Baptist group to meet, emphasize stewardship

"Developing a Giving Life" will be the theme of the annual meeting of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society on May 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Bon Air Baptist Church, 2531 Buford Road in Richmond.

Christian stewardship will be the emphasis. Special recognition will be given to three individuals or churches that exemplified giving.

Those to be recognized include David Lawrence of Richmond, who developed Walking Free to supply artificial limbs; Ruth and Maynard Guill and Rick Hurst, all of Richmond, who will accept an award on behalf of Weatherford Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond, which gave its property to another church; and Kathy Shereda and members of High Hills Baptist Church in Jarratt, which developed its Hands of Love ministry.

The stewardship-education work of the late John C. Ivins Sr. will be remembered in a special tribute.

'Let's Walk' day set at Methodist church

Christ United Methodist Church, 6818 W. Grace St. in Richmond, will sponsor "Let's Walk to Church Day" on June 22.

For details, call (804) 282-3906.

New pastor will begin tenure at First Baptist

The Rev. James Green Somerville will become the 16th senior pastor of First Baptist Church tomorrow.

The church is at Boulevard and Monument Avenue in Richmond's Fan District.

Somerville is a graduate of Georgetown College in Kentucky and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

A Selma, Ala., native, Somerville is the former pastor of the First Baptist Church in Washington. He is married to Christine "Christy" Treadwell Somerville, who is the daughter of well-known Baptist educator Bill Treadwell, a former professor at two Baptist seminaries. The Somervilles have two daughters, Ellie and Catherine.

Somerville succeeds the Rev. Peter James Flamming, who served as senior pastor at First Baptist from 1983 until retiring in December 2006.

Mineral church plans lakefront services

Elk Creek Baptist Church, 5916 Kentucky Springs Road in Mineral, will hold its lakefront worship services each Sunday through September at 8:30 a.m.

The services will be held across the road from the church on the shores of Lake Anna. Refreshments will be served. For details, call (804) 883-7517.

Churches are praying for emergency workers

Hundreds of churches participating in the yearlong Metro Richmond at Prayer project are focusing on health this month.

Here is the prayer for next week: "We pray for health care in metropolitan Richmond: For emergency personnel and those who maintain emergency rooms."

For more information, go to: www.metrorichmondat prayer.org.