Category Archives: Mission One Teams

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June 4, 2021

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Calling, International Missions, Mission One Teams

Called As A Mission Team Lead

By Charity Julian

My first experience with missions was at a very young age. Dad was pastoring the Oak Grove General Baptist Church in Oakland City, Indiana. Once a month, our Wednesday Night children’s group participated in a program called Guild, which later was renamed Youth for Missions. We learned about all the various missionaries serving our denomination. We were taught about the countries the missionaries served and researched the differences between the numerous cultures being encountered on the mission fields. It was interesting to discover what the missionaries were accomplishing, and the variety of talents being used for the Kingdom of God. We studied nurses providing medical care to people with little exposure to healthcare. We read about educators teaching at the General Baptist Bible College in the Philippines and nurturing individuals providing a good home environment for orphans in Jamaica. I was amazed by how God equipped ordinary people with talents that could be used for his glory.

Missions continue to impact my life as an adult. I went on my first mission trip during the summer of 2011. To say the least, it was a life-changing event. While on that trip, God laid on my heart a desire to lead mission trips, so that others could encounter the same experience I had. It is amazing how your perspective is transformed through involvement with new cultures and surroundings. When you are removed from the comforts of your hometown, you are faced with language barriers and cultural differences that oftentimes leave you feeling inadequate. During those times God reveals how much we need him, not just on mission trips, but every day of our lives.

A few years ago, one of our teams chose to do a Vacation Bible School at Bethel General Baptist in Honduras. As with anything in life when you begin a new project, things do not always go as planned. First, I had never led a VBS in a cross-cultural setting. One of the major obstacles in a project like this is the language barrier. This hurdle seemed like an insurmountable task, but God placed knowledgeable people in our path and provided the tools to overcome this challenge. Next, we prepared snacks and craft material for about 60 children. All these arrangements were in keeping with our initial budget. A week before we left, we found out 100 more children would be in attendance. The team prayed about our “wonderful” problem and God provided for every need.

Honestly, there have been times I did not want to leave family and journey on another mission trip. There have been times when I feared for the health and safety of others. I have often dreaded riding on a bus due to issues with car sickness. I have even felt overwhelmed by the jobs we have signed up to do, but God has given responsibilities like these to all of us at some point in life. When all these doubts and fears enter my mind, I find peace in knowing God always provides for his laborers. He does not always call the equipped to serve, but he always equips those he calls.

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.

Church Planting Honduras - Moving Forward
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April 19, 2018

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Honduras, International Missions, Mission One Teams

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Church Planting Honduras – Moving Forward

by Rodney Walls, Missionary to Honduras

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 of 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. 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 Mission One 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 potential for growth is extremely curbed, and 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, 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 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.