Capsule 2018 March

General Baptist International Ministries

March 2018

Capsule “Christ tasted death for every man.” Hebrews 2:9 March for Missions Conference Westwood General Baptist Church will be the venue for a March for Missions Conference on March 3, 2018. A full day of activities is planned including several missionaries and international guests. We hope to see you there.

LAUNCH Offering 2018 Resources for the 2018 LAUNCH offering are online now. This includes the Day of Poverty and VBS material for 2018. The General Baptist Bible College in the Philippines will benefit from this year’s LAUNCH Give offering.

March Mission One Teams Mission One will have two teams serving in Honduras in March.

March 9-12 there will be a Leadership Conference at the Willingham Conference Center. Executive Director Clint Cook, GBIM Director Mark Powell, Pedro and Elida Quezada from Aqua Viva Church in Juarez, Mexico, Gabriel Aceves, Sheffield Association International Evangelist, Daniel Mead from Relevant Church, and Mission One Coordinator Jim Pratt will be the speakers at the conference.

March 16-23 there will be a team serving at Faith Home and the local area surrounding Faith Home. The team will participate in outreach activities and construction projects. The team will be led by Daniel Alvis and hosted by former Honduras Missionary Robyn Shoulders Todd.

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One Life (India) “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” (Talmud)

by Phil Warren

One never knows how a life can be changed with something that many of us may consider insignificant.

We arrived on our visit to India at the Dorcas Sewing Center; it was graduation day. The porch of the center was filled several hundred women.

They wore brightly colored sarongs and most had scarves that covered their heads. The women were a mix of Hindu with the bright red dot on their forehead, Muslim, and Christian. They sat on the concrete floor and waited with anticipation. Trucks and vans continued to bring more women and children. There was a buzz in the air.

Sitting on tables were one hundred sewing machines; each one a means of hope. For six months the women had attended the thirteen different centers and learned how to sew. They first learned to hand sew, and then they learned how to sew on the machine with a pedal like my grandmother had in her small upstairs room. Several times a week they were taught the Bible and discipled with the hope that they would give their lives to Christ. One hundred machines…one hundred women…one hundred dreams.

Each center was called forward, and their machines were handed over to anxious hands.

Humble smiles brightened the faces of the women and they giggled and said “Dhan'yavādālu” or “thank you.” It was incredible to see this ministry after hearing about it for many years.

Later we sat in a side room with Pastor Prakash, and his wife Jemima attentively presided over our afternoon meal. There were various vegetables, rice, and the strong smell of curry chicken. Three women were graciously serving us and tried hard to keep our plates filled. Jemima introduced one of the young women who had bright eyes and shy smile and told us her story.

At fourteen she became a wife in a prearranged marriage, as is the custom. Soon she gave birth to a daughter and several years later to a son. By the age of thirtyone she was a widow. In Indian society it is customary that a woman cannot remarry. This is a “social death” and for many in India.it becomes difficult to provide for themselves and their children. (continued)

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General Baptist International Ministries

March 2018

The widows are often the poorest of the poor.

Each day she struggled to find enough to eat for her, her children, and her mother-in-law who also was a widow and lived with her. One day she was invited to participate in the ministry of the sewing center. Soon she learned to sew and, in the process, became a follower of Christ. Now she has her sewing machine in her small and humble home and she earns enough to provide for her family. As Jemima finished the story it was evident that the young widow’s life had turned around and her smile was the exclamation point.

I asked to take a picture of her hands. These hands eagerly worked.

These hands comforted her children.

These hands brought in an income and sustained their lives. These hands were lifted in praise to her God for His supply. She was fulfilling the Scriptural admonition, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecc. 9:10 NASB).

“Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” In one of our churches someone gave $100 to buy a sewing machine. It may have been a sacrificial gift from an elderly widow in a rural church or a gift from wealthy businessman. Who gave the gift or the size of the gift is immaterial, but the gift saved a life and changed the world for a young widow in Kakinada, India.

Saipan to Celebrate 70th Anniversary

By Josh Slater

Seventy years ago, the year 1948 would mark an important milestone in the history of General Baptists. Just a few short years after the end of World War II, which had seen the almost total devastation of the small island of Saipan, missionary Ed Stevens would finish construction of a mission church and launch a mission church on this little island in the middle of the ocean. General Baptist Missions had served Guam since 1911, but the work there was inherited from another denomination. The work of Ed Stevens on Saipan effectively makes Saipan Community Church the first mission started

by General Baptists and the first and oldest Protestant Church on Saipan.

This was not an easy road for Rev. Stevens. He faced many trials in acquiring the right property, obtaining the right supplies, and finding help.

The plan was to have the first service of the mission on Easter Sunday in 1948. However, the church building wasn’t finished, so on the 4th of April, 1948, Saipan Community Church was officially launched. That first service was mostly attended by U.S. military personnel and their families.

This was also the week that the first small group met, and a man named Vincente Silencino, a Filipino contract worker, would accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Vince, as he was called, would later accept his call into ministry and eventually attend Oakland City College. After seminary, Vince would become the first missionary to the Philippines. This part of the story reminds us how important Saipan can be for the sharing of the Gospel to the rest of the Asian world. (continued)

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LAUNCH BOOTCAMP Launch Go Bootcamp will be a weekend leadership retreat for students in grades 7-12 that will take place in January 2019.

Students must be referred by a pastor or student pastor.

The bootcamp will be staffed by the Launch Internship director, the NYC coordinator, and key student pastors. NYC will serve a key role in bringing about an awareness of and recruitment of participants in the bootcamp

There will be a junior high track and a high school track. The junior high track will focus on general leadership principles, and the high school track will focus on specific leadership, personality, and spiritual gift traits. An assessment will be given to each of the high school participants.

As a result of the bootcamp, students will be challenged to become leaders in their schools, churches, and communities. In addition, each participant will be assigned a mentor (pastor, student pastor, or other trained mentor).

The bootcamp will take place on an annual basis, and each student’s eligibility will extend to subsequent years. Students who have attended at least one bootcamp will be used to help lead future bootcamps.

High school juniors and seniors who participate in the bootcamp will be referred to the Launch internship program, the Lead Now program, and to formal education possibilities.

For more information, contact Jim Pratt at jim.pratt@generalbaptist.com

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General Baptist International Ministries

LAUNCH Go

The purpose of the Launch GO Program is to locate, recruit, and assist older teenagers and young adults in discovering and fulfilling their God-given calling as vocational ministers/missionaries.

Participants are selfreferred or referred by Pastor/ Youth Pastor to the Launch Program. Participants will also be recruited through NYC, Summit, Association Meetings, Mission Team involvement and other student/young adult gatherings.

Thirteen individuals participated in the program in 2017. They served in Honduras, Mexico, Saipan, India, Philippines, and stateside.

Thirteen individuals are scheduled to participate in 2018 at the same locations. Pictures of the interns serving in Honduras and India are listed below.

March 2018

Seventy years later, the Saipan Community Church is still a strong and vibrant ministry.

With over fourteen different small groups and four services including a morning service with a variety of nationalities, a Filipino vesper service, and two other worship services targeting residents from nearby Pacific islands on Sunday, the church is still strong and spreading the gospel. While the first service was primarily U.S. military families, we now have over seventeen different people groups represented in the morning services. This represents to us the awesome capacity this unique church possesses to each out to all of Asia. This has inspired the church’s motto of “reaching an island to reach the world.”

In 1988 the first missionary from the Philippines, Ben Porcadillia and family, arrived on the island to minister to the Filipino residents of the island.

The Porcadillia family would also be instrumental in starting the Saipan Community School which is the first and oldest Protestant school on Saipan.

This spring Saipan Community Church will celebrate its 70th anniversary on Easter Sunday. We will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of both our Filipino worship service and our K-8 School. This will be a great year of celebration as we look to our past with joy and to our future with hope and excitement.

The congregation is currently served by Pastor Josh and Rachael Slater and family.

Church Planting Honduras – Moving Forward To refer someone or to enroll in the Launch GO Program please contact Mission One Coordinator Jim Pratt at (573) 712-8050 or email him at jim.pratt@generalbaptist.com

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by Rodney Walls

General Baptists are blessed with a good group of pastors here in Honduras who are faithful and hardworking, and it is a joy to serve Christ alongside them! They have seen a lot of missionaries come and go over the years, and building a strong relationship with them continues to be a top priority. Relationship building takes time, and the last year and a half have been fruitful in many ways.

The vision to start new works has been in place. The challenge to our pastors has been for us as a group to prayerfully identify areas where we can start a new church. Once God has given the location, the design is to have a pastor, along with a trained new leader, begin the work in that community. That way the new pastor can observe and learn from the experienced pastor. During the next six months, the lead pastor will gradually give more and more ministry responsibility to the new pastor. (continued)

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General Baptist International Ministries

March 2018

We (the mission and the pastors’ association) want to provide a bit of a safety net to our new pastors and leaders. The desire is to then bring M1 teams alongside the new works to provide a short-term ministry boost.

The church is the hope of the world, because the church has been commissioned by Jesus to tell others about Him and to make disciples! The ability to reach people with the gospel, to start more churches in areas without churches and to see our existing churches thrive, depends on leadership development. However, as in many areas in the States, there is a leadership vacuum here. The question became, “How can we best train up leaders in our churches as well as identify and equip future pastors?” Without development of potential pastors within our existing works, the SIMPLY PUT, WE NEED MORE potential for growth is PASTORS, BECAUSE WE NEED extremely curbed, and MORE CHURCHES! the mission becomes dependent on people outside General Baptist ranks. Though there are many good people who can and hopefully will join our ranks, growing leaders from within is paramount to the mission.

Simply put, we need more pastors, because we need more churches!

In September 2017, we took a giant step forward.

Miguel Ramirez, a long-term employee of the mission,

was brought on board. He and his wife have served as house parents for Faith Home for years. Miguel has always had a heart for our churches and has served as president of the pastors’ association. He is a powerful preacher and a gifted teacher. Miguel also graduated with a bible degree in Theology in 2013. Miguel and Eduarda continue to work some for Faith Home, but Miguel’s primary responsibility is to work with and train up prospective leaders in our churches. We are preparing them to better serve alongside their pastor and/or preparing them to be pastors in the future. This is exciting news!

For several years, Miguel has in his own time been working with some churches and leadership groups. In fact, Ezequiel the new pastor at Emanuel church, came out of Miguel's classes. We believe Ezequiel is the first of many. We are putting together an effort to intentionally train young men and women to be servants in the church. On top of that, Miguel will also be teaching classes to our pastors, better equipping them to be instruments in God's hands. I told you this was exciting news.

The training will be localized not centralized. That will mean a lot of traveling for Miguel and myself. The

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Honduras Bible Institute has reformed, and we are working with Pastor Rene Rodriguez who leads the effort to train pastors and leaders in California and Mexico. Pastor Rene has provided materials and support to our efforts here. Thank you, Pastor Rene!

Moving forward we want a unified effort among all our General Baptist Hispanic ministries! This is powerful stuff!!

Miguel began his first class in October. He travels to a different church Monday through Friday, and 102 men and women from seven of our churches have signed up and are attending a class in homiletics. Yes, you read that correctly (102). I will admit it. That number is significantly higher than I had thought or hoped. And, (and this is exciting), 12 teenagers are taking the class as well (ranging from 14 years of age to 17). Tell me that is not exciting?

We have a basic curriculum in place and believe that God is going to use the Honduras Bible Institute to prepare pastors and leaders for our existing churches and to start new ones too. Soon the leadership vacuum will be no more, and there will be many new General Baptist churches here reaching people with the Good News that Christ tasted death for us all! If just 5% of this group are God called to be a pastor, then we can begin five new churches.

Moving forward…

We need your prayers and your support as we move forward following Jesus! The Church Planting ministry here is dormant no more. Things are busy and getting even more so! Thanks to a couple of churches that are already helping to fund this effort by helping to underwrite Miguel’s salary. Your support is making an impact. I will also need support to purchase books and supplies as I have already used my resource for buying books.

Don’t wait, join in what God is doing here. I will keep you posted as we move forward.

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