Harbor Baptist Church

Several years ago a young man with a wonderful family came to Winchester Bay while serving in the Coast Guard. He did a wonderful job teaching Sunday School and could read anything once and remember it forever. He preached often, served as a deacon, and were both of great service to all of us at Harbor Baptist Church during their time with us. We were saddened when they moved to Arizona after Clark’s enlistment in the Coast Guard was finished. The Bates family went overseas in 2020 when Clark was admitted to a graduate program in the UK to pursue a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies at the University of Birmingham. He focused on Greek manuscripts of Ephesians with a catena (series) commentary, with additional work on the very first critical text, translation, and theological commentary pertaining to this book. His Ph.D. dissertation is titled: The Oecumenian Catenae of Ephesians: Critical Edition, Translation and Theological Interaction and will be available online after he graduates this summer.

Now, the Bates family are partnering with Mission Quest and will be sent to Padova, Italy where Clark will first serve in a local church while he develops the curriculum at the IFED (Instituto di formazione evangelica e documentazione / The Institute of Evangelical formation and documentation), an organization that trains Italian pastors to head protestant churches in their own country. He will be joining them as Professor of New Testament Studies as well as head up their theological library.

You can follow the Bates Family on their Facebook page as well as email them at batesinitaly@gmail.com. We miss them and wish them all the best in their new endeavor. They should be in Italy by October 2024.

May it all be to God’s glory.