Convention Time

Three busy days coming up for us at Westmoreland Baptist Church as we will be hosting the Pastor's Conference and the Annual Meeting of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists today through Saturday.

It's going to be three 12-14 hour days for some of us, but I do look forward to seeing many of our Baptist friends from all around the Mountain State. They will be coming to enjoy good preaching and worship, great fellowship, and to conduct the business of the convention. They will spend time in the exhibit area, visit the LifeWay book store, approve the State Convention budget, hear report from state and national agencies, focus on missions, honor a retiring member of the state office staff, and elect a new President.

Jimmy Morton (a church planter from the Charleston area) is President of the Pastor's Conference. He has planned a great program for our Pastor's Conference on Thursday afternoon and evening. Cheryl Harper has put together an enjoyable time of fellowship and worship for pastor's wives, and the church will be hosting a Pastors and Wives Dinner between the sessions today. Then, on Friday morning the Annual Meeting gets underway as messengers from all around the state come together.

Mixed in among the reports, resolutions, and business sessions, Dr. Phil Roberts (President of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) will present several Bible studies. On Saturday morning we will hear messages from Dr. Hershael York, of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and West Virginia's own Jack Miller will bring the annual message. Music will be stirring throughout the Pastor's Conference and Convention. Some of the presenters and worship leaders will include Darrell Clark, Frances Skeens, a "West Virginia Bluegrass Gospel Band", The Jason Lovins Band, Crimson Flood from Liberty University, and our own Randy Spurgeon and Carla Bell.

I'm looking forward to a great time together.

We've been working like crazy for the past few weeks sprucing up the campus, and doing all those little maintenance things around the church that have been overlooked for a while. We're in pretty good shape, but unfortunately, we didn't get the gym floor completely stripped for waxing, but we will have it ready before Upward Basketball play begins. You know how it is when visitors are coming over to the house, you want everything to be clean and nice. Well that's how it is around the church as well, and I am so proud of the work our folks have done in preparation for our visitors.

Preparations started several months ago as a planning team was put together to prepare for the task before us. Carla Bell, Thamer and Jean Calhoun, June Ashworth, Charley Dygert, Jim Lackey, David Thompson, Mel Hicks, and Mindi Spurgeon all took on planning committee chairmanships. These folks have done a great job in recruiting volunteers and working to pull this thing off. I can't say enough about the folks who have worked so tirelessly to get the church ready for the upcoming events. Thamer Calhoun, Butch Cotton, Sam Wellman, Charley Dygert, and David Washington have done a tremendous amount of maintenance work inside and outside both buildings. Volunteers like Rachel Lackey, Steve and Rick Weber, Jim Bailey, Maxine Bias, David Curnutte, Bob Hall, Zach Bell, Bob and Mitzi Trout, and others have all pitched in to do important preparation work as well. Rosemary Wilks, Brenda Dingess and Mindy Spurgeon have decorated the church beautifully. Church Secretary, Sonia Jones ,has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help out with a lot of extra duties that this event has brought upon her. We have also had great cooperation from Kathy Bailey and the Mothers Day Out Program, whose regular weekly operating schedule has been disrupted this week.

We've had a couple of snags and challenges along the way, but our volunteers have come together to do a really great job.

Saying "Thanks" to the above mentioned folks (and others who have helped) just doesn't seem adequate to repay them for all their hard work, but Thank you nonetheless. Your efforts are deeply appreciated.

Next week we should get "back to normal", but for now, we are thankful to be able to host the wonderful folks from around the state who are coming together to do our part to advance The Kingdom. Hope to see many of you this week at Westmoreland Baptist Church, Hughes and Court Streets in Huntington!