Hispanic network's 6-year mark fueled by 315 new church starts
PHOENIX (BP)--The launch of 315 new Hispanic Baptist churches last year and the progress of a state Baptist convention in Puerto Rico will be celebrated during the Sixth Annual Celebration of the SBC Hispanic Multiplying Church Network June 16 in Phoenix.
Puerto Rico is moving strongly in the direction of becoming a convention, said Bob Sena, manager of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board church planting group's Hispanic unit. The Puerto Rican group elected a president, Rene Pereira of Glennview Baptist Church in Ponce, and will choose an executive director in July.
The SBC Hispanic Multiplying Church Network first met in conjunction with the 1998 SBC annual meeting in Salt Lake City.
Last year, more than 300 people representing 17 states gathered for the Hispanic network meeting. This year's meeting, at North Phoenix Baptist Church, will begin with a 5 p.m. dinner.
The program, which begins at 5:50, will include a Call to Church Multiplication by Daniel Sanchez, professor of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and founding director of the school's Scarborough Institute for Church Planting and Growth.
Also featured in the program will be a special recognition of Fermin Whittaker as a Champion for Church Planting. Whittaker has served as executive director of the California Southern Baptist Convention since 1995 and worked for 18 years at the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has focused much of his ministry among Hispanic populations in serving local churches and on evangelistic crusades throughout the Americas.
Queries about the network and available resources for Hispanic church planting can be phoned to (770) 410-6227 or e-mailed to bsena@namb.net.
Nearly 36 million Hispanics in the United States comprise the largest minority group and, now at 12.5 percent of the population, are the fastest-growing segment, Sena said.
