Virginia Baptists elect Croston as first black president

RICHMOND — For the first time in 188 years, the predominantly white Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) has a black president.

Suffolk, Va., pastor Mark Croston was elected to the top spot during the BGAV’s annual meeting Nov. 8–9 in Richmond, Va.

Croston’s election continues a more than 50-year-old pattern of rotating the one-year, non-renewable presidency between ministers and laypersons.

Croston has been pastor of the Suffolk church since 1987 and long active in BGAV life, serving as its second vice president in 2005 and as president of the Virginia Baptist Pastors Conference from 2006–2008. He has been a trustee of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.