Category Archives: International Missions

Saipan Community Church Celebrates 70 Years
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 17, 2018

Posted under

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.

Clinica Mision Bautista Open and Active
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 12, 2018

Posted under

Faith Home, International Missions

Mision Bautista Clinica – Open and Active!

by Teresa Walls – Missionary to Honduras

Dr. Sharon Castro - Clinica Mision Bautista

Dr. Sharon Castro treats a patient at the Clinica Mision Bautista

After years of non-use medically, the Mision Bautista Clinica opened this past summer. It took weeks of scrubbing and cleaning, but the clinic began functioning as a medical clinic this past summer with the arrival of Dr. Sharon Castro. Let me introduce you to a very sweet lady. Dr. Sharon is the wife of Mr. Eder a long-term employee of Faith Home on the education side. Her compassionate spirit is comforting, and her skills as a physician have proved so helpful in these past few months. She has seen every Faith Home child, updated and completed charts for each, and organized the clinic’s pharmacy. She actively monitors the health of all the children, and especially those children who have chronic issues. She has often scheduled and taken children to San Pedro to see a specialist when needed. As with so many doctors, she puts in more time than we pay her for.

She is also leading the effort to get the clinic fully licensed with the government. With her help, an attorney was secured, and all the necessary documents have been filed. We are currently awaiting an inspection of our facility. Once the inspection is complete, we should then receive a license for the clinic. When licensed, Dr. Sharon will also see our pastors, their families and families within our General Baptist churches. What a blessing that will be!

These are the facts, but let me share a story that I think captures the character of Dr. Sharon. She is a woman of deep Christian faith and a strong belief in prayer. As many of you know, Rodney and I are the primary caregivers for baby Lisel because of her many special needs. A few weeks ago, she became very ill with an upper respiratory infection. Though a holiday, Dr. Sharon called and wanted to know how she was. When I asked her to come and see her, she and Mr. Eder quickly drove to Faith Home to check Lisel. She too was concerned and adjusted the medications in an attempt to keep baby Lisel out of the hospital.

Medical supplies Needed

Make your donations of medical supplies or monies to buy needed supplies through General Baptist International Missions. Contact Mark Powell at (573) 785-7746.

Before she and Mr. Eder left, she spoke about how much she and Eder believes in God’s healing touch, and that more than anything, she wanted to pray for Lisel. I held Lisel as Dr. Sharon, Eder and Rodney gathered around and we prayed for this sick little girl. When the amen was said, Dr. Sharon hugged us both and said it was going to be okay! I too believe in prayer. I know that Dr. Sharon is an answer to our General Baptist prayers of getting the clinic open. Lives are being touched physically and spiritually because Dr. Sharon is a woman of great faith!

Oh, and on top of it all, God also worked out the details so that we have a physical therapist that comes to the clinic four days a week providing occupational and physical therapy for several of our children. For years, the clinic was a storehouse. In the span of several weeks, all that changed!

Another story – Lisel has hip dysplasia. In mid-July, we took Lisel to her pediatric orthopedic doctor. The Pavlik harness that she spent five months wearing had not worked. Her only chance to walk normally would be surgery, but because of her cerebral palsy, she would need lots of physical therapy first. She just wasn’t strong enough yet. He recommended that we start physical therapy immediately. The wonderful thing was that we already had. God had sent a physical therapist a few weeks earlier. God answered our prayer, even before we knew to pray it! God is so very good. It is exciting to be a part of what God is doing here!

Hands from One Life - India Sewing Centers
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 10, 2018

Posted under

India, International Missions

One Life – Dorcas Sewing Center

by Phil Warren – Former Missionary to the Philippines and Saipan

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.

One Life- Dorcas Sewing CenterSitting on tables were 100 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 while 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, Bhavani, 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 thirty-one she was a widow. In the Indian society it is customary that a woman cannot remarry. This is a “social death” and for many it becomes difficult to provide for themselves and their children. 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 take part 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.