Joe Westbury

GBC Executive Director J. Robert White introduces a delegation from France who attended as part of the partnership between the two nations. Other partnerships include the country of Moldova and the state conventions of California, New York and Utah-Idaho.

Joe Westbury

Carla Edwards, media librarian at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Church in Carrollton, studies the building plan for the new Baptist Center. The facility, which is expected to be occupied in mid-2006, is in the early stages of construction at the Sugarloaf Parkway interchange overlooking Interstate 85 in Gwinnett County. Edwards’ husband, Mark, is recreational director at the Carrollton church.

Joe Westbury

Brad Agee arrived early to work on a sermon outline prior to one of the convention sessions. Agee, a member of Trion Heights Baptist Church, serves as a volunteer staff member for the congregation.

Sherri Brown

J. Olan Jones, retiring president and CEO of Baptist Village, accepts a plaque commemorating his 36 years of ministry with the organization. In addition to the award, a video was shown depicting Jones’ time with Baptist Village Retirement Communities. Since 1955, Baptist Village, an agency of the GBC, has provided senior adults with a variety of assisted and independent living quarters through quality retirement communities located in Waycross, Macon and Lake Park.

Sherri Brown

Officers for the Georgia Baptist Associational Missionary Fellowship were named at the state convention held in College Park. Serving for 2005 will be, left to right: Ray Coleman of Smyrna Association as vice president in South and Southwest regions; Stan Wilkins of Bartow Association as vice president in the Northwest and West Central regions; Rick Standard of Sarepta Association as president-elect; Jim Faircloth of the South Central Area Missions Program as prayer coordinator; David Self of Washington Association as vice president in the Savannah and East Central regions; Andy Perryman of Mount Vernon Association as worship leader; David Cook of South Georgia Area Missions Program as secretary treasurer; Clay Turner of Morganton and Mountaintown Associations as president and Marcus Hicks of West Georgia Area Missions Program as vice president of West and Middle Georgia regions. Not pictured are Mason Davis of Hephzibah and Kilpatrick Associations, who will serve as editor of the AM News, and Lester Cooper of Atlanta Association of Southern Baptists, who will serve as vice president for the Northeast and Atlanta regions.

Sherri Brown

Matt Moseley, background, Russ Alford, center, and Tammy Morrow, right, members of the orchestra of Second Baptist Church of Warner Robins, accompany the church choir during a time of choral worship at the annual convention meeting. The 183rd session of the Georgia Baptist Convention was held in the new Georgia International Convention Center in College Park near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Sherri Brown

Karen Green, a member of Annistown Road Deaf Mission in Snellville, inteprets during a song Nov. 15. During the convention, Green and Sue Hardy, a member of Eagle's Landing First Baptist in McDonough, provided interpretation for the hearing impaired.

Joe Westbury

Eight pages served at the annual convention meeting held in College Park. Pages represent Acteens and Challengers in Georgia Baptist churches. Ministering during the event were, front row, Katie Neufeld and Hayley Hultberg of First Baptist Church of Lithia Springs and Georgia Brown and Caroline Wicker of Salem Baptist Church of McDonough; and, second row, Weston Slaton of First Baptist Church of Cumming, Kyle Huesing of Concord Baptist Church of Cumming, Andy Moseley of McIntyre Baptist Church of McIntyre, and Mark Thompson of Maynard Baptist Church of Forsyth.

Sherri Brown

Kimberly Dickerson Humphries, daughter of GBC President Tony Dickerson, sings Nov. 15 prior to her father's address to the convention. Humphries serves as minister of music and WMU director at Pine Grove Baptist Church in Gillsville, where her husband, Chris, is pastor.

Sherri Brown

Mark Harris, pastor of Curtis Baptist Church in Augusta, preaches the doctrinal sermon at the end of the Tuesday morning session of the GBC annual meeting Nov. 16.

Joe Westbury

Jackie and Erven Kimble of Central Baptist Church in Lilburn receive a supply of tracts from Christian Index Editor Gerald Harris during the annual convention meeting. The Index, through the generosity of Atlanta Web Printers which print the newspaper, provided 100,000 tracts for free distribution. About 85,000 of those tracts were distributed in three days around the time of the convention meeting. Erven Kimble is pastor of the church on Highway 29, which is a member of Gwinnett Metro Baptist Association. "We have a lot of evangelism ministries going on and these tracts will help us reach a lot of prospects with the gospel message. We are working with our congregation to develop an evangelistic mindset so we can share Christ with everyone on our church field," the pastor said.

Sherri Brown

Emilyn Gray, age 2, plays at the GBC childcare station while worker Myrtle Apple looks on. Gray is daughter of Andrea and Jonathan Gray. The family are members of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Fairburn.