GBBC

GBBC Prayer Vigil

By Joyce Porcadilla-Smith, President of General Baptist Bible College in the Philippines (GBBC)

As a family in GBBC, we praise and thank God for the wonderful opportunity to be able to take part in the General Baptist Ministries 40 days of Prayer emphasis.

We encouraged all the Faculty & Staff and College students to participate and amazingly they all committed to pray for 1 hour on the scheduled date, March 21, 2022. They all signed up to join the prayer activity. Each one was given a copy of the General Prayer items and we also added some specific items to the prayer list.

Since we still don’t have face-to-face classes, each one just prayed where he or she was.

Below are some of the testimonies of the Faculty & Staff and students about their experience of the said event.

Faculty & Staff

“Being able to pray the prayer items I rarely/have never prayed before, being part of an entire community/body of Christ who are praying the same prayer is such an encouragement and a wonderful experience. Intentionally, setting aside an hour to pray brought spiritual joy. That experience allowed me to reflect that I had to extend my prayer and widen my list for prayer. “ – Jonaessete Lopez–Singson

“It was a memorable experience. I am not used to waking up as early as 3:45 am to do a morning prayer but with that, I was reminded of my commitment so I got up and pray for the things listed and I felt peace talking to God with my personal concerns as well. It seemed like I was able to unload a burden in my heart. The list seemed so overwhelming but I was reminded how great our God is who could move mountains and turn the impossible into possible. I was reminded that with all the things that are happening around us, we need HIM for He is a sovereign God. I was able to reflect that I have so much to work on in my spiritual life. Thank you for the privilege. God Bless! “ – Hezyl Pili

“It was a nice experience to pray not just for my personal concerns but more for the needs or concerns of others. Through this activity, God reminded me to be grateful to Him for having a beautiful family, a job, and a ministry. I realized how blessed I am to enjoy everything I have in spite of the pandemic, scarcity, and chaos. It was a great blessing to pray for others and declare blessings and peace to them.” –Livi Cano

Continue reading

Called In The World

By General Baptist International Missions

God is at work in the lives of His people. We have a collection of His work in the lives of people in the pages of the Bible. We have assembled in this Messenger further evidence that God continues to call people to particular places of service. This article reminds us that it is not only here in the United States that He is at work in the lives of His followers but around the world as well. International Missions asked four of our many faithful co-laborers to share their story of calling for this Messenger. The first two of these come from Honduras, where missionary Rodney Walls gathered, translated, and edited the callings of Pastor Miguel Ramirez and Dr. Sharon Castro. The others come from the Philippines and India, with General Baptist Bible College President Dr. Joyce C. Porcadilla-Rubia sharing her calling and Pastor Dr. Prakash Pamu in India.

Pastor Miguel Ramirez with Dr. Rodney Walls

The depth of success of mission work rests in the development and equipping of nationals. The mission of making disciples for Christ in Honduras has been greatly blessed with a host of Hondurans who serves Christ as General Baptists. Our General Baptist movement today would not be where it is without the sacrificial service of Pastor Miguel Ángel Ramirez Padilla. Foremost, Miguel is a pastor and has a pastor’s heart.

“In January 1996, the Lord called me to His vineyard as a pastor. This was a new experience for me and my family. I did not know how to do it, but I prayed to the Lord, and He began to move the lives of the people in the community of Canchias, Comayagua, where I was born. It was very nice to see the spiritual movement in the church as my family and I worked with the ladies, gentlemen, young people, and children.

“One day in January 2005, I was praying in the early morning and God spoke to my spirit and said, ‘tell the church that you are not a permanent pastor in this place. I’ll take you somewhere else.’ That night I said exactly what God told me to the church. The brothers of the church were saddened by the news, as they were accustomed to our work as pastors.

Continue reading
General Baptist Virtual Missions Conference

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.