2012 Churchnet Annual Gathering Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Each year the Churchnet Annual Gathering provides an opportunity for fellowship, worship, and training.  The 2012 Annual Gathering will be a special celebration of our 10th Anniversary.  Churchnet is a ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri.  The convention was organized at Fee Fee Baptist Church in Bridgeton (St. Louis) in April of 2002.  In 2012 we will return to Fee Fee Baptist Church for our 10th Anniversary.  The Annual Gathering will begin on Friday evening, April 13, with our Annual Missions Banquet and conclude on Saturday, April 14, at noon.  In addition to our Missions Banquet and Worship Sessions the Annual Gathering will also feature Breakout Training Sessions on Saturday morning and our Business Session.

Dr. John Upton, President of the Baptist World Alliance, will be our keynote speaker on Friday evening.  John Upton is executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) and of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board (VBMB) in the United States. He was elected BWA president during the 20th Baptist World Congress held in Honolulu, Hawaii, from July 28 to August 1, 2010.

He has had a long association with the BWA. He served as a member of the BWA General Council and the Executive Committee, the two governing bodies of the BWA. He was a member of the Baptist World Aid Committee, the Commission on Christian Ethics, and the Executive Committee of the North American Baptist Fellowship, one of six regional fellowships of the BWA. For the past five years, he was chair of the Congress Program Committee, which played a significant role in planning the Baptist World Congress which was held in Honolulu.

Prior to being elected as executive director of the BGAV and the VBMB in 2001, Upton served as group leader of the Mission Mobilization Group of the BGAV, beginning in 1995. Earlier, he was pastor of Urbanna Baptist Church in Urbanna, Virginia, from 1984-1986 and 1991-1995. Between 1986 and 1991 he and his wife, Deborah, served as missionaries in Taiwan through the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Upton attended the Baptist-affiliated Averett College (now Averett University) in Danville, Virginia; the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, in the US; and the Taiwan Language Institute. He received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Kerrala, India.

Make plans know to be a part of this special 10th Anniversary Celebration of Churchnet—A Baptist Network Serving Churches.