Conservatives to be Nominated

by T. C Pinckney                                                                                          Vol. VII, No. 8, October 1994

The Banner has learned the biblical conservatives who will be nominated for BGAV president, first vice president, and second vice president at the annual state meeting in Salem November 15-16. As of this writing, no announcement has been made of the moderate candidates.

President: Banner recipients read in our last issue that John Simms, deacon and Adult Sunday School Department director at First Baptist Church, Roanoke, and retired general attorney with Norfolk Southern Corporation, will be nominated for BGAV president. John was born in Raleigh, NC. During World War II John served 3 ½ years in the Army rising from private to captain. After the war John graduated from the UNC with a BS in 1948 and a JD in 1950. His work brought him and his wife, Lorraine, to Northern Virginia in 1974 where they were members of First Baptist, Alexandria, until transferred to Roanoke/Salem in 1983. John retired in 1989. He served on the SBC Foreign Mission Board as a trustee 1985-1993 where he chaired the administrative committee for four years and was a member of the presidential search committee 1992-93. John is a member of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

First Vice President: Rev. Robert C. Jackson, Director of Missions, New River Association, will be nominated for first vice president. Bob graduated from Lexington Theological Seminary, Lexington, KY, in 1972 with a Doctor of Ministry degree. He served two mission churches in the Martinsburg, WV, area and came to New River Baptist Association as D.O.M. in 1983.

Bob and his wife Sandra are members of First Baptist, Galax. First Baptist gives 8.2% to the SBC Cooperative Program and a total of 18.4% to all missions.

Bob has served the SBC on the Committee on Committees in 1987 and was elected in June 1989 to the SBC Executive Committee. Both he and Sandra are deeply committed to missions. Each of them have gone on three mission trips to Eastern Europe (Rumania and Ukraine) plus Sandra has gone to India. Bob also was on the Galax school board for six years, serving as chairman for four. Bob is chairman of the missions committee of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

Sandra is part-time director of a crisis pregnancy center in Galax and also teaches part-time in a Christian school and part-time in the adult education evening program in Galax. Bob and Sandra have three children, Joel, Jeremy, and Jennifer, all in school.

Second Vice President: Rev. Donald V. Lasley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Damascus will be nominated as BGAV second vice president. Don was raised in Soddy-Daisy, TN, where he and his family attended Oak Street Baptist Church. He graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, in 1963. Don came to pastor First Baptist, Damascus, upon graduation and was there until 1967. He then led churches in Hurst, TX, and Bristol, VA, until he returned in 1970 to Soddy-Daisy to pastor his home church, Oak Street Baptist. He served Oak Street for 18 ½ years until returning to First Baptist, Damascus, in June 1988. Under Don's leadership First Baptist, Damascus, contributes 18% of receipts to the Cooperative Program and a total of 25% to missions. His church celebrated 13 baptisms in 1993.

Don and his wife, Irene, have three boys: Marty who is a lawyer and Baptist deacon in the Chattanooga area. Paul is a West Point graduate who is now in seminary training to become a Southern Baptist chaplain. And Barry is working at the University of Pennsylvania while completing his degree work.

Don has served on the SBC Tellers Committee, is past chairman of Lebanon Association's Christian Life Committee, is current chairman of the associational Evangelism Committee, and has recently been elected vice-moderator of the association.

[Editorial Comment: All three of these men are Christian gentlemen committed to evangelism and to the support of our Southern Baptist home and foreign missionaries through the Cooperative Program. Collectively they represent three vital aspects of Southern Baptist life: the committed layman, the local church pastor, the associational director of missions ... plus all three have had experience at the national SBC level: Tellers Committee, Committee on Committees, Foreign Mission Board, and Executive Committee.

I know all three personally as godly men deeply devoted to glorifying our Lord and Savior and personal soul winners. I heartily endorse each of them and urge you and your maximum authorized messengers to come to Salem in November to vote for each. DO NOT LEAVE EARLY on Wednesday afternoon.]