HISTORY

God called Pastor Carl H. Stevens to preach over four decades ago. At the age of 23, he became a believer in Christ after hearing the witness of his wife.

From that moment on, Pastor Stevens dedicated himself to learning about Jesus and to the ministry and the study of the Bible. A farm boy born in West Sumner, Maine, in 1929, and raised by his widowed mother from the age of 3, Pastor Stevens approached Bible study and Christianity the way he approached everything in life – with intensity and concentration. His dedication to this life with God helped establish thriving churches in Maine, Massachusetts, and Maryland.

COMMUNICATING THE VISION

Pastor Stevens communicated the vision that the ministry would be dedicated to seeking the lost in all parts of the world. Toward that end, he led in the establishment of Bible colleges, where academic and practical training in the Word and the ministry would be fostered.

Northeast School of the Bible was founded in Maine in 1972. Its first graduating class, in 1975, included Thomas Schaller, now the Presiding Elder and Pastor of Greater Grace World Outreach. With the growth of the Bible college, there came a need for more space. That space was found in Lenox, Mass., where The Bible Speaks World Outreach relocated in 1976. There, Stevens School of the Bible was founded and what followed was a period of great activity. The students of the college proved instrumental in establishing New England’s largest bus ministry and Sunday School.  Also, waves of teams headed out to various countries.

Christian Talk Radio has been a staple of the GGWO ministry since the 1960s, when Pastor Stevens began making guest appearances on the Telephone Time program in New England. He later became Telephone Time’s full-time host and continued in the capacity on the Grace Hour until 2004.

In 1987, the ministry moved to Baltimore, Maryland and became Greater Grace World Outreach. The diverse urban center located between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia proved a fruitful ground for more growth. Maryland Bible College and Seminary was founded and continued the training of pastors, missionaries, and servants to go into all the world.

Pastor Thomas Schaller

Pastor Thomas Schaller, a long trusted and tested church-planter, emerged as the leader and, in 2005, the elders of GGWO unanimously elected Pastor Schaller as the ministry’s Presiding Elder and Pastor.

A World-Wide Local Church

Church

By God’s unending grace, GGWO is still functioning according to the timeless Christian principles established by Pastor Stevens that caused the church to be the fruitful and dynamic ministry that it is.

Education

GGWO continues to provide Christian education for children ages 2 to grade 12. Maryland Bible College and Seminary is a Christian College where disciples of Jesus Christ are taught in deed and word to go into Baltimore, Maryland, and around the world practicing a historical, biblical, Christian life, propagating the message of salvation in Jesus Christ and teaching the Bible.

Missions

GGWO continues to train, send, and support missionaries all over the world.

Pastor Stevens went home to Heaven in June 2008.

His legacy continues to affect people everywhere through the recordings of his messages and many booklets and devotionals published during his pastorate. Through the disciples he invested in, through the recordings of his messages, his ministry has affected and continues to affect generations of people in many countries worldwide.