Elizabeth Butler
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — Northside Baptist Church’s new senior pastor’s love of missions is readily understandable considering he was born in India to missionary parents and grew up there, moving to the States when he was 14 years old.
The Rev. Dr. Bill Blanchard, who preached his first sermon last Sunday as Northside’s spiritual leader, served from 1996-1998 as chairman of trustees of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest missionary sending agency in the world, with well over 5,000 career missionaries. He also served as chairman of Europe, Middle East and North African Regional Committee for the IMB from 1994-1995.
His overseas’ experience includes Egypt, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Israel and Yemen in the Middle East.
His wife, the former Lara Robertson, a native of Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., shares his passion for missions. Her mission trips have included Germany, Honduras, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela. As a dental hygienist, she has cleaned the teeth of hundreds of children at Orphanage Emmanuel in Honduras, Dr. Blanchard said in an interview at his church office Wednesday afternoon. Lara Blanchard spoke to the Northside congregation last Sunday night on her mission trip to Honduras and to give members a chance to get to know her, he said.
The Blanchards have three adult children, all strongly involved in Christian ministry: Will, a church planter in Arkansas, and his wife Sarah; Amilee, wife of Scott Sanders, pastor to students in Macon; and Andrew, who is working on a MD/PhD at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and his wife, Laine.
Dr. Blanchard has 33 years experience as a pastor (23 of them as senior pastor). He plans to mentor vocational and lay ministers and equip members in evangelism and discipleship through The Pastor’s Class (Discovering the Life Development Process).
“I want people to learn to love the Bible and to understand how God wants them to live,” he says. “Whenever we meet together for corporate worship, I want the people to be encouraged to live lives that honor Christ, as well as motivated to touch others for Him.”
