Vacation Bible School continues to have the greatest evangelistic tools in the Southern Baptist Convention, with close to 33 percent of baptisms in Southern Baptist churches a direct result of VBS.  Last year, throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, almost 3 million children, youth and adults were enrolled in VBS with close to 100,000 making some type of spiritual decision.  Former SBC president Bobby Welch was quoted as saying, “Vacation Bible School is the absolute best way to reinvigorate us for our passion for reaching young people.  Because VBS is fueled primarily by the efforts of lay people, any church can immediately get involved reaching people.” 

The following Southeast Churches have recorded their VBS dates.  We encourage you to participate in a VBS nearest you.  You may also contact the churches below to inquire about sharing materials and decorations.

Week of:
July 6-11
• Kempsville Baptist of Virginia Beach, July 6-10 from 6-8:30
• Alexander Baptist of Chesapeake, July 7-11 from 6:15-8:30

July 13-18
• Pinecrest Baptist of Portsmouth, July 13-17 from 6:15-8:15
• Collinswood Baptist of Portsmouth, July 13-18 in the evening
• London Bridge of VA Beach, July 14-18 from 9-12

July 20-25
• Nansemond River of Suffolk, July 20-24 from 6:15-8:30
• DeBaun Memorial of Chesapeake, July 20-25 in the evening
• South Norfolk of Chesapeake, July 20-25 from 6-8:45 
• Fairview Heights of Portsmouth,  July 20-25 in the evening 
• Immanuel Baptist of Chesapeake,  July 21-25 in the evening 
• Bacon's Castle of Surry,  July 21-25 in the evening 

July 27-August 1
• Bethel Baptist of Chesapeake,  July 27-31 from 6-9 pm 
• Princess Anne Plaza of VA Beach,  July 28- Aug 1 from 10-12 noon 

 August 2-8
• Tucker Swamp of Zuni, Aug 2-7 in the evening
• Great Neck Baptist of VA Beach, Aug 3-7 from 6-8:30

 for more information www.sbcv.org/vbs

Many have recently read some statistics that are alarming.  LifeWay reported, based on the Annual Church Profiles, that baptisms in the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention dropped nearly 5.5% from the previous year.  345,941 were baptized in 2007, making it fewer than the SBC churches baptized in 1950. Alvin Reid, Jimmy Draper, Thom Rainer, and Bill Fay commented respectively, "that the Convention is on life support and in denial", "we have completely lost our focus", "nearly one half of all church members may not be Christians", and "less than 5% of church members share their faith."

It is interesting to note that these same statistics for the churches partnering with the SBCV:
* In 2007, SBCV churches baptized 6,358 individuals
* In 2006, SBCV churches baptized 5,600 individuals
Praise the Lord that our statistics do not match the rest of the convention, and yet there are still so many more that need to be reached in Virginia. 
In fact, many churches in the Southeast ministry area are indeed "Pushing Back the Darkness" in our region.   Liberty Baptist in Hampton led the way in the SE area with over 500 baptisms. 
But for those being saved, yet there is room for so many more.  Thought you might be in prayerful concern for the SBC and encouraged by the SBCV report.

Let’s praise the Lord for the baptisms in our area where God has shown His power through fruitfulness in evangelism:
• Sonlight - Chesapeake   25
• Iglesia Bautista del Camino-Norfolk 26
• Harvest Fellowship - Smithfield  27
• Onancock   27
• Petsworth - Gloucester   32
• Virginia Beach Beacon Baptist   35
• Kempsville-Virginia Beach   41
• Deep Creek-Chesapeake   44
• Hickory Ridge Community-Chesapeake 67
• Waters Edge-Yorktown   71
• Bethel-Chesapeake   73
• First Baptist -Norfolk   113
• London Bridge-Virginia Beach  145
• Liberty-Hampton   544

After action report of Suffolk tornado response of SBC of Virginia Disaster Relief:
                               
Initial Operations:   An Incident Command was established at Southside Baptist Church; Ron Earley was assigned as Incident Commander for this response.  The following partners were contacted; VBMB Disaster Relief, American Red Cross, VOAD, and NAMB.  Damage Assessment teams, 6 chainsaw units, and IC Unit were activated within the first 18 hours.

Early Assessment:  The Damage Assessment Teams conducted Preliminary Damage Assessment (with escort from local law enforcement on Day 1 (4/29/08).  A total of 301 damaged homes were assessed with the following results;

Affected - 39
Minor - 126
Major - 112
Destroyed – 34

The assessment teams who worked directly with the on-site law enforcement officers and the Driver area where our recovery teams were granted access, again by local law enforcement, and 3 jobs were completed.

                              
Response Activated: 
Day 1 (4/29/08) one assessment team and one chainsaw unit were active completing 301 assessments and 3 chainsaw jobs.
Day 2 (4/30/08) three chainsaw units were activated and completed 5 jobs. 
Day 3 (5/1/08) only 1 chainsaw team was active (we were waiting access to areas other than Driver) and 3 jobs were completed.  One shower unit and one Bunkhouse were activated in support of the teams for Friday and Saturday. 
Day 4 (5/2/08) 3 chainsaw units were active completing 8 jobs.  One homeowner prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior. 
Day 5 (5/3/08) four chainsaw units were active completing 11 jobs.

The operation shut down at 6:00 pm on 5/3/08.

Volunteer Days -149  Assessments - 301   Chainsaw Jobs - 30         Gospel
       Presentations - 40    Salvations - 1

* For Bi-vocational Pastors   …

* For those serving on Church Staff  . . .

* For Worship Leaders – check out this resource . . .

* For Sunday School and Small Group resources . . . 

* Help working with volunteers - check this out . . .  

*Leadership Resources . . .

* Web-casting and Pod-casting: Here is a good starting tool: http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/

Ministry Experience: Don has served as pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, and staff member at churches in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.  In addition, he served as a Home Missionary in Atlanta, serving at the formerly-called SBC Home Mission Board.
Life Verses:  Philippians 3: 8-9 "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

Contact Info: Contact Don via e-mail or by phone: (757) 374-9077.

Ministry Experience: Mark is a Native Virginian.  He has served in Montana as a Native American pastor and planter and State Language Missionary.  He served as a Multi-Ethnic church planting strategist with the North American Mission Board as well as rolls in the Mentoring and Enlistment Teams in church planting.

Life Verse: "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."  Psalm 86:11
Contact Info: Contact Mark via e-mail or by phone at (757) 375-5576.

Population: 1,584,590
Total SBCV Churches and Church Plants: 107