Category Archives: Philippines

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.

Transition - Part one
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July 6, 2018

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International Missions, Niger, Philippines

Transitions – Part 1

by Nicole Yeomans, General Baptist Missionary to the Philippines and Niger

Transition is never easy. Whether it’s moving to a new place, changing schools or jobs, or even finding a new grocery store, there are always adjustments that have to be made. Adjustments are not easy. There are times of frustration. Sometimes the frustration is accompanied by tears. It stretches us in ways we don’t ask to be stretched….and it’s painful.  While we are in midst of the transition (and transformation), we sometimes forget that He is still in control and has a plan for our lives. Later on, we can look back and see how God stretched us and molded us for His glory. This certainly gives us comfort as we push thru the challenging times of transitions.

For the sake of being humorous, let’s journey to that new grocery store together.  You are grilling hamburgers and realize you are out of ketchup. Everyone in the family likes ketchup on their hamburgers. So you jump in your car and race to the grocery store. Your regular grocery store has just closed down, so you have to drive farther to the new one in town. You are in a hurry. All of the close parking spots are full so you whip your car into the closest parking spot you can find, which has to be a good half of a mile away, or so it seems. You run in. You are used to the ketchup being on aisle 9. As you enter the new store, you immediately go to aisle 9; only to find that it’s not there. After reading signs and going up and down the aisles, you finally find the much sought after ketchup on aisle 3. But now you realize that this new store doesn’t carry the specific brand of ketchup you are used to buying and you are faced with another unfamiliar situation… Is anyone frustrated yet?

After some time has passed, you fall into a routine. You now know where to find all your favorite, and even those hard to find items. You can speak the local lingo. You know the workers by name and converse with them, asking about their family and the latest happenings in life when you see them. What once was new and overwhelming is now the norm. You wonder how you ever lived without all the benefits this new store has to offer. But then, you find out that this store, too, will be closing. Continue reading →

International Ministries - Honduras
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March 1, 2018

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Executive Office, For His Glory, India, International Missions, Jamaica, Philippines

For His Glory – Ministries Together

by Clint Cook, Executive Director GAGB

Since I have been Executive Director, it has been an honor to visit many of our mission fields, visit many churches abroad, and get to know many of our national pastors. It is humbling to see firsthand how training institutes at the General Baptist Bible College and the Matigsalug Bible Institute in the Philippines are making such a difference in training our Filipino pastors and church leaders.

In India, Prakash and Jemima Pamu oversee the Dorcas Sewing Centers and assist local pastors in ministry on the eastern coast. In the central region, Jesse and Brittany Vemula work with local pastors and oversee the Lydia Sewing Centers. Who would have ever imagined that a simple tool like a sewing machine could be used as a pathway to spread the gospel? The local pastors make sure these women are not just taught how to sew. The sewing lessons include the clear presentation of the gospel. As a result, scores of Hindu and Muslim women have stepped over the line of faith and accepted Christ, changing the eternal course of precious families!

Our churches in Jamaica are on fire for Jesus! They are working diligently to gather funds to build an administration center and daycare so the gospel can be shared with families by caring for their children. In Honduras, Faith Home is thriving despite political tension. The local pastors are excited because they are now receiving essential leadership and pastoral training from our California Hispanic coordinator, Rene Rodriguez.

As I saw these ministries in action and dreamed of the potential our fields hold, I became overwhelmed with joy, and then immediately burdened with the need to do more! Can you imagine the number of souls that could be won if every General Baptist church partnered financially with our international work?

There are so many opportunities for you and your church to get connected with our international work. Have you ever sponsored a student at GBBC or MBI? We have scores of young people in the Philippines that need sponsors so they can receive training in ministry to pastor, lead worship, teach and plant churches. They have the passion and call, but not the means.

Would you like to make sure that the children at Faith Home receive the best care and education possible? You can do so through child sponsorship! Would you like to partner with our work in India and provide funds to buy more sewing machines and resources for the children and pastors there? Would your church contribute to the campaign in Jamaica to help a community hear the gospel through a daycare? There are ongoing needs in Mexico, Saipan, Guam, and Niger as well.

Please get involved today with International Ministries. Our Unified Giving provides general support for International Ministries. Special project support by your church, a Sunday School class, a small group, or a youth/children’s ministry could make an eternal investment in the Kingdom by sponsoring a child at Faith Home, a student at GBBC or MBI, or funding one of our other ministries throughout the world. We can do far more together than we could ever do alone.

When I stand before God one day I do not plan on standing there with my personal bank statement displaying a lot of zeros behind a dollar sign. I want to meet Him with a harvest of souls – many that I have never laid eyes on or met, but touched through my financial gifts. How will you and your church stand before Him one day? I pray it will be surrounded by souls.