English
Korean
Spanish
TEXAN: For those who don’t know, briefly outline the ministry assignment of the Hispanic Initiative/Ethnic Ministries team at the SBTC.
GONZALES: It has expanded in the last year. In addition to Spanish-language groups, our team is serving a greater number of Asian people groups. We are still very involved with the Korean Baptist Fellowship of Texas, which meets once a year for a fellowship.
TEXAN: What is the status of the Hispanic Initiative and the Hispanic Education Superhighway, a collaboration between the SBTC, Southwestern Seminary, Jacksonville College and Criswell College?
GONZALES: At this point we are still developing and growing but we have had some success stories. We had our first graduate at Jacksonville College last spring, Manuel Giron. He received his certificate, which is 26 hours. He is now studying in a seminary and was able to transfer all hours, and that is the purpose of the Education Superhighway. We want to raise up a generation of Hispanic ministers with higher education. Now we have six students who are studying at Criswell in the program. This next year we anticipate anywhere from five to seven additional students. That is a great success for us. B.B. Alvarez of Criswell College is chairman of the commission for our Hispanic Education Superhighway.
TEXAN: What changes have you seen in your five years at the SBTC?
GONZALES: We’ve seen phenomenal growth at the Spanish-language session of the Evangelism Conference. Last year we had 1,000 people at our rally at First Baptist Colleyville and we had 100 professions of faith as church folks brought family and friends. We had greater attendance at the Hispanic Women’s Conference. In Houston this year, we had over 650 ladies attending. Youth Week at Alto Frio has grown, along with a singles conference, a men’s conference that is coming up at Mount Lebanon in Cedar Hill–numerous events that are well executed and meet a need in the ministry to Spanish-language people. We had a marriage conference that drew more than 200 people last month and was very well received.
One highlight recently was a regional Hispanic conference at Central Baptist in College Station last August with 120 people joining us for a weekend of inspiration and relaxation away from the rigors of ministry.
We are going to be doing three Hispanic Leadership Conferences in 2010, along with a pastor-wives retreat in Fort Worth for two nights. We will be inviting 25 of our pastors on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a real need for these connection points in our service to Hispanic and ethnic churches.
In addition to these, we have an annual Asian retreat in the summer that drew over 150 people; they met at Chinese Baptist Church in Arlington for a two-night retreat. It was a very inspirational time of fellowship that brought together Laotians, Chinese, Indians, people from all ethnic groups came together with English as the common unifier. Last year, Dr. [Jim] Richards was our keynote speaker.
TEXAN: Bruno Molina joined the staff last year. What is Bruno’s role?
GONZALES: Of course, he’s shared by the evangelism department and our department. Next year he will be in charge of the Hispanic session at the Evangelism Conference. He will also lead the pastor and wives retreat and the four Hispanic leadership conferences. On the evangelism side, he is leading the Muslim outreach trainings that are very, very succcessful. He also this year did a Muslim Awareness Meeting with African American pastors, which was very successful.
TEXAN: As Texas becomes more diverse, how will Southern Baptists need to adapt?
GONZALES: The challenge remains in reaching out to the immigrant, and also the Hispanics who are bilingual and bicultural. Many people groups from various Latin American countries are here. The culture and customs, foods, are all different. When you have in the same congregation Salvadorans, Cubans, Dominicans, Mexicans, that’s a hodgepodge and that could become a problem unless the pastor is able to manage the differences by creating an authentic Christian unity. That’s one of the biggest challenges we have is finding pastors who can unify these various culture groups.
TEXAN: How can people pray for your ministry?
GONZALES: Continue to pray for the Hispanic Education Superhighway so that more students can take part. Our future ministry will depend on these students. And also, that the SBTC would pray for our various events throughout the year, that we would continue to build up and equip the churches we serve.
