WE ARE LACKING A UNIFIED IDENTITY. “Who are we?” Our name should reflect our identity.
• Improve our website.
• Provide resources online.
• Provide more opportunity to put the churches in the same room (as we are doing with the
Listening Sessions).
• Tell our story(s) better (through outlets such as the website and newsletter).

3. WE TEND TO CONNECT WITH THE PBA WHEN OUR CHURCHES NEED SOMETHING (i.e. the Fun Trailer, Pastor Search Process, support as a new Church Plant).

4. WE NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB OF CONNECTING WITH THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF OUR CHURCHES (possibly use tools such as “Asset Mapping” together).

5. WE MUST BE WILLING TO LISTEN TO JESUS AND TO DO WHAT HE WANTS US TO BE DOING.
As a result of all we have heard through our listening sessions and other efforts, we will form a team to work with the staff on proposing changes and refocusing for our network of churches.

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Notes from Mike Mather, “Awakening the Power of Families and
Neighborhoods”

As a local church imagine …
1. 2. 3. 4. Treating all of our neighbors as people deeply loved by God. We believe all people are deeply loved by God, so we expect institutions that serve them to treat them accordingly.
Institutions often ignore the people of the neighborhood as anything other than recipients
of their services, viewing them as people to be fixed, people in need, people who are
empty. While this perspective may not reflect their true feelings about people, it captures
their practice. We need to focus more on what’s strong, not what’s wrong in the
community.
Helping organizations shouldn’t stop providing their services, but they can treat the
recipients as if they have something valuable to offer to the world and to their community.
They could ask people, “What three things could you teach that you already know? What
would you like to learn from your neighbors?” Only ask these questions if you are
committed to doing something concrete in response. In other words, we could treat people
with respect and greet them with loving curiosity.
Activating and building upon the gifts of our neighbors. We are committed to identifying
the gifts, capacities, talents, dreams, and passions that people have, and to invest in them.
We expect institutions to acknowledge the gifts of the people they “serve,” and to find
some way to utilize those gifts. If the people who are being served are the first people
involved in the effort, then it has a good chance of being something that those people being served really want (and might use!). “Nothing about (or for) me, without me!”
We need to consider giving up our pet projects being done for our neighbors by us without
their participation. This is harder to accomplish and time consuming, so we need to start
small and build upon what happens. Then we could celebrate it and talk about it to
encourage others.
Investing first in the good the people of the neighborhood seek. Doing things for people
and involving neighbors in what “we” (as institutions) do hasn’t been effective. Maybe we
could experiment with ways to invest in the good things our neighbors are doing before we
ask them to be involved in what we are doing. Maybe we could ask, “How can we be
involved with people?” before asking, “How can we get people involved in what we are
doing?“
Practicing Hospitality It’s easier to talk with others when you share meals together.
It’seasier to get to know one another around a dinner table than a conference table. What
are some ways to gather for meals together in our homes and our neighbor’s homes, yards,
cul-de-sacs?

SENIOR ADULT EVENT
Stevens Memorial Baptist Church will be hosting a Senior Adult Rally on Thursday, December 5th, from 12 Noon to 3 PM. The rally will begin with lunch (cost: $5), and will include lots of fun entertainment including music, games, and quizzes. More information will be coming, but for now save the date and stay tuned. We hope to see you there.

PBA CHURCHES SEEKING PASTORS
We provide this information to assist churches that are seeking a senior pastor. We can only
provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches currently without pastors:
Buckroe Baptist Church
First Church Ministries
Hornsbyville Baptist Church
Yorktown Baptist Church

PASTOR SUPPLY AND INTERIM LIST
We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an Interim Pastor. If you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please check out our list on our new website www.thepeninsulanet.org

PBA NETWORK NEWS - June 2024

 
 
 
PBA NETWORK NEWS                                                                       June 2024
 
 
CHURCH MERGER
On Wednesday, May 15th, Parkview Baptist Church and Crossroads Christian Community Church voted to merge and form The Lighthouse Church under the leadership of Pastor Marcel Berrios. The church will offer a traditional service and a contemporary service on Sunday mornings. They are in the process of working through all of the legal aspects of the merger and hope to have it completed by the end of the year.
After the retirement of Pastor Rusty Beck, Parkview called Pastor Berrios to serve as their Interim Pastor (while he continued to be pastor of Crossroads). The two congregations have worked together to develop the plans for the merger. In God’s timing, Marcel is working on a Doctor of Ministries degree in which he is studying church closers and mergers. Once they complete this process, he is eager to help other churches work through the difficult processes and decisions involved with closings and mergers.
Please pray for this new church as they commit to spreading the gospel in their community and beyond.
SHARING FACILITIES
We occasionally receive calls asking if we are aware of churches seeking to share facilities. Sometimes these calls are from new church plants looking for a place to meet. At other times these calls are from existing churches exploring their facilities options for the future.
There are a lot of elements involved in sharing facilities. Some congregations have a separate chapel, or other part of their facilities for another congregation to use. Other congregations share their main worship auditorium. Of course, this leads to a discussion of meeting times for the two congregations, and even parking issues. Done right, this is a great option for churches to consider.
Many of our congregations are already sharing facilities for a variety of reasons. However, it would be helpful if we could maintain a list of churches that may be interested in exploring this decision.
PRAYER AND LISTENING
On Wednesday, May 22nd, the PBA held the third of our Prayer and Listening Sessions as we seek God’s vision for our future. This meeting was at Ivy Memorial Baptist Church. We plan to hold three more Prayer and Listening Sessions in September and October. Stay tuned for more information about the locations and times of these meetings. We are collecting responses from all of these sessions to report back to the association when we have completed the process. Meanwhile, please continue to pray for God’s guidance of this network of churches as we move together into the future.
HUMILITY IS THINKING ACCURATELY ABOUT YOURSELF
I (Jim) was recently watching a podcast of three members of Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas; one of whom was Max Lucado. They were discussing humility.
One of the panelists shared the often-repeated definition of Humility, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself less.” Max took this thought to a deeper level. Referencing Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (English Standard Version)
Max’s understanding of the text is that we should “think accurately about ourselves.” We are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, but neither are we to think less of ourselves. Rather, when we think of ourselves, we should do so accurately.
For example, God has called me to preach His Word. To do so well should always be my goal. In my early days I wasn’t very good at all! Because I was thinking too much about myself, I was trying too hard to either please people or to preach like more well known preachers. Over the years and with the patient help of many parishioners, I have been able to improve. I can say now, with accuracy, that what I do in the pulpit is more honoring to God and helpful to those listening than it was in the beginning.
Max likened this thought to a skilled quarterback who led his High School football team. Max was a lineman. He liked and trusted the quarterback because he led well and was a team player who encouraged his fellow players. He did his job well and with confidence. He was a humble young man. He thought accurately about himself.
As Christians, the world needs to witness what God can do in and through us as we dedicate all he has given us to be used for his purposes and glory. We have a responsibility to think accurately about ourselves so we may improve as his servants, making him known to others.
                                                                          Jim Moynihan

PBA CHURCHES SEEKING PASTORS
We provide this information to assist churches that are seeking a senior pastor. We can only provide information given to us by churches, so please keep us informed! You may also let us know about other open positions in your church if you would like us to publicize them. Churches currently without pastors:
            Buckroe Baptist Church
            Hornsbyville Baptist Church                          
Mount Hebron Baptist Church                      
Yorktown Baptist Church
 
PIANO PLAYER NEEDED
 
Hornsbyville Baptist Church in Yorktown is looking for someone to play the piano during the morning worship time on Sundays at 11:00 AM. For more information text or call Debbie at 757-849-3445.
 
PASTOR SUPPLY AND INTERIM LIST
 
We maintain a list of people willing to “Supply Preach” and/or serve as an Interim Pastor. If you have need of someone to speak or are looking for an Interim Pastor while searching for a pastor, please call or email Chuck for this information.

This is the first of two posts I’m going to write about the Bible.  Part of the reason for two posts is my lifelong love for and fascination with the Bible: God’s Word will always have central place in my heart. Growing up, I was always part of churches that help the Bible in highest regard, claiming the Bible as our authority for everything we do and believe. And while my life has had its share of twists and turns, I have always tried to think about how my faith and actions relate to the Bible’s teaching.

When we evangelicals talk about the purpose and use of the Bible, our number one “go to” passage is 2 Timothy 3:16–17,

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We cite this passage to promote the idea that we try to worship God and live our lives per the teachings of the Bible. Yet while the idea of focusing on the Bible has been good for Christians (not just Evangelicals!), too often we go off track by trying to make 2 Tim 3:16 say something like, “the Bible is our authority”, instead of considering the actual words. Most important, we evangelicals tend to lose the meaning of the crucial beginning phrase, “all Scripture is God-breathed.”

In this post, I’m going to focus on the first two words of 2 Tim 3:16, “all Scripture.”  Next week I will write about the phrase “God-breathed.”

Many readers who cite 2 Tim 3:16 do not realize that the phrase “all Scripture” in its original context does not mean what Christians usually take it to mean. Since 2 Timothy is part of the New Testament, and the New Testament itself had not been defined when 2 Timothy was written, the author of 2 Timothy cannot have been thinking of the New Testament when he used the word “Scripture” in 3:16.  (This is more obvious when we read verse 2 Tim 3:15, which mentions “Scriptures” known to Timothy as he was growing up.) Instead, “all Scripture” refers to the Old Testament only (possibly including the Apocryphal books taken as Scripture by the Roman Catholic Church). This follows the New Testament practice, which consistently uses the term “Scripture(s)” to refer to the Old Testament.

This does not necessarily mean that 2 Tim 3:16–17 does not apply to the New Testament also. Since we believe that the New Testament is just as much a part of Scripture as the Old, it makes sense that principles that apply to the Old Testament apply just as well to the New. But when we state that, in our modern thinking, “all Scripture” of 2 Tim 3:16 includes both the Old and New Testaments, then we must acknowledge that the meaning of the phrase “all Scripture” has changed from the time it was written.

Before the late fourth century C.E. there is no evidence that anyone in the church thought that the New Testament consisted of the 27 books included in our Bible today. The earliest extant list that matches our New Testament was composed in 367 C.E. (by Athanasius of Alexandria) and it took a few decades more for the church as a whole to ratify this list. This means that for the first 300 years of the existence of 2 Timothy, the term “Scripture” had a different meaning for Christians than it does today. The meaning changed because the church changed: we’ve come to believe that our New Testament is Scripture in the same way that the Old Testament is Scripture.

One important reason that it took the church more than 300 years to decide which writings are part of the New Testament is that the Bible itself does not give us a list. This means that one of the core principles of Christianity comes not from the Bible, but from a long process of Christian reflection and debate, led by the Holy Spirit. The term for this is process is “tradition,” a word that many Evangelicals do not like: we prefer to closely follow the Reformer’s idea of sola scriptura, “Scripture Alone.” Yet as much as we may want to base our Christian faith and practice solely on the Bible, there is no way to avoid the fact that when we define the Bible as a set of 66 particular writings, we are relying on tradition instead of something that comes directly from the Bible.

There is one more important aspect of the term “all Scripture” that we Evangelicals must keep in mind. The statement “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” tells us that every part of the writings that we identify as “Scripture” is useful for us. Many of us tend to neglect Old Testament books like Leviticus, 1-2 Chronicles, and Job, because we assume that their messages are meant for people of a different age (before Christ) and location. Yet since Christ himself requires us to take then entire Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament, including Leviticus) seriously (Matt 5:17–19), we must carefully examine these books for the “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” that they have to offer.

I worry that part of the reason that Evangelicals spend less and less time on the Bible is that we do not think that much of it is relevant to modern day issues. It has become commonplace for Evangelicals to proclaim strong beliefs on things like LGBTQ+ issues, abortion, Critical Race Theory, the appropriate role of women in church leadership, and so on, without referring to any biblical text, or by citing texts that say little on the issue at hand. Trying to figure out what the entire Bible has to say about some modern issue can be difficult and time-consuming; simply stating a position (often along with a condemnation of those who disagree) is much easier. So we tend to simply declare what we assume the Bible teaches, perhaps based on a small number of verses that support our position.

Aside from the obvious problem that our beliefs may not actually be consistent with the teaching of the entire Bible, we increase division and disunity in the church when we fail to do the hard work of searching the Scriptures with humble, open hearts, to be sure that the Bible says what we think it says. Evangelical unity is not based on things like opposition to abortion (indeed, prior to the 1970’s it was common for Evangelicals to support the right of women to decide whether to get an abortion); it’s based on (or should be based on!) a common conviction that, to the extent possible, the Bible – the entire Bible – should be our main source of spiritual truth and ethical behavior.  So when we take time to examine the breadth of Scripture, giving the same amount of careful consideration to passages that agree and disagree with our personal preferences, it becomes much easier to find common ground with those who interpret certain passages differently.

There are three things to take away from the phrase “all Scripture” in 2 Tim 3:16. First, when we recognize that what the author means by the word “Scripture” is different from what we mean by that word, we must acknowledge that Scripture passages can change meaning.  Giving new meaning to older passages is a major feature of the teaching of Jesus, and of the New Testament in general.  We make a big mistake when we insist that there is only one correct way to interpret some given passage.

Second, if we understand the Bible to consist of the usual 66 books, then we must acknowledge that the fundamentals of Evangelical Christianity are not based exclusively on biblical texts, and that Christian tradition has an important role in sound theology. For Evangelicals, the Bible is the principal source of God’s revelation, but it is not the only source.  Much of what we believe is based more on the conclusions of those who preceded us than on the Bible. If we cannot find a way to make the Bible support some practice or conviction, then we need to honestly admit the role of tradition in informing us about correct belief and practice.

Third, Christians need to put in time and effort working with the Bible, particularly when we want to take potentially divisive stands. We should not claim to be adhering to a biblical point of view unless we are willing to continually examine and re-examine biblical texts that may pertain to our issue.  We may never get to the point where we all agree about the place of Critical Race Theory in schools, but we can and should be at the place where we search the scriptures together, honestly working with passages that affirm our feelings, and passages that challenge them. Following this practice promotes Evangelical/ Christian unity while increasing our biblical understanding.

This is my second post in a series on modern evangelicalism. The term “evangelical” has been so casually used and misused over the past twenty years that many of us have only a vague sense of what it means, except perhaps for its connection to Republican politics. Yet in 2022, the term “Evangelical” as it was understood in the twentieth century can and should describe both Republicans and Democrats. The older understanding of the term needs a little updating, just as all enduring movements, even Christian movements, need fresh examination from time to time. But a renewed understanding of the term “evangelical” can help a wide group of Christians to work together for God’s glory.

Twentieth century evangelicalism had three main thrusts, two drawn from Reformation ideas, and one from the early twentieth century. First, adapting the anabaptist idea of believer’s baptism, it stressed the personal salvific experience of every individual Christian, teaching that one needs to make a profession of faith (usually something like a sinner’s prayer) to gain salvation and a good relationship with God. Second, following sola scriptora (“scripture alone”) it emphasized the Bible as the principal source of knowledge about God and the relationship between God and humankind. Third, following more general Christian thinking around the turn of the twentieth century, evangelicalism urged Christians to address social needs in the world, working with anyone who might genuinely affect change, Christian or not.

As these three ideas easily cross denominational lines, evangelicalism has always been a unifying movement, encouraging all kinds of Christians to bring the gospel to people, diligently interpret the Bible, and work together to benefit society. And it still can be a unifying force in Hampton Roads (and the rest of the world) in 2022.  But we evangelicals run into problems when we lose sight of the point of personal salvation, Bible prioritization, and working to impact society. So I’m writing a few post to try to steer us back to a sound theology that helps us to be better followers of Christ.

I begin with the profession of faith because for several hundred years much of American Christianity has seen this as the marker for determining who is and is not a Christian. For many people, once you’ve recited the sinner’s prayer with sincerity, you’re saved and on your way to a good relationship with God. But if you have not recited such a prayer, then your salvation is in doubt and your relationship with God is suspect.

Yet while many of us like to talk about the sinner’s prayer, the New Testament has very little to say about such a thing. Acts has a few striking stories of conversions: Saul/Paul’s powerful story appears three separate times (9:1–17; 22:3–15; 26:9–17), and we also find Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26–39) and the conversion of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:16–31). Yet in none of these does anyone quite say a sinner’s prayer. And outside of Acts, we see even less about conversion. The thief who hung on a cross next to Jesus converts, but there is no real prayer, just a statement of belief (Luke 23:39–43).

Especially curious is the case of the disciples.  One would think that if praying to receive salvation is important, the New Testament would tell us the point at which the original eleven apostles became “saved.” We do see accounts of some of the first disciples’ decisions to follow Christ: Peter, Andrew, James and John in Matt 4:18–21; Levi in Mark 2:14; Philip and Nathaniel in John 1:43–50. But these are not salvation accounts, since the gospels make it clear that the disciples did not even understand that Jesus was destined to die on the cross until near the end of his ministry. So when and how did the disciples get “saved?” The New Testament does not say.

Yet the New Testament does give us plenty of call stories like the above-mentioned gospel accounts (and I would argue that the conversion of Saul/Paul is as much a story of call as it is of conversion). So even though some individual verses like, say, John 3:16 stress salvation, the New Testament seems more interested in stories about call.  Why?

My own experience has helped me to find an answer. In my younger years I prayed personally with about ten folks to receive Jesus (besides altar calls).  Of those, only two became serious followers of Christ; the others lost interest, sooner or later.

What struck me then, as now, is that I never had a moment’s doubt that these two individuals would have come to faith in Christ with or without me.  They had clearly heard Christ’s call and were doing Bible study with me as a way of answering that call.  I don’t think that praying the sinner’s prayer with those two accomplished much of anything; they were getting saved with or without me. My value to them was not helping them to prayer the sinner’s prayer, but helping them to learn about the Bible, God, and Christian life.

Through my life I’ve met many others who accepted Christ during altar calls yet are in no way faithful Christians. At this point, I believe that’s the rule, not the exception. While an emotion-laden moment can change a person’s life, most human decisions that are based on in-the-moment feelings do not last. These include the moment of praying to receive Christ after a heavy sell.

John’s gospel emphasizes this point. John 6:60–66 reports that many who had imagined themselves to be disciples turned away after a difficult teaching. But the gospel of John is crystal clear that the disciples named in John 1:40–50, along with Thomas (“Doubting” Thomas, 11:16!) remained faithful to the end. The key, then, is not in just becoming a disciple; rather, the key is living out a real commitment to Christ.

Like many evangelicals, I cannot honestly point to a personal moment of conversion because I do not recall any time when I did not believe that Jesus died for my sins, then rose again. But I can point to a few times in my life when I made conscious decisions to take my faith seriously.  And I like to think that all other believers can name moments when faith impacted the course of their lives.  This certainly can happen at the time we pray a sinner’s prayer. But it can also happen later, or, as in the cases of Jesus’s disciples and my friends above, before one says a prayer.

The moment that a person decides to take Christ seriously is the key moment in the New Testament. Again, Matthew 4 is not about conversion; the disciples had no clue about Jesus’s mission or the theology surrounding his death for human sin. But the moment when they drop their nets to follow Christ is crucial because from that point their commitment to follow is clear. Their theology and beliefs change massively over time, and they undergo period of weakness. But their commitment to follow does not change.

When we follow the New Testament in prioritizing commitment ahead of a momentary profession, our faith becomes more like the faith of the disciples. Perhaps 25% of Americans call themselves “Evangelical;” even more of us call ourselves “Christian.” But how many so-called “evangelicals” think of themselves as Christian just because they said a prayer and “believe” the right things?  A sinner’s prayer can be helpful, but according to the New Testament one needs to make a serious commitment to truly be part of the Kingdom of God.

Since I come to this series talking about unity, I need to mention an important benefit of stressing commitment above and beyond the sinner’s prayer. I recently finished a terrific book, Love Your Enemies, by Arthur C. Brooks. A devout Catholic, economist, and politically conservative commentator, Brooks demonstrates that as people of faith – including evangelicals – take their faith more and more seriously, they are less and less inclined to use divisive actions and words. This means that if evangelical behavior seems unpleasant at times, the way to go is not to criticize evangelicalism per se, but rather the opposite: to encourage people to be more evangelical – that is, to put more time and energy into reading and thinking about the Bible and what it has to say about the mission of God’s people. Christians who make a serious commitment to following Christ as per the Bible become better Christians, and have a more positive impact on people around them.

Most of us have preached and/or taught that the Great Commission, Matt 28:18–20, stresses not the creation of converts, but the creation of disciples. What we are prone to miss, however, is that the reason that Matthew ends with this instruction is that discipleship is the major theme of the book! Matthew is not just an account of the life and teaching of Jesus; it also describes discipleship: Jesus’s ministry begins with him calling his disciples, and ends with him giving them his final instructions.

It is not bad to encourage people to say a sinner’s prayer in a tense moment.  But let’s not overemphasize the fact that such a prayer has been made. Instead of stressing the moment of salvation, let’s share with each other our stories about how we decided to take our faith seriously, and remind each other of our ongoing commitment to living in a way that glorify God, as informed by his word.