Virginia Baptist Deaf Ministry

Virginia Baptist Conference of the Deaf

Update on 2010 Conference
(June 22, 2010)

Our Virginia Baptist Conference for the Deaf met June 11-13 at Eagle Eyrie. We had an excellent conference and wish to say Thank You to all the churches in Virginia who supported us.

We had 55 in attendance with a churches represented from Bristol to Alexandria to Hampton Roads and Richmond and a lot of churches in between. We would like to have more but our deaf struggle with the fear of losing their jobs and cannot ask off. Many of our Deaf have lost their jobs in the last year and it is difficult to find new work. That is why we chose the theme “Keeping Faith Strong when the World is Changing.” We need to keep our faith strong in all areas of our life. Our speaker Rick Milford gave us many guidelines on what the Bible teaches us. Our interpreter leader, Shirley Musik, encouraged us to keep our skills for the deaf sharp and be available to help the deaf with interpretation needs at church and in the community.

We had one scare as a husband who is deaf came to our leader, Michael Jones who directs our Deaf Ministry for Virginia Baptist, at 11pm Saturday night and said his wife, a senior, had been missing for an hour and a half. He said this was not normal for her to leave without telling him where she was. So I got security and we looked all over Eagle Eyrie for about 45 minutes. Then we received good news, she was talking to a deaf person in their room and forgot about the time. What a relief for all. It was around 12 midnight when we got the news. We were just glad she was found and our prayers were answered.

Many years ago we used the Little Chapel at Eagle Eyrie for our 7:00am devotions before breakfast. It was always a blessing. This year we returned to the Little Chapel for devotions, prayer and singing. We were blessed each morning with around 40 attending. It brought back many memories of past leaders and good times at Eagle Eyrie.

Every year we go to our conference thinking that it was the best yet. And each year we leave thinking this was the best one ever. Why, because there were Spiritual needs met, stories shared around the tables and challenges given to us. Some of these are quite unplanned as the deaf themselves share drama presentations, sing solos and choir specials, act silly with skits and give testimonies on Saturday night. We always leave blessed with this special spontaneous time.

There was one disappointment, a thunderstorm came at the time of the pool opening and the pool was closed. But believe me, no one rested as the deaf and interpreters hands go flying with conversation.

We look forward to our conference next year and encourage all to prepare now to attend. - Michael Jones

Links and Resources

Virginia Baptist Churches with Deaf Congregations

• First Baptist Church, Alexandria
• First Baptist Church, Richmond
• West Hampton Baptist Church, Hampton

Resources for the Deaf and Deaf Ministry

• Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services Center, Inc. (DHHSC)

• NIDCD Statistics on Deafness and Hearing Loss

• Southern Baptist Conference of the Deaf (SBCD)

• Talking Hands

• Virginia Association of the Deaf
• Subscribe to Deaf Prayer Points Newsletter
  Deaf Prayer Points is a quarterly newsletter from the International Mission Board (IMB) that provides updates as to how you can pray for the needs and work of missionaries working with the Deaf around the world. Individuals and churches can subscribe by clicking the link below. Please include your name or church name and mailing address in the email. Multiple copies can be sent to churches, so also indicate how many copies your church would like to receive. Only one copy will be sent to individuals.

For more information, please contact Rev. Michael Jones,
VBMB's Deaf Ministry Coordinator.