Navy Chapel in Asan 

 

History of Calvary Baptist Church

 

Calvary is an English-speaking Southern Baptist Church on Guam, an island of 212 square miles and about 180,000 residents in the west Pacific. We strive to be a loving church representing the variety of cultural/language groups on Guam, and to help all people who want to know more about Jesus.

 

In January, 1959, military members began to meet in homes, then at the Navy Chapel at Asan Point. In 1960, Ardmore Baptist Church, Memphis, TN, sponsored the mission, now with 25 members, and requested a missionary from the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. In 1961, Pastor Harry Goble was called and was the one who led the mission to become Calvary Baptist Church, the first Southern Baptist Church on Guam, on September 3, 1961, with 114 charter members. The church decided on December 31, 1961, to buy land on Marine Corps Drive, and the building where we are meeting was finished in 1963. In February, 1965, Pastor Louis McCall was called, and in 1966, Marianas Baptist Church was started with the key support of Calvary. In the years up to 1994, Tamuning Baptist Church (now Tamuning Christian Fellowship) was started and other buildings on the site were completed.

         

Calvary as It Looked After Current Site Was Completed

 

 

Calvary had a string of pastors who serve for short periods, but the following served more than 2 years:

                Pastor James Banks – September, 1981, to December, 1983

                Pastor Binion Fleming – June, 1985, to June, 1989

                Pastor John Miller – December, 1992, to December, 1998

                Pastor Paul McNeese – January, 1999, to July, 2004

                Pastor (Dr.) Tony Smith – June, 2005, to May, 2012

Upon Dr. Smith’s departure, Rob Puckett, who was Associate Pastor for Pastor Tony, and the previous Interim Pastor, again became Interim Pastor. On July, 14, 2013, Pastor Rob was called and is still Pastor.

 

For the last 5 years, God has brought Calvary into a period of renewed outreach, after a time of spiritual growth. Starting with Vacation Bible School in August, 2010, Mrs. Keiko Garcia began a community outreach that grew through God’s provision of a 15 passenger van and the beginning of a “bus ministry” that now covers the northern half of Guam. Our vans often bring 40-50 people to church who do not have transportation, and enable our children and youth ministries to now have 50-60, or more, present.

 

In April, 2012, Pastor Raye Bosi and his wife, Vhee, moved to Guam with the calling to start a church. In June, Calvary established a partnership with him for that purpose, and Pastor Raye was called to serve on the Calvary staff as Pastor of Church Plants, Outreach and Off-Site Ministries in August, 2012. Since then, The Lighthouse Church, SBC, has grown from a dream to a sister church now known as The Living Lighthouse Church, cooperating in reaching our island with the message of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Pastor Raye resigned as pastor of The Living Lighthouse Church in late summer of 2017, but the church continues to minister and move forward.  In May, 2014, Pastor William “Billy” Jones and his family moved to Kagman, Saipan, also in partnership with Calvary Baptist Church, to start a church to preach the Good News in that neighborhood.  That church is now Kagman Community Church, and Pastor Billy leads both that church and Church 360 on the other side of the island with the strong support of his wife and family.

 

As we celebrate continuous ministry since 1959, and becoming a church in September, two years later, Calvary Baptist Church is committed to pursuing the vision God gave us to be “a Biblically-based family of believers who seek to encourage people of all ages and cultures to establish and develop a relationship with God the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

Calvary as It Appears Today During a Youth Function