January 13, 1999
Pachecano retires as
head of Hispanic Seminary
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Omar Pachecano, 64, retired Jan. 7 as president of Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary in San Antonio.
___Pachecano, who served five and one-half years as the school's president, cited health reasons in announcing his decision Jan. 5, said Levi Price of El Paso, chairman of the board of trustees.
___Trustees appointed Charles LeeWilliamson, retired missions division director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, as interim president.
Omar Pachecano
___The board elected a five-member search committee: Teo Cisneros of Victoria, chairman; Miriam Guzman Leslie of McAllen; Ron Lyles of Pasadena; Mario Ramos of San Antonio; and Doug Diehl of San Antonio.
___"The board of trustees is deeply appreciative of Omar Pachecano and the job he has done at Hispanic Seminary," Price said.
___During Pachecano's tenure, the school began offering a four-year study program and made strides toward receiving accreditation by the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges.
___Pachecano succeeded Joshua Grijalva as the seminary's fifth president on June 1, 1993. He came to the post after being Texas Baptists' first Hispanic associational director of missions, serving El Paso Baptist Associa-tion 1989-93 as director and ten years as associate.
___Before coming to El Paso, he was pastor of Pruitt Avenue Baptist Church in San Antonio, church starter for South San Antonio Mexican Baptist Church and director of ethnic missions for First Baptist Church of Plano.
___Prior to entering vocational Christian ministry, he was a building contractor and business owner. As a young contractor, he poured the foundation for Hispanic Seminary's first building on its southwest San Antonio campus.
___Pachecano twice was elected president of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas, in 1972 and 1979. Other denominational service included terms on the seminary's board, the BGCT Executive Board, the Texas Baptist Hispanic Task Force and Southern Baptists' home and foreign mission boards.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!