Sept. 2, 2016
For Immediate Release

By Joan C. McKinney, coordinating director

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Dr. John Upton, executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board (VBMB) in the United States will be the guest speaker at chapel Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. in Campbellsville University's Ransdell Chapel, 401 N. Hoskins Ave., Campbellsville.

The public is invited to the free chapel.

Upton was elected president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) during the 20th Baptist World Congress held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2010. His term ended in July 2015 following the Baptist World Congress.

Upton has had a long association with the BWA. He is a former member of the BWA General Council and the Executive Committee, and served on the Baptist World Aid Committee, the Commission on Christian Ethics and the Executive Committee of the North American Baptist Fellowship, one of six regional fellowships of the BWA.

From 2005 until 2010, he was chair of the Congress Program Committee. Prior to being elected executive director of the BGAV and the VBMB in 2001, Upton served as group leader of the Mission Mobilization Group of the BGAV, beginning in 1995.

Earlier, he was pastor of Urbanna Baptist Church in Urbanna, Va., from 1984 until 1986 and 1991 through 1995.

Between 1986 and 1991, he and his wife, Deborah, served as missionaries in Taiwan through the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Upton attended the Baptist-affiliated Averett College (now Averett University) in Danville, Va.; The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. and the Taiwan Language Institute. He received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Kerala, India.

Chapel is designed to provide opportunities for corporate worship and exposure through a variety of informative speakers and presentations.

All chapels are open to the public free of charge and are televised live on WLCU (Comcast Cable channel 10 and digital channel 23.0).

For information about chapel, call the Office of Campus Ministries at (270) 789-5227

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,500 students offering over 80 programs of study including 24 master's degrees, seven postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.