Church Anniversary and Leaders Installation Program

Special Guests Preachers Pastor Vernon W. Hairston Sr. is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He is married to the beautiful Sonji C. Hairston and has three children. Pastor Hairston earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Hampton University and a Master of Divinity degree from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. Pastor Hairston answered his calling to the Gospel Ministry while serving at New Weeping Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA. There he served as Director of Christian Education and the Chairman of the Trustee Ministry. He was licensed by Rev. John C. Smith, Pastor, of New Weeping Mary Missionary Baptist Church in December 2002. Later, Pastor Hairston and his family joined the Canaan Baptist Church family where he served as an Associate Minister. Pastor Hairston was ordained at Canaan Baptist Church in August of 2009 and installed as Canaan’s eighth Pastor in January 2010. Pastor Hairston’s foundational scripture of purpose is Luke 4: 18 - 19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Pastor Hairston views himself as “a voice crying out in the wilderness” who is a humble servant of God and humanity with a passion for Social Justice and the enrichment and empowerment of individual lives through the Power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Bob Rodgers is a native of Suffolk, VA and has recently retired as the Pastor of Pulaski Baptist Church. Dr. Rodgers accepted the call to preach in May 1970 and become pastor of Pulaski Baptist Church in Carrsville in September 1971. Dr. Rodgers has served as a member of several ministerial organizations in the Hampton Roads area, including the Hampton University Ministers Conference. He is a past moderator of the Sharon Baptist Association and Allied Bodies and past president of the Suffolk Interdenominational Ministers Conference of Virginia. Dr. Rodgers has served on the board of trustees for the Virginia University of Lynchburg where the university honored him in 2013 by naming one of their dormitories after him.

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Church Anniversary Worship Experience February 14, 2021 8:00 a.m.

Invocation Praise and Worship Intro Video Selection The Preached Word Pastor Vernon Hairston, Sr. Canaan Baptist Church, Suffolk, VA Corporate Prayer/Call to Discipleship Installation of 2021 Leaders Benediction Church Anniversary Worship Experience February 14, 2021 10:00 a.m.

Invocation Praise and Worship Intro Video Selection The Preached Word Rev. Dr. Bob Rodgers, Retired Corporate Prayer/Call to Discipleship Benediction 3

Litany of Installation PASTOR: You have accepted the office to which you have been elected or appointed. Do you promise, with the Lord as your helper, to faithfully fulfill its duties?

LEADERS: We do, and we ask all other officers to receive us as fellow Leaders and laborers with God. PASTOR: Pray now for the faith and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the boldness of Peter, for the evangelistic zeal of Philip, for the administrative insight of Priscilla and Aquila, and for the wisdom of Paul.

LEADERS: Jethro counseled Moses that the task before him was too enormous for him alone. We acknowledge the same. We ask for your prayers, support, encouragement and cooperation.

PASTOR: God has endowed each of us with unique gifts and talents for the edification of the church and the work of ministry. Will you accept this church office in proportion to your faith to minister, to teach, exhort, to give liberally, to lead with diligence, and to show mercy with cheerfulness?

LEADERS: We accept our offices with every intention to use our talents to lead God’s people according to our discernment of God’s will.

PASTOR: Remember, those who were judges in Israel and leaders in the New Testament church. Remember our mothers and fathers in the faith, our ancestors who built and carried the church. They accomplished much, for they were rich in faith, wisdom, and courage.

LEADERS: We give thanks for their example, their competence, and their steadfast commitment.

PASTOR: Do you covenant and promise that you will walk together in love for one another, and exercise affectionate watchfulness over all those given to your charge?

LEADERS: We will faithfully admonish and entreat one another 4

as occasion may require. We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others.

We will strive to maintain the high standards of our offices so that ministries of our church may be strengthened.

PASTOR: Will you, according to your abilities and opportunities, show good to all, especially in helping to extend the gospel in its purity and power to the whole human family? Will you regularly support the work of the church by systematic contributions both spiritual and financial?

LEADERS: We will support our church amid good and ill report.

We will humbly and earnestly seek to live to the glory of God, and to be directed by the Holy Spirit.

PASTOR: Your Pastor has been sent by God to shepherd the Flock, to carry out the vision, to administer the health and wellbeing of the church and all its Members. As a Leader, you are expected to follow the leadership of your Pastor as He follows God. You are to pray for and to look after the wellbeing of the Pastor and his family.

LEADERS: We affirm God’s call upon our Pastor to serve as our under shepherd. We pledge wholeheartedly to follow his leadership. We will pray for our pastor regularly and seek to support him in every way that we can with the aid of the Holy Spirit. We will do all that is within our power to assist our pastor in furthering the mission, vision, and wellbeing of this church, the community, and the Kingdom of God. PASTOR: May God uphold you and direct you as you go forth!

CONGREGATION: As members of the Gethsemane Baptist Church, we therefore pledge to support our leaders through prayer, encouragement and followship. As the Pastor follows God, and the leaders follow the Pastor, we commit to following both as they work together to make the vision a reality.

ALL: Praise be to God!

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2021 Church Leaders

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2021 Church Leaders, Cont’d

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