November 11, 2002

BGCT and SBTC working together
on Hispanic church start in Diboll
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___DIBOLL--The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention have found a bit of common ground at Primera Iglesia Bautista in Diboll.
___The two conventions have elected to cooperate rather than compete as they jointly fund the only evangelical Hispanic mission in the East Texas community.
___"It's very encouraging to see this kind of cooperation," said Stephen Parks, director of missions for Unity Baptist Association.
___The cooperation came about because both First Baptist and Lakeview Baptist churches in Diboll wanted to reach out to the Hispanic population living there. More than a third of the community's 5,500 people are Hispanic, according to the 2000 Census. Pastors Buster Grigg and Roy Hall agreed an outreach was imperative.
___While Grigg's First Baptist congregation is a BGCT church, Hall's Lakeview congregation has dually aligned with both the BGCT and SBTC. The SBTC is a breakaway convention formed by individuals and churches displeased with the BGCT.
___Rather than let that be an obstacle, however, the churches used it as a plus to enlist both conventions in supporting the fledgling mission.
___"Before we were dually affiliated, we knew we needed to reach Hispanic families and that is the whole intent here," Hall said. "The politics is not something we're really interested in anyway; we're just glad to see we're reaching people."
___And the new congregation is reaching people, Pastor Alex Montilla said. Thirty to 35 people attend services each Sunday. The congregation recently transitioned from meeting in homes to meeting in a building the church bought in a commercial area.
___Montilla also is pastor of Iglesia Bautista La Fey in Lufkin. He preaches at both churches on Sundays--9:30 a.m. in Diboll and 11.am. in Lufkin--and alternates Bible study and prayer meetings on the other days of the week. He takes Mondays off for "family time," but he admits that even that day is sometimes absorbed with church duties.
___In addition to being pastor of two churches, he also works part-time as a chaplain at the Pilgrim's Pride poultry plant in Lufkin.
___"It really is a good thing," Montilla said. "There are about 1,700 workers, and about 89 percent of them are Hispanic. It's been a blessing because if you're knocking on doors and people don't know you, that's a barrier you have to overcome. Now, when I knock on their doors, these people know me."
___Seven people from the plant now attend Montilla's Lufkin church, and two others have joined the Diboll congregation.
___Montilla, a native of Venezuela, came to Lufkin six years ago and started that congregation on his own. He is appreciating the support he is being given in the Diboll start.
___That the support is coming from both of the state's Baptist conventions has not been a problem, according to both Randy Gilchrist of the BGCT Church Starting Center and Terry Coy, ethnic church planting associate in the SBTC's missions/evangelism department.
___"We haven't had anything but good meetings," Grigg said. "These guys are just interested in doing the Lord's work."
___Montilla agreed. "I feel like both men are good men who love the Lord."
___Abe Zabaneh, director of the BGCT Church Starting Center, said the BGCT has no limitations on working with dually aligned churches. "If the sponsor church is dually aligned or is working with another church which is, we still will help. Our mission is to bring people to Christ, and if we can partner with others to do that, well that's great."
___The Diboll church is the sixth one the two conventions have jointly funded so far. The conventions also have cooperated to start three Brazilian congregations and one African-American congregation in Houston and an Anglo mission in Pearland. The BGCT also has worked with the National Baptist Convention on some occasions in starting African-American churches.

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