Moises San Martin speaks to attendees of Mission Connection event on Sunday evening before ABSC Annual Meeting.
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Baptists on Sunday had the opportunity to meet and hear the hearts of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) church planters and missionaries serving around the world.
The church planters and missionaries in attendance at the at the Mission Connection dinner held at Russellville First Baptist Church were:
- Pedro Juan Gonzalez Pen, who lives in Santiago, Dominican Republic with his wife, Marisol. They have one daughter. He is a doctor and family therapist by profession but has pastored First Baptist Church of Santiago for 25 years. Last year, he was elected to serve as president of the Dominican Baptist Convention.
- Rafael Antonio Tavarez Genao, who lives in Santiago, Dominican Republic with his wife, Monica. He has served as pastor of Eternal God Baptist Church for 25 years and was recently elected to serve the Dominican Baptist Convention as vice president.
- Ben Fleet, who moved with his family to Detroit in 2021 to plant One Eight Church after serving as the planting pastor at Voyage Church in Montreal, Canada. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Pensacola Christian College and a master’s degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Ben and his wife, Alyssa, are passionate about making disciples and helping people encounter new life in Christ.
- Moises San Martin, who currently serves as pastor of Heaven’s Gate Baptist Church in Miami, Florida, as well as church planting catalyst with the ‘Send South Florida’ Network. Four years ago, the Lord stirred the San Martins’ hearts with a burden to reach the English-speaking community in their area, which led them to plant Heaven’s Gate.
- Danilo Miranda, who is a Brazilian pastor and has been an IMB missionary since 2012. He met his wife, Catherine, who grew up in Brazil as the daughter of IMB missionaries, on a mission trip. They have served in Mexico, Columbia, and the Amazon region of Brazil working among different indigenous people groups. They currently serve in Rio de Janeiro mobilizing and equipping Brazilians to become missionaries in Brazil and around the world.
- Gary and Becky Rowland, who are currently living in the United Kingdom where they serve as logistics service consultants. The two individually answered God’s call to the nations as singles with the International Mission Board – Gary to France and Becky to Germany. They met during this time and were married after returning to the U.S. The Rowlands have been married 30 years and are active in their local church, where they both lead Bible study groups.
- Brant Bauman, who currently serves as IMB’s global digital engagement lead. He and his family live in Red Hill, UK. His wife serves as the European affinity TCK (Third Culture Kids) onboarding specialist. Previously, they served two years in Rome through the IMB Journeyman program and in northern Italy.
Each of the missionaries shared their heart and how those in attendance could be a part of the missional calling within their church.
“I am abundantly joyful to be here with you tonight,” San Martin said. “Send South Florida is the embodiment of churches planting churches everywhere for everyone and that is simply true because of the diversity that exists in South Florida. … God is at work in South Florida in a very unique way. In South Florida, we’re seeing five different heart languages that God is using to reach the nations right here in our nation. English, Spanish, Creole, Portuguese, and Slavic, just in a 60-mile radius. We’re seeing God at work through those different heart languages. The beauty is God is reaching all sorts of people from all sorts of places in a small place called Miami, Florida. … Just in that area, there are 6.1 million people. Send Network has a vision that I have adopted personally for my church and the community I serve. The vision is to reach one percent of lostness in the next 10 years. If we were to do the math on what that looks like for churches in South Florida currently between church plants and existing churches, every church has to reach between 10,000 and 12,000 people just to reach one percent of lostness. … As we talk about the need that exists in South Florida, we also have to talk about the great joy it is to serve in a place like South Florida. Going to Miami is like going to the nations without a passport. You are right there at home with all the commodities of being at home yet getting the multi-cultural experience.”
San Martin went on to remind folks in attendance of the ABSC South Florida Vision Tour scheduled for January. For more information on global partnerships, such as the South Florida Vision Tour, click here.
“Arkansas Baptists, thank you for your generosity. Thanks to Arkansas Baptist churches we have been able to continue the mission in South Florida,” he said. “We thank you for that generosity, thank you for opening your doors to us, and we hope that we will just continue to spread the Gospel in South Florida and that we continue to do it together.”
San Martin and the other missionaries said one way Arkansas Baptists can help serve is by praying—praying for the ministries that exist and praying for church plants that need to exist but don’t yet and considering sending people to help.
“I encourage you, pray for your missionaries, take their prayer requests, the ones you’ve heard tonight … go to your knees to the Father alongside them in prayer because they desperately need it,” Bauman said. “… We just ask you stay in the game, get in the game, or get someone else in the game.”
At the end of the evening, ABSC Missions Team National/International & Cross-Cultural Missions Strategist Steve Lasiter told those in attendance the goal of the event was to form Gospel partnerships.
“We hope you have been blessed tonight just to hear the hearts of those who are serving and ways you can come alongside them,” Lasiter said. “If there is somewhere else in the world where you feel God calling you let us know that. We can help you get connected.”
Lasiter also reminded attendees of the IMB’s Church Connections Initiative. The goal of the initiative is for each SBC church to have a relationship with an active IMB missionary unit. To find out who your missionary is, visit absc.org/WIOM or contact Lasiter at [email protected].
The missionaries will be circulating around at the ABSC Annual Meeting at Russellville First Baptist Church Monday and Tuesday.