Category Archives: Ed Stevens

General Baptist Virtual Missions Conference
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August 18, 2020

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Ed Stevens, Faith Home, GBBC, Honduras, India, International Missions, Mission One Teams, Philippines, The Summit

The Virtual World – 2020 Missions Conference

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

“Our Mission is Missions” was a popular slogan, vision statement a few years ago. It is not a very polished phrase nor is it particularly user friendly to the unbeliever who does not know about missions. But for those of us who believe in a General Atonement (that everyone can be saved), it sure rings true. This year the pandemic impeded the mission emphasis generally provided by The Summit and other large group gatherings.

To make up that deficit, Director Mark Powell and the General Baptist International Ministries staff have used technology to create a virtual missions conference. This event will be released in a few days. The Fall 2020 General Baptist Messenger provides an overview of the mission workshops that could have been offered in large group gatherings.

Here are an overview and an invitation to experience up-close-and-personal connections with missions and missionaries that I hope many of you will utilize to challenge your small groups, mission groups, and even the entire congregation with the missionary challenge to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

Missions Conference 2020
By Mark Powell
Make a difference. Share today!

Please join us in September for a Virtual Missions Conference.

The 2020 General Baptist M&M Summit became a victim of COVID-19 and was canceled. You may not know that M&M stands for Missions and Ministry, but missions have been an integral component of the Summit since its inception. General Baptist International Ministries places a high emphasis on the Summit each year offering many breakout sessions and offering General Baptist the opportunity to mingle with international missionaries and guests. We did not want to miss out on that opportunity in 2020, and so we asked each missionary family to produce a “break out” session for us to use in a “Virtual Missions Conference.”

We’ve included a synopsis of each presentation in the pages of this edition of the General Baptist Messenger – gbmessenger.org. Video presentations and additional information will be found at gbimissions.com/missions-conference-2020.

The possibilities for using these materials are endless but here are three suggestions:

  1. Personal or small group. The video presentations and papers will be online, downloadable, and available for your personal or small group as you desire. We suggest the month of September.
  2. Local Church Missions Conference: This could be over several days, a weekend, Wednesday nights, Sunday School, etc. The videos will be downloadable, and Word documents will be available for your own branding. Again we recommend September.
  3. Facebook Live: A schedule will be published when each of these videos will premiere on Facebook live. These events will take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in September. As much as possible, we hope that the presenter will be available to join the “Live” event in order to chat with participants (the COVID-19 version of mingling).

Follow the links provided to find the videos, handouts, and, for some speakers, additional information. Use them as you wish: individual, small group, church-wide conference, Sunday School. Really the sky is the limit!

Don’t forget that Ed Stevens Day is on September 20, 2020. This year the offering will go to do some work on the campus of the Matigsalug Bible Institute which prepares pastors for indigenous ministry throughout the Philippine island of Mindanao.

Saipan Community Church Celebrates 70 Years
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April 17, 2018

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Ed Stevens, International Missions, Saipan

Saipan Community Church Celebrates Seventy Years

by General Baptist International Missions

Saipan Community Church and SchoolSeventy years ago, the year 1948, marked 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 finished construction of a mission church and launched a mission congregation 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 to acquire the right property, get the right supplies, and find the right help. The plan was to have the first service at the mission on Easter Sunday in 1948. However, the church building wasn’t finished, so on the 4th of April, 1948, Saipan Community Church officially launched. That first service was mostly attended by U.S. military personnel and their families.

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

Ed Stevens Student Ministry CenterSeventy 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, currently at least 17 different people groups participate in the morning services. This demonstrates the awesome capacity this unique church possesses to reach out to all of Asia. It has also 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 Filipino residents. The Porcadillias were also 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.

Celebration Update!

Saipan Community Church celebrated its 70th anniversary on Easter Sunday with 450 in attendance and two baptisms according to Pastor Josh Slater. Rev. David Stevens (son of founding pastor and missionaries Ed and Gertie Stevens) and wife Lois were in attendance. Ed Stevens established ministry outreaches on Guam, Saipan, Tinian (a leper colony after WWII), and Chi Chi Jima. According to Pastor Josh, “David looked like a kid in a candy store, we were even able to go to Tinian.” This was the first time that David has returned to Saipan since his father’s passing in 1953. GBIM was honored to partner with Saipan Church and Yigo Church (pastored by Bob Murphy), Guam to facilitate this trip for the Stevens.