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FRISCO—Twenty-five professions of faith during a Spanish-language rally and 38 churches responding to a call to embrace unengaged, unreached people groups (UUPGs) were cited as high points of the SBTC’s annual Empower Evangelism Conference.
The Feb. 27-29 conference at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco also featured a notable lineup of preachers and musicians, including Grammy winner Larnelle Harris and gospel quartet Signature Sound.
The Spanish-language rally and a series of breakout sessions the weekend preceding the plenary conference was well attended, said Bruno Molina, SBTC language evangelism associate.
The Sunday night rally with Freddy Noble, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana Manhattan in New York City, drew about 1,000 people.
“We were very pleased with the turnout,” Molina said. “We were certainly thrilled that 25 lives were transformed and just that God would move in such a profound way.”
Also, the inaugural Rudy Hernandez Award for faithfulness in evangelism was presented to Lucy Hernandez, Rudy’s widow. Hernandez was a longtime Texas pastor, evangelist and denominational leader.
Molina said many people responded favorably upon hearing that Lucy Hernandez would receive the award. Molina said the award would be given annually “to honor his memory and to inspire other evangelists and other people to be faithful in evangelism.”
On Saturday prior to the conference, Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano hosted a series of Spanish-language evangelism seminars that drew more than 300 people.
“We drew more people than in past years because it was a Saturday instead of Monday, and we were able to equip them for ministry and to be inspired by the preaching of the Word. So we are just thankful to God for his goodness in that,” Molina said.
During the closing session of the evangelism conference on Feb. 29, International Mission Board President Tom Elliff invited churches to answer a call to “embrace” a UUPG and to live a life of “obligation” to the gospel, modeling the apostle Paul’s burden “for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
The convention staff reported that 38 churches responded to the call to begin the process of engaging these lost people groups, where fewer than 2 percent of the people are Christians and where no gospel witness exists.
