Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994 TAG: 9406210107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The annual event, designed for Sunday school leaders to sharpen the tools of their ministries, opens Monday night.
Framers of the convention said as many as 35,000 participants may attend the weeklong sessions, with delegates staying as far away as Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Petersburg and Williamsburg.
About 200 classes - held at 17 sites, including the Coliseum, Richmond Centre and churches - will enable participants to earn credits toward becoming accredited religious educators.
People also make annual pilgrimages to the congress for personal fulfillment, said the Rev. Dwight C. Jones, pastor of First Baptist Church of Richmond.
When the congress last met in Richmond seven years ago, 25,000 Baptists participated.
Courses during the convention will range from introductions to the Bible to such modern issues as the problems facing black males, dysfunctional families and the role of religion in politics.
The congress opens at 7 p.m. Monday with a performance at the Coliseum by a 1,000-voice choir from churches across central Virginia.
Classes begin the following day and continue through Friday. A worship service will be held each night at the Coliseum.
The congress will close Friday evening with a youth rally featuring a 1,500-voice choir of young people.
Registration fees will be used to cover the cost of renting meeting rooms, the Coliseum and several churches, Jones said.
Congress officials say participants are expected to spend more than $25 million in central Virginia, including about $1.3 million on hotel rooms.
Five clerics campaigning for president of the 8.2 million-member National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Inc. will likely attend the congress to rub elbows with congress delegates, who are influential in their own congregations. Some of them also may be delegates to the annual convention in September in New Orleans, during which the election will take place.
Candidates for the convention presidency include W. Franklin Richardson, the convention's general secretary; C.A.W. Clark, its vice president at-large; the Rev. William J. Shaw of Philadelphia; the Rev. S.C. Cureton of Greenville, S.C., and the Rev. Henry Lyons of St. Petersburg, Fla.
by CNB