Bon Air Baptist Church’s new Gardening Life Group was extremely proud to honor teachers, staff, and students at Richmond’s J.B. Fisher Elementary School with a front-of-school makeover to kick off the 2023-24 School Year.
This dynamic group, code name “Dig In,” did it all — from weeding and trimming to mulching and painting. Tremendous thanks to all those who gave of their time and labor with such gusto and joy. This is the latest chapter in our church's growing relationship with the school, following the recent creative endeavors of the Mission: Sewing Life Group.
Best wishes to all teachers and admin across the fruited plain for your hard work, passion, and perseverance. God is with you.
Do you have a green thumb and a love for gardening? Join “Dig In” as it takes bloom -- creating plant exchanges, visiting gardens, and addressing community service needs. Contact Susan Schlaudt at 804-301-2481 or susansheridan50@gmail.com for more information.
For several years I have looked forward to the 1st Monday of each month when a group of us have gone to the Bon Air Juvenile Center to play cards and board games with a unit of young men who are incarcerated there. The first few years we went into the unit carrying drinks and snacks along with games and on special occasions small gifts. We quickly were welcomed and
gradually earned the privilege of hearing personal prayer requests so we could pray for the young men. They were glad to see us and looked forward to the games and interactions with us.
Post Covid the interactions have changed so that now we meet on different nights in a central location with a smaller group who choose to come to the game night. Even with the new limitations, there is a group of young men who are ready to play games and meet with us during their free time. We have again earned their trust so that we can hear their prayer concerns and pray for them. It is a privilege to represent BABC as we share time, show concern and encouragement, and talk of God’s love with this group of young men who are separated from their families and communities.
We ask for God’s blessings on these young men as they make life choices both in the facility and as they are released to hopefully begin a new direction in their lives.
Praying for God’s guidance,
Barbara Myers
When Chris Wondree asked me to be a Passport Camp chaperone, I honestly had no idea what I was in for! Spend a rainy, humid week from 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m., on the Converse University campus in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with a mammoth group of 6th-12th graders? One may not jump at the chance, but I am so blessed that I did! At Bon Air Baptist Church, we have an AMAZING youth group. Attentive, smart, faithful, honest, funny, friendly, respectful, inclusive ... the list of adjectives to describe our youth is endless. Please enjoy the photos above ... more can be found on our Facebook page ... and the video below.
Passport Camp empowers students to have new and fresh experiences with God by offering creative discipleship, embracing community, and extending grace to the world. Students are randomly split up and given a themed “passport” of information for the week’s activities that include Bible verses for each day and a schedule of activities, as well as journal space for daily devotions, mission work experiences, and for writing a summary of the week during their long bus ride home. Most importantly, they were required to take a digital sabbath and put away their cell phones for the week, to fully experience camp activities and to focus solely on Christ and Community.
Our students worked hard, participated in all the activities, and at the end of the week, they provided an incredibly beautiful and very memorable worship service that included “Coming to the Table” stories, singing, choreographed dance, and prayer. Additionally, they sanded and painted a very large conference room at Kid’s Clubs for two days, attended morning celebration, and daily worship, competed by “House” and got slimed, wet, and muddy at the outdoor Rec Party, dressed “Upside Down and Inside Out” for the Dance Party, interacted with other students from all over our country, served during Worship, sang their hearts out, prayed together, and so much more! During our free time, Pastor Chris treated our group to pizza and a Break-Out Room, with one of our groups breaking the weekly record!!! The weekly break-out room record is determined by how fast your team can unlock themselves out of the “themed room” within the one-hour time limit.
Overall, finding yourself “Upside Down” (the Passport Camp theme) isn’t always a bad thing. A willingness to see and consider things, and others, from a new perspective, reveals opportunities you may never have thought of before – ways to accept God’s love and acknowledge His desire to use us to make a thoughtful impact on the world.
Here is a video from our students on what they took away from Passport Camp, Enjoy!
~ Karen DeMarino, Bon Air Baptist Church Communications Director
Great showing for Saturday’s Hitting Cancer Below the Belt 5K in Richmond. Bon Air Baptist Pathfinder Life Group members found every way possible to assist the effort from walking/jogging/running (both in person and virtually) to staffing the event and even making crucial donations to the fight against colorectal cancer. Our Team Kirby/Guthrow took home honors as the largest social team at the event.
A day of laughter, tears and reflection. Kudos for the individual BABC support on so many great community efforts !!!
(Above - left to right) Bon Air Baptist members Jenny Morgan, Darlene Parrish, and Jane Southers present boxes of beautiful fleece hats and scarves to assistant principal Amey Blount at J.B. Fisher Elementary School.
(Above) The group utilized every color of the rainbow and then some with bold, vibrant creations that will provide warmth for seasons to come.
This group moves. In addition to strengthening Bon Air Baptist’s incredible relationship with Fisher Elementary with scarves, hats and weighted lap pads for students and neck warmers for teachers and admin, Mission: Sewing has fashioned teddy bears for local police to distribute and is gearing up to produce “walker totes” for residents of local nursing homes.
The group currently meets at 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. every other Wednesday in Room 302 at Bon Air Baptist Church and also seeks to find opportunities for anyone that cannot make those times.
Those interested in honing their sewing skills, sharing their passion and answering the call to service should call Jane Southers at (804) 401-3365 or email her at jnsouthers@yahoo.com.
Step up and share your talents, passion and love. The time is now . . . and you are needed.
Story submitted by: Steve and Tina Guthrow
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Who We Are
Our Mission
Our Vision
Our Culture
Our Staff
About Us
Work With Us
Locations
Buford Road Campus
James River Campus
BABCLive! Online
Community Resources
Food Pantry
Get Help
Worship
Worship in-person
BABC Live!
Missions
Serve in Local Missions
International
The H.O.P.E. Store RVA
Follow Us Online!
Resources
Church Council
Memorials
Messages
Library
Digital Resources
Facilities/Resource Request