The Baptists Are Coming!

Next week in Washington begins many historical firsts in Baptist history. It will be the 150th anniversary of the founding of the American Baptist Convention at Calvary Baptist Church in downtown DC. It will be the first time that the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has hosted their meetings in conjunction with another Baptist group. And, it will be the first time that the American Baptists and the Cooperative Baptists will worship together and share in communion on Friday night, June 29h.

Since the Baptist churches are usually better at splitting from one another than joined together, these meetings make monumental statements in support of Christian unity. Since the local congregation where I serve is dually aligned with both the ABC and the CBF, I couldn't be happier to be a part of these convocations. I'm so glad that the national leadership of these two important Baptist groups have gotten the message that the future is about dreaming, living and being together in mission.

But, with all of this said, the phrase "The Baptists are Coming" means so much more to me in my personal life than just some meetings to attend next week.

You see, my husband to-be is the chair of the Care and Upkeep Committee at Calvary Baptist Church, place that the American Baptists and others are using the building for several of their meetings and worship services. Many Baptist tourists are eager to tour this important building next week. But there is one problem-- Kendell Hall (the entry space you see when you first walk in) has been in desperate need of painting. So, enter in Kevin's grand idea: the membership of the church can paint this LARGE space by ourselves to save the church money.

Let me interject here that the Care and Upkeep Committee only has two other members besides Kevin. Even though Calvary has a sanctuary which seats close to one thousand people, its active membership is around 150. Unlike my church which has a dedicated crew of volunteers who regularly come to the Saturday workdays each month as their gift to the congregation, Calvary must rely on a smaller group of dedicated folks to do work like this on a project to project basis.

Thus, since the weekend of Holy Week, Kevin and Phil (the brains behind this project) and their crew have painted, painted, and are preparing to paint some more. They've given up two entire weekends thus far and at least seven other weeknights to ensure the project is completed by June 25th. The heat is on now: it's crunch time. The Baptists are coming!

And somehow, I'm involved . . .

You might imagine how excited I am to spend my free time from my church job at another church painting. (Haven't I done enough for church already?) But, because I'm with such a dedicated guy, over the course of this project, going to Calvary to help paint has been one of my only opportunities to see Kevin (great motivation for me). Thus, I've gone to help as much as I can (and welcomed calls from friends in the city to be given something else to do beside paint on the weekends too).

While I'm as tired as the rest of them of painting, at this point, I feel the urgency of getting the job done. I'll probably suck it up and keep helping this weekend too.

So if you are a Baptist coming to DC next week, please feel free to go by Calvary Baptist and check out my fiancee and his committee's dedication to ensuring you have a beautiful space to enjoy your meetings in. Until then, I'll be learning lessons in patience, kindness and support of Kevin with a paint brush in hand.