Serve

At Calvary, we understand and affirm that we are a SENT People (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Mark 16:15 et. al.) In our approach to fulfilling our mission as a sent people, we divide up our engagements in three broad categories:

EQUIP. We see it is a critical task to help others fulfill their God-given ministry by becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus. That necessarily requires us to give attention to growing individually and as a community in our knowledge and application of the Scriptures and in the application of that knowledge as we serve one another and the broader community.
IMPACT. There is an inherent responsibility on our church to engage and make a difference in our community. Our Impact Ministries are diverse and include serving our local schools.
INFLUENCE. Calvary cannot be everywhere at all times. However, we recognize that we have a responsibility to address lostness in areas beyond our city as part of our Lord’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). As a church, we have a rich legacy of church planting and missionary efforts where we provide resources (money, volunteer teams, support, and coaching) to strategic partners around the globe.

Serve the Church

Are you interested in finding a place to serve? We would love to get you connected! Please feel out the form below and we will contact you.

Join us in praying for these
ministries, missions, and missionaries this month

First Priority

There are many thousands of students in the public middle and high schools of Florida. Statistics suggest that over 90% of these teens do not know Christ, which demonstrates the urgent need for us to meet them where they are – the campus. First Priority sends ambassadors for Christ across the school campus to engage their friends for the Gospel.

https://firstpriority.cc/

ESL

ESL classes are designed to teach students proficient English. Calvary Baptist Church’s ESL ministry began in September 2013 with a total of 11 students representing 2 countries (Myanmar and Israel) and 14 workers. Since then, we have had more than 119 students from 30 different countries (Brazil, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Myanmar, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Saudi Arabia,…

https://calvaryofpensacola.org/ministries/esl

Health and Hope Clinic

https://www.healthandhopeclinic.org/

Missions are vital to our faith and church. Below are the ministries and missionaries that our church supports by encouraging our congregation to serve, pray for, and financially bless those involved in the day to day operations.

Local Missions

One More Child - FBCH

The FBCH vision is to bring hope to hurting children, to show that the love of Jesus changes lives and to impact the life of One More Child. From the opening of our first orphanage in 1904 to our present-day ministries that have expanded to provide safe, stable, Christian homes and services to children and families in need across the state and around the globe, we are honored to be helping children in tangible ways.

Safe Harbor Women's Resource Center

Since 1989, Safe Harbor Women’s Resource Center has been reaching out to women in our community who are facing the overwhelming uncertainty of an unplanned pregnancy. They provide pregnancy testing, limited ultrasounds and abortion education in the Northwest Florida area. All of our services are free and confidential. Safe Harbor Pregnancy Medical Center offers abortion clinic alternative services and pregnancy help services in Pensacola, Florida, and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. Safe harbor Pregnancy Medical Center does not provide for or refer anyone for abortion services.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry - BCM

The ages eighteen to twenty-nine are the black hole of church attendance; this age segment is ‘missing in action’ from most congregations.” Through the Baptist Collegiate Ministries and partnerships with the local churches of Florida, Florida Baptists are mobilizing to reach the college students in Florida. Calvary currently goes to the University of West Florida BCM site twice per year to feed approximately 60 students who are subject to come from all over the world. Here they enjoy a meal, fellowship and are part of a short bible devotion during lunch. We work through the Director, Tony Olesky.

First Priority

There are many thousands of students in the public middle and high schools of Florida. Statistics suggest that over 90% of these teens do not know Christ, which demonstrates the urgent need for us to meet them where they are – the campus. A majority of Christians state that their decision to follow Christ was made by age 18. Church attendance of this age group was 75% in the 1950’s, 35% in the 1970’s and 12% today! We could be only one generation away from catastrophic faith abandonment if we do not equip students to fulfill the Great Commission. That is why, since 1998, First Priority has been so passionate about connecting the CHURCH to reach the CAMPUS for CHRIST. The success of First Priority begins and ends with the local church. The students, youth pastors & faculty sponsors that partner with us all belong to a local congregation. Once a student receives Christ on campus, they are encouraged to connect to the body of Christ where they can grow in their new faith.

Gideons International

Gideons are God-called members, brothers and sisters in Christ, husbands along with our wives—striving side by side to effectively and joyfully reach the world with the Good News.

We believe distributing copies of God’s Word plants powerful seeds God can use according to His own timing (I Corinthians 3:6), allows many to read the truth for themselves (John 8:32), provides a lasting witness (Hebrews 4:12), and makes it easier for those we reach to boldly spread the Good News (II Timothy 2:2).

Members of The Gideons International personally witness and distribute God’s Word to police, fire, and medical personnel; prisoners; military personnel; students in the fifth grade and above; and to those with whom they interact on a daily basis. Scriptures are also placed by Gideons and Auxiliary in key locations, including hotels, motels, hospitals, convalescent homes, medical offices, domestic violence shelters, prisons, and jails.

Waterfront Mission

The staff and volunteers at the Mission have learned, from nearly 70 years of hands on experience, that the people seeking Mission services really aren’t all that different from the rest of us. They have families, responsibilities, hopes and dreams and are determined to do whatever is necessary to experience positive and lasting change in their lives.

While some are unemployed, 44% have jobs and are doing what they can to support themselves and the families they love. Approximately 16% are U.S. veterans who have valiantly served our country and need assistance accessing military benefits and permanent housing. Some simply need a safe place to stay while recovering from medical procedures or while applying for other qualifying benefits. Others have debilitating health issues and need help connecting with appropriate resources.

Waterfront Rescue Mission helps people address the challenges of life-dominating issues. Healing and restoration are the goals of our Bible-based program that helps develop self-sufficient, productive members of our community.

ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are designed to teach students proficient English. Calvary Baptist Church’s ESL ministry began in September 2013 with a total of 14 workers and 11 students representing 2 countries (Myanmar and Israel). Since then, we have had more than 100 students from approximately 30 different countries (some of which are: Myanmar, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bolivia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Panama, Guatemala, Thailand, China, West Africa, Egypt, Peru and the Philippines) attend our classes at one time or another. What is ESL? ESL classes are designed to help students from other countries learn to speak, read and write English or to improve their English skills. But first and foremost, our goal is to share the Good News of our Lord and Savior to those who have never heard and/or accepted Him as Lord of their life. What better way to reach the nations for Christ than through our ESL ministry!

Health and Hope Clinic

The Health and Hope Clinic is a free medical clinic established in June of 2003 by the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association to help meet the needs of the medically underserved population in the greater Pensacola area. Our mission is to deliver professional Christ-centered volunteer healthcare to the economically disadvantaged patients residing in the greater Pensacola and Escambia County area, thereby meeting both their physical and spiritual needs.

The target population served by the clinic consists of those persons who are without access to healthcare insurance and are up to 200% of the poverty level. There are presently approximately 32,000 Escambia County, Florida residents that are considered medically underserved and eligible for services at Health and Hope Clinic.

All patient care and most support services are provided by 89 licensed medical professionals and 152 support volunteers- including physicians, mid-level providers, nurses, case workers, front office workers, patient assistance workers and encouragers. These volunteers provide over 12,000 hours of volunteer time annually.

In 2018, the clinic had 6,894 medical visits, 282 dental visits and 491 spiritual visits/conversations with patients.

Pensacola Bay Baptist Association

The Pensacola Bay Baptist Association consists of the 60 Southern Baptist Churches in Escambia County. This association together with the other associations in the state of Florida (49) combine to make up the Florida Baptist Convention. Our goal is to see our churches cooperating with a Kingdom perspective so that our community is influenced and transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and boldly leading leaders to become a network of kingdom partners seeking the transformation of our county On September 1, 1887 five Baptist churches in Pensacola (Escambia County) and Milton (Santa Rosa County), Florida met together for the consideration of cooperating together. Formalizing this partnership on November 11th and 12th of 1887, this Kingdom work of the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association begun. Due to the growth in both counties, the churches in Milton formed their own association, Santa Rosa Baptist Association, though both associations continue to work together for the glory of God.

Since that November morning in 1887, the PBBA has partnered together to support local churches in their mission to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Currently, there are approximately 60 PBBA churches and we are pursuing MoonShot2030 - 100 Healthy Churches who together can celebrate 2000 baptisms in the year 2030. Through encouraging our pastors personally and professionally and equipping our churches toward health, we are focused on engaging the mission field of Escambia County (and beyond) with the gospel of Christ Jesus. We affirm that achieving this MoonShot will require More Healthy Churches - more healthy churches (church planting); more healthy churches (revitalizing existing churches). Through the power of prayer and partnership, we look forward to celebrating the achievement of this Moonshot Vision. We are better together and are focused on Helping the Church Be the Church as we declare the name of Jesus in the 21st Century.

https://www.fbchomes.org/

https://www.916safe.org

https://pensacolabcm.org

https://firstpriority.cc/

https://www.gideons.org/

https://waterfrontmission.org/

https://calvaryofpensacola.org/ministries/esl

https://www.healthandhopeclinic.org/

https://pbbassociation.org/

National Missions

SEND Church-North American Mission Board

Send Network church planters immerse themselves in a community, learning the rhythms and culture of that place and establishing relationships with neighbors. Instead of growing a church through membership transfer, a plant grows organically out of the evangelism efforts of the planter and church planting core team. We come alongside these planters - and the churches sending them - with practical training and strategic support. The North American Mission Board has identified 33 cities in the United States and Canada that have the largest need for church planting. Calvary is currently researching a Send church partner that we can support in its growth.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM)- California University in Pennsylvania

Kim Wilson Carson is from northwest Florida followed a call to start and lead a Baptist campus ministry 8 years ago in Pennsylvania—California University. She first served under Tony Olesky in the BCM ministry here at the University of West Florida. The ministry meets young people just out of high school, into college, and offers a different alternative to college life - one with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Many lives have been changed at California University over the last eight years. Also, each year Kim brings a van load of students to Panama City, Florida to spring break week to share their faith, provide rides, and cook pancakes for the students on the beach. They partner with other churches on the beach and in 2018, 30 beachgoers gave their lives to Christ. Other mission trips included a trip to Puerto Rico.

Hudson Baptist Association - Restoration Church

Pastor Seth and Pamela Switzer
Restoration Church
Monticello, NY

Restoration Church is a fairly new church plant in Monticello, New York. God has given them a vision to reach into Sullivan County, New York, and they are excited about the opportunity to help bring RESTORATION to the community! They are just simple servants who desire to HONOR God and reach people wherever they may be. It is the VISION of Restoration Church to build a diverse community of professionals, students, couples and families that love God and people.

Annie Armstrong

Each year, we honor the life and work of Annie Walker Armstrong when we give to the annual offering for North American Missions Board (NAMB) named after her. As a tireless servant of God and a contagious advocate and supporter of mission efforts throughout the world, Annie led women to unite in mission endeavors that ultimately led to the formation of Woman's Missionary Union, for which she served as the first corresponding secretary.

Annual offerings from Annie Armstrong of approximately $61 million nationwide represents about ½ of the $124 million needed to operate NAMB, which sends out approximately 5,000 missionaries/church planters throughout North America.

Southern Baptist Cooperative Program

Southern Baptists are reaching people around the world through Cooperative Program (CP) Missions. CP presents a unified and comprehensive budget, throwing a funding blanket over statewide, national, and international missions and ministries. It provides a long‐term sustainability for our entities. When a church makes their missions giving as a percentage of their church budgets, it provides consistency and stability. It adheres to our long term Baptist principle that "we can do more together than alone." CP mitigates competition between entities thereby allowing a balanced Acts 1:8 Strategy. It levels the playing field, and makes a place at the table for small and ethnic churches. Every church can stand hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, on level ground, as partners in the gospel (large churches, small churches, new churches, growing churches, graying churches, and ethnic churches). The 3,052 SB churches in Florida give about $30 million to the Cooperative Program; about 49% of this will first go to the Florida Baptist Convention and the remaining 51% will then go on to the Southern Baptist Convention.

SEND Church-North American Mission Board

https://www.namb.net/go/

Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM)- California University in Pennsylvania

https://collegeministry.com

rechurch.tv

anniearmstrong.com

http://www.sbc.net/cp/

International Missions

Peggy’s Ministry—Children and Poor Beggar Women

Peggy and her husband, David S. served in Southeast Asia for approx. 8 years. They came back to the states. Peggy maintains a ministry for supporting poor and needy ones. In addition to her ongoing contact with local workers, she returns to help teach, encourage and be a resource to this ministry. Workers in field help facilitate this ministry. The money for "Peggy's Ministry Fund" provides resources that are not available to other workers on the field. She uses funds for:  60 kids' education—fees, uniforms, school supplies—workers get to have Bible studies with them.  After school tutoring for poor construction worker kids—train to read and write and they receive a meal. Also, a worker gets to tell them Bible stories and this whole effort provides opportunities to reach their parents.  Ramesh and Esther— Funds help with many widow’s meals weekly.  One older adult girl's education for advanced study in medical records.  Beggar women--rations once per month (oil, flour, shampoo, soap, sugar, tea, rice) and annually provide tarps (this is their home), jackets, etc.—given out of a local church based on their attendance. Peggy’s work with these beggar women has resulted, thus far, in 17 women being saved (who have 46 children) and now attend worship.  local Orphanage--$200 monthly for food support for 40-60 kids. Also provides a resource to send street kids with no home, or parents.  Village Sunday Schools—in 10 different villages. This effort each week is coordinated by local Pastors. Each Sunday School is for at least 2-3 hours and attended by 30-100+ kids. Each village has a pastor assigned to it and snacks are supplied each week, along with special events like Christmas. Many of these kids have been saved—this also draws their parents to Sunday School with curiosity.

Friends of India (Dr. David Shepherd)—state of Karnataka

David maintains a ministry in Southeast Asia for supporting the efforts of village workers. In addition to an ongoing contact with his partners, he returns to help teach and be a resource to these workers. The money for the following work is a resource that is not currently available to others on the field:  Three sewing centers (using foot pedal machines) train women to keep them off the street/support family, across the area villages. It is a 6 month program-graduate with certificate, about 40 women per month in each center. But, they must allow the chaplain into their home for prayer, witness and encouraging the family.  Local workers society now has 5 trainers in the field across rural districts for training leaders in all aspects of this work, and provides funds for salary and expenses  Two groups of 30 pastors (in different languages) come monthly to the centers for training. These are the workers with the most potential –money is provided for travel, books, etc. This is a one year program and these new leaders will train others.. This literally serves as their “Bible college education”.  Two pastors go monthly to villages with HIV kids (people discard them and their families) with powdered vitamins and share the gospel with kids and families—most children will ultimately die.  Tentmakers School—This is a Bible and a trade training (to help workers come and provide travel and food while they are at the school. This is directed by is a long time church planter, and he has had a positive influence over about 2,000 village workers.  Two other training centers (smaller) are operating in further regions for training new workers and leaders.  Funds for medical needs, food, clothing, shelter and children's education are provided as much as possible for village workers.

Operation Christmas Child-Samaritan’s Purse

From children to seniors, people pack shoebox gifts each year to bless children in need around the world. Parents often use the project to teach their kids about giving. Year-round volunteers support these efforts across the country. Churches and groups of all sizes collect boxes from their communities. Some churches also serve as drop-off locations for shoeboxes the third week of November every year.

Lottie Moon

Lottie Moon – the namesake of the international missions offering – has become something of a legend to us. But in her time Lottie was anything but an untouchable hero. In fact, she was like today's missionaries. She was a hard-working, deep-loving Southern Baptist who labored tirelessly so her people group could know Jesus. Throughout her career, Lottie Moon wrote numerous letters home, urging Southern Baptists to greater missions’ involvement and support. One of those letters triggered Southern Baptists' first Christmas offering for international missions – enough to send three new missionaries to China.

International Mission Board – IMB

IMB partners with churches to empower missionary teams (3,600+ missionaries) who are making disciples and multiplying churches among unreached peoples and places for the glory of God. More than 4,800 people groups – close to 1 billion people – still live with little or no access to the gospel. Our mission is evangelizing, discipling, and planting reproducing churches among all peoples in fulfillment of the Great Commission. Our vision is a multitude from every language, people, tribe, and nation knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ. We commit to obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to God’s inerrant Word. We believe Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for salvation and all people without personal faith in Him are lost and will spend eternity in hell. We seek to provide all people an opportunity to hear, understand and respond to the Gospel in their own cultural context. We evangelize through proclamation, discipling, equipping, and ministry that results in indigenous reproducing Baptist churches. We serve churches to facilitate their involvement in the Great Commission and the sending of missionaries to bring all peoples to faith in Jesus Christ. We partner with Baptists and other Christians around the world in accordance with IMB guidelines. We understand and fulfill God’s mission through God’s Word, prayer, and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Cost to operate the IMB is approximately $264 million annually - the special Lottie Moon offering given by the 47,000 SB churches annually provides approximately $154 million of this money and Cooperative Program giving provides approximately $110 million to support the IMB.

Operation Christmas Child-Samaritan’s Purse

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

https://www.imb.org/who-was-lottie-moon