OUR STORY
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 in 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 in 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 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
- Pastor Rob Puckett – July 2014, to November 2020
- Pastor Jimmy Gimmen – December 2020, to March 2023
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 to serve as lead 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 the 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 opposite 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.”
Dec. 2020 – Ordination of Jimmy Gimmen as Interim Pastor
Sept. 2022 – Associate Pastor Ethan Aylor
Feb. 18, 2024 – Ordination of Francis Lazaga as Interim Pastor
May 24, 2024 – First CBC Family Camp