Cliff & Beth Sims
Dr. Cliff Sims and his wife Beth are unaffiliated independent Baptist missionaries commissioned and sent to the Philippines by Empire Baptist Temple, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Bro. Sims was born and raised in Illinois. He was saved at the age of 11, and shortly after his salvation, his family began attending an independent Baptist church. Called to preach at the age of 17, he went away to Bible College the fall after his high school graduation. While attending college, he met and married his wife, Beth.
After finishing college, the Lord led Bro. Sims to Kansas to plant and pastor an independent Baptist church. The Lord allowed the Sims’ to have a fruitful ministry in Kansas for 24 years. During that time, they were blessed with 1 son, Andrew, and 3 daughters, Rebekah, Rachel and Sarah.
In the fall of 2004, the Lord led the Sims family to move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to become members of Empire Baptist Temple. Bro. and Mrs. Sims’ four children are now all married and faithfully serving the Lord at EBT. They have twelve grandchildren.
Bro. Sims served as an associate pastor of EBT and was involved in many of its ministries. He was the administrator of EBT’s academy, a professor at the Great Plains Baptist Divinity School and a chaplain for both law enforcement and the state prison system. Bro. Sims continued his own education while on staff and earned his Doctorate of Ministry Degree from Great Plains Baptist Divinity School in 2009.
In the summer of 2016, the Lord allowed the Sims’ to take a six week mission trip to the Philippines to work in Manila in the ministry of Dr. Jeff Blust. (The Blusts are also missionaries sent out by Empire Baptist Temple.) During that trip, the Lord gave Bro. and Mrs. Sims a deep love and burden for the Filipino people. Shortly after returning to Sioux Falls, the Lord confirmed that Bro. Sims was being re-assigned to ministry in the Philippines. The Sims’ immediately began preparing for the work whereunto the Lord has called them.
Dr. Sims’ ministry is currently headquartered in Tagbilaran City, Bohol Island, where he is planting the New Testament Baptist Church of Tagbilaran City. The focus of the ministry is on fulfilling the Great Commission through both evangelism and education with the goal of planting local Baptist churches throughout Bohol Province. Those who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour through repentance and faith are baptized into the membership of the mission work’s mother church - Empire Baptist Temple, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The exciting process of "teaching them to observe all things" then begins!
Training national men for leadership and service is a key part of the ministry on Bohol Island. Dr. Sims is the Executive Vice President of Great Plains Baptist School, Bohol Division. GPBDS is a ministry of the Empire Baptist Temple. Through this ministry, men are prepared to do mission work and to pastor churches. As mission works around Bohol Island are begun and mature, they will become organized indigenous autonomous Baptist Churches pastored by men trained through GPBDS.