By Wayne Faison, BGAV Executive Director

Imagine waking up on a beautiful, cool morning in central Florida, stepping out on the carport, being mesmerized by the wet dew freshly glistening on the St. Augustine grass, and listening to the mockingbirds excitedly chirping on the limbs of the moss-laden oak trees. Now, imagine this oneness moment enthralled by God’s creation being suddenly interrupted by a loud thump on the driveway and the smell of exhaust fumes puffing out of the back of a wood-paneled station wagon. The Ocala Star-Banner, which was the daily newspaper for my hometown, had once again arrived with all the breaking news, latest headlines, and current events. Strangely enough, I’ve always wanted to be a paperboy. However, unlike many of my childhood friends, I never got the chance to become one and experience the joy of delivering the daily news throughout our neighborhood while shouting, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”

Over the past few months, I’ve been exercising my inner, wannabe paperboy by encouraging Virginia Baptists to read all about the BGAV banners, which are strategically created and designed to connect and develop congregations and leaders for an ever-changing world. Though I never got the chance to experience the joy of delivering the daily news to my old neighborhood, God is now giving me the chance to experience the joy of delivering kingdom news to my new neighborhoods throughout Virginia and beyond. As I mentioned in Mission Forward: Part IV, one of the five banners is called Community Development. Their primary focus is helping churches connect with their respective communities, including the surrounding population they aim to serve through BGAV. If I were to convert this focus to a headline for the daily news, it would simply read “Knowing Our Neighbors.” And one thing I can say about our paperman from back in the day: he definitely knew everyone in my old neighborhood.

“Knowing Our Neighbors” encompasses the relationships, networks, and interactions that form within and around our churches. Our Missio Alliance and Kairos Initiative teams are collaborating together under the Community Development banner to provide a coordinated approach through neighborhood ministries such as community dialogues and table talks, community and cultural formation, nearby college campus connections, community internships, global community intensives, and communities on the margins. I’m thrilled that some 50 years later, God is seeing fit to allow me at this stage of my ministerial life to now shout, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” Virginia Baptists are not only reinvigorating ourselves around one of our main charisms—mission—but we are also moving the mission forward by delivering the good news to every neighborhood in the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond. Join us in delivering the good news of Jesus!