January 15, 2001

Hispanic fellowship leaders meet
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Leadership of the Hispanic Baptist fellowships in Central Texas met Dec. 19 with leaders of Hispanic work through the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The regional meeting was an attempt to assess the viability of conducting similar regional meetings across the state, said Jimmy Garcia, BGCT ethnic missions coordinator.
___Garcia deemed the meeting in Belton a success because it brought Hispanic leaders together to share information and concerns. In addition to Garcia, the meeting was attended by Antonio Estrada, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, and Lorenzo Pena, coordinator of the BGCT's associational missions and administration unit.
___"There was a consensus that they can play a role in informing the churches of different issues we're facing," Garcia said. "They of course would like to be better informed and then pass that information to the churches."
___Questions also were asked about how the Hispanic churches can continue to support the Texas Cooperative Program and recent budget changes. Garcia said the Hispanic pastors were enthusiastic about those budget changes, which will provide greater funding for Hispanic ministry and the Hispanic Baptist Theological School, once they understood the details.
___Leo Grimaldo, pastor of Jerusalem Baptist Church of Bryan, added that the group discussed "important issues concerning relations between the Anglo associations and ethnic group pastors and their role in the associational leadership."
___Hispanic pastors want to be more involved in the Anglo associations and be given more leadership roles, he said.

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