Rev. J. Steve & Kathy Stone
Far North Director
I was born on March 7, 1958, in upstate South Carolina, and was born again on November 9, 1975. Two weeks after I accepted Christ, I was baptized and joined Cannon Mountain Baptist Church in Pickens, South Carolina.
I graduated in 1976 from D. W. Daniel High School. From 1978 through 1981, I attended Tabernacle Baptist Bible College in Greenville, South Carolina, where I received the Graduate of Theology Degree majoring in Missions. I later obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion with a concentration in Christian Education from Bethany Bible College, Dothan, Alabama, in June 1998. I have been working on my masters degree and plan to complete that as time allows.
I met my future wife Kathy through a co-worker. She was attending Tabernacle Baptist Bible College at the time seeking God's will, and I was impressed with her dedication to Christ. She accepted Christ as a teenager and served the Lord faithfully. I felt led of the Lord to join Camp Creek Baptist Church in Central, South Carolina in 1977. This is our home church and sending church. We were married there on November 19, 1978. God has blessed us with two daughters and a son: Amanda Westhart (age 29), Sarah Taylor (age 27), and Jacob Stone (age 24). Our children all live in upstate South Carolina. God has also blessed us with two grandchildren, Ava (almost 4 years of age) and Owen (age 3). Our daughter Amanda is expecting twins in June.
We were accepted with BIMI in July 1981. I was open to go anywhere the Lord directed, and He put it in my heart to do church planting in Nova Scotia, Canada. After approximately two years of deputation, we arrived on the field April 10, 1984, to work with fellow BIMI church planter, Russell and Faye Owens, at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Yarmouth. We worked alongside them for one and one-half years to get hands-on experience and then led the church for one year while they took a furlough.
Upon their return from furlough, I felt it was time to move about one hour north to Digby County to start Calvary Baptist Church in the Weymouth area. The meetings were held in a community hall, basement of the public library, and then our own building on property purchased from George and Kaye Gavel. The building grew as the congregation grew. In 1994, the church (out of debt) voted to call Ken Parrett as pastor-the church went forward with Canadian leadership.
We moved approximately 1,000 miles north to Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador in June 1995. This mining town was a challenging place to live and to plant a Baptist church. For eight years, we witnessed, preached, started over a few times, distributed God's Word, and organized Northern Light Baptist Church. We also reached out to evangelize the Nascopie people in Kawawachikamach, Quebec (five to ten hours by train). The young church was devastated by the transfer of workers to other areas and we lost the majority of the congregation in a short time. We learned much about Far North missions from 1995-2003.
With the approval of BIMI leadership, we moved back to Nova Scotia in September 2003 to rebuild Calvary Baptist Church in Plympton. The church had suffered due to false doctrine and split by a divisive spirit. The church stabilized and the congregation began to increase in number and fill up the church building. Our goal was to fill the small building and then build a larger one.
The church gave faithfully, and we built a 40 feet by 60 feet church building and joined it to our smaller building. After three and one-half years, the church is free of debt as of August 2009. We plan to stay in the church until God provides a pastor to lead the church to greater growth and maturity.
Vision for Far North:
- To see men in the Far North surrender to preach the Gospel.
- To see these men trained to take over churches started by church planters.
- To see established churches help start new churches in their surrounding areas.
- To see the team concept of missions put into practice where it is feasible.
- To see church planters called to Alaska, Canada, and Greenland who will sacrifice and serve faithfully.
- To work closely with church planters to start new churches and help place pastoral leadership in new churches.
- To preach missions conferences in churches to promote faith promise giving.
I pray that God will use us to see more indigenous churches planted and taken over by national pastors to continue with God's blessing. Brother David Snyder has done a great job as Far North Director, and I plan to follow in that proven path of leadership asking God to use us for His glory.
I was born on March 7, 1958, in upstate South Carolina, and was born again on November 9, 1975. Two weeks after I accepted Christ, I was baptized and joined Cannon Mountain Baptist Church in Pickens, South Carolina.
I graduated in 1976 from D. W. Daniel High School. From 1978 through 1981, I attended Tabernacle Baptist Bible College in Greenville, South Carolina, where I received the Graduate of Theology Degree majoring in Missions. I later obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion with a concentration in Christian Education from Bethany Bible College, Dothan, Alabama, in June 1998. I have been working on my masters degree and plan to complete that as time allows.
I met my future wife Kathy through a co-worker. She was attending Tabernacle Baptist Bible College at the time seeking God's will, and I was impressed with her dedication to Christ. She accepted Christ as a teenager and served the Lord faithfully. I felt led of the Lord to join Camp Creek Baptist Church in Central, South Carolina in 1977. This is our home church and sending church. We were married there on November 19, 1978. God has blessed us with two daughters and a son: Amanda Westhart (age 29), Sarah Taylor (age 27), and Jacob Stone (age 24). Our children all live in upstate South Carolina. God has also blessed us with two grandchildren, Ava (almost 4 years of age) and Owen (age 3). Our daughter Amanda is expecting twins in June.
We were accepted with BIMI in July 1981. I was open to go anywhere the Lord directed, and He put it in my heart to do church planting in Nova Scotia, Canada. After approximately two years of deputation, we arrived on the field April 10, 1984, to work with fellow BIMI church planter, Russell and Faye Owens, at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Yarmouth. We worked alongside them for one and one-half years to get hands-on experience and then led the church for one year while they took a furlough.
Upon their return from furlough, I felt it was time to move about one hour north to Digby County to start Calvary Baptist Church in the Weymouth area. The meetings were held in a community hall, basement of the public library, and then our own building on property purchased from George and Kaye Gavel. The building grew as the congregation grew. In 1994, the church (out of debt) voted to call Ken Parrett as pastor-the church went forward with Canadian leadership.
We moved approximately 1,000 miles north to Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador in June 1995. This mining town was a challenging place to live and to plant a Baptist church. For eight years, we witnessed, preached, started over a few times, distributed God's Word, and organized Northern Light Baptist Church. We also reached out to evangelize the Nascopie people in Kawawachikamach, Quebec (five to ten hours by train). The young church was devastated by the transfer of workers to other areas and we lost the majority of the congregation in a short time. We learned much about Far North missions from 1995-2003.
With the approval of BIMI leadership, we moved back to Nova Scotia in September 2003 to rebuild Calvary Baptist Church in Plympton. The church had suffered due to false doctrine and split by a divisive spirit. The church stabilized and the congregation began to increase in number and fill up the church building. Our goal was to fill the small building and then build a larger one.
The church gave faithfully, and we built a 40 feet by 60 feet church building and joined it to our smaller building. After three and one-half years, the church is free of debt as of August 2009. We plan to stay in the church until God provides a pastor to lead the church to greater growth and maturity.
Vision for Far North:
- To see men in the Far North surrender to preach the Gospel.
- To see these men trained to take over churches started by church planters.
- To see established churches help start new churches in their surrounding areas.
- To see the team concept of missions put into practice where it is feasible.
- To see church planters called to Alaska, Canada, and Greenland who will sacrifice and serve faithfully.
- To work closely with church planters to start new churches and help place pastoral leadership in new churches.
- To preach missions conferences in churches to promote faith promise giving.
I pray that God will use us to see more indigenous churches planted and taken over by national pastors to continue with God's blessing. Brother David Snyder has done a great job as Far North Director, and I plan to follow in that proven path of leadership asking God to use us for His glory.
Missionaries of the Day
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Jonathon & Mandy Crews - BRAZIL
Joel C & Brooke Daku - KIRIBATI
Paul W & Martha Daku - FIJI ISLANDS
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Jonathon & Mandy Crews - BRAZIL
Joel C & Brooke Daku - KIRIBATI
Paul W & Martha Daku - FIJI ISLANDS
Far North Director
J. Steve & Kathy StoneRead more about the Stones.
Email J. Steve Stone
He can be contacted through the BIMI office
(423) 344-5050.
For More Information...
For more information on the Far North, please email our Far North director for a free DVD and/or interactive CD. Please be sure to include your name and mailing address in the body of your email.
