As Pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, Wilmington, NC, from 1987 to 1996, Rev. Malcom E. Lewis learned about the Baptist Men’s Mobile Dental unit while working with Ed Bullock, Director of Missions for the Wilmington Baptist Association. This experience led Rev. Lewis to request that the Dental Bus provide free dental service to his church and community. Seeing how it blessed the community and realizing the need for dental services for young adults aging off their parent’s insurance coverage, God led Rev. Lewis to bring the Dental Bus to Pender County, his home community. He realized that the funds available could serve 10 to 15 community members if they were invested in bringing the Dental Bus to the area.
Since becoming Pastor of St. Stephen’s Missionary Baptist Church of Goldsboro in 2015, Rev. Lewis sought the help of Bear Creek Missionary Baptist Association under the leadership of Moderator Joe A. Jackson allowed us to expand from one day of service in July to two days and then four days. In 2021, we added the Health Screening Bus to our ministry. In late 2023, we partnered with Goodwill Industries of Eastern NC to add more access opportunities to our ministry. We are looking to expand our ministry reach to more communities in 2025.