[HarleyD]

Hmmmm....this is rather interesting. Apparently the BGAV is different from the SBC but in what way it's difficult to determine. But the BGAV appears to be a schism who left the SBC in favor of the more liberal BWA. Although it's a bit odd that they still seem to support the SBC missionary work. I suspect it's probably because they've recently left. Note this:

BGAV Direction - May 2000

And this:

Relationships with other organizations Virginia and Texas are unique among Southern Baptists, having established two separate state coordinating bodies, both adhering to the Southern Baptist Convention. Within Virginia, several churches left the BGAV in September 1996 to create a rival Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV); since their first meeting of 158 churches in 1997,[6] the SBCV has grown to represent over 500 churches,[7] which is one-third the size of the BGAV's 1400 churches.[8] Since the BGAV does not prevent its member churches from dually aligning with another Baptist group, some of its members may also affiliate with the more conservative SBCV,[9] though the BGAV and SBCV often disagree on priorities.[10]

The BGAV joined the Baptist World Alliance in 2004 after the Southern Baptist Convention pulled out of the alliance.[11] At the time, BGAV Executive Director John V. Upton, Jr., said, "Virginia Baptists have been a part of the BWA since its beginning in 1905. Our membership up to this point had been through the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The decision of the SBC to leave the BWA has automatically removed our membership. In this annual meeting Virginia Baptists have overwhelmingly voted to maintain that historic and strategic relationship."[11] The BGAV contributes more to the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) than does any convention or union in the world.[12]

In 2006, the BGAV received some Georgia Baptist churches requesting affiliation across the border.[13] The move is unusual for Southern Baptist churches which almost universally affiliate with conventions in their states or region. But it represents a growing interest in denominational links by affinity rather than geography, say some observers.[14]

Baptist General Association of Virginia from Wikipedia

[wonkowasright]

In most cases there is a single state level organization that itself is then part of the SBC. Virginia and Texas are the two exceptions.

The Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) had a schism and Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV) broke away. Both the BGAV and SBCV are part of the SBC. The BGAV is by far the larger of the two groups, so the SBC can’t exactly saw off the BGAV without loosing most of Virginia. A similar scenario played out in TX

I noticed this when a story of a BGAV church being expelled for calling an openly homosexual man to the pulpit came out a couple weeks ago. The thing that caught my eye was the church being expelled, or another leaving in sympathy with it, was pastored by a woman. The takeaway was the BGAV was ok with women pastors but not homosexual pastors.

Its been a very quiet development and is completely at odds with the official SBC positions. You will note that all the churches with women pastors I list above ( save 3 i think ) are listed on the official SBC website as SBC churches.

It seems SBC is changing and its doing it by simply ignoring what is happening so it doesn’t have to loose churches/members.