Doyle Chauncey, the first full-time executive director-treasurer of the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia (SBCV), died on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at the age of 81. He was one of the founders of the state convention and served in a number of ministry roles across Virginia.
Brian Autry, current SBCV executive director, said, “With the homegoing of our friend, Doyle Chauncey, we are grateful for and remember his incredible example and ministry. Doyle was a true statesman among the churches and across our state, and his legacy is evident in how we do ministry to this day.”
Originally from Tennessee, Chauncey graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management in 1964. While working as an accountant, God called him into full-time ministry. He graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. While there, he was ordained in 1974 by Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
Doyle and his wife, Sharon, moved to Virginia when he was called to pastor Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox. He would go on to serve as treasurer of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) before being called to serve on the pastoral staff of First Baptist Church in Norfolk.
When the SBCV constituted in 1996, Doyle was unanimously elected to be the first full-time executive. He led the convention of churches in this role until 2008. Doyle then transitioned to focus on the development of the SBCV Foundation and continued as treasurer until 2014.
Doyle was known for his passion for evangelism, missions, and particularly, planting churches, which became one of the SBCV’s core objectives. He often said that “the future of the SBCV was tied to church planting.”
Doyle was also on the planning team that pioneered and implemented the decentralization concept to place state convention field staff across the state to make them more accessible to churches and leaders. He was an entrepreneur at heart and helped start Innovative Faith Resources, providing financial and media services to churches and organizations across the nation.
Doyle and Sharon were married 60 years and have two children and eight grandchildren.
There will be a Celebration of Life service March 31 at 3 p.m. at Westside Baptist in Gainesville, Fla.
