January 28, 2002
Baptist Standard hosts Hispanic leaders for day of exploration
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--Texas Baptist Hispanic leaders joined representatives of the Baptist Standard staff and board of directors Jan. 18 for a daylong discussion of how the Standard might better meet the needs of Hispanic Baptists.
___"This is a historic encounter," said Rudy Sanchez, a member of the Standard's board and pastor of First Mexican Baptist Church of Dallas. "We've never before had a meeting like this in Texas Baptist life."
___Sanchez, immediate past chairman of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board, praised the Standard staff and board for seeking input from Hispanic Baptist leaders.
___Editor Marv Knox explained the purpose of the meeting was to discover "how we can most effectively do our task to inform, inspire, equip and empower" Hispanic Baptists. This is drawn from implementation of the Standard's mission statement that is being fleshed out by a long-range planning committee, he said.
___The long-range planning committee identified as its first task the need "to embrace the future by communicating to and with Hispanics," Knox said.
___"We quickly came to the conclusion that we needed some help," he said, referencing Proverbs 11:14. That proverb says, "For a lack of guidance, a nation falls; but many advisers make victory sure."
___The program began with an hour-long presentation of current demographic data by Clay Price, director of research services with the BGCT. The group then spent several hours digesting and discussing the implications of that data.
___Based on counsel given by the Hispanic leaders, the Standard will move toward conducting specific market research among Hispanic Baptists and possibly marketing additional products to meet the needs of the Hispanic community, Knox said.
___In addition to Baptist Standard staff, participants included Sanchez; Margarita Treviño, a Standard board member, president of the Christian Education and Research Institute and member of First Baptist Church of Keller; Jimmy Garcia, director of the BGCT's office of Hispanic work; Albert Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School; Alex Camacho, secretary of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and pastor of Iglesia Cristiano in McKinney; Rudy Camacho, a lay preacher, member of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth and immediate past president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention; Antonio Estrada, minister to Hispanics at South Main Baptist Church in Houston and current president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention; Mark Bumpus, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells and current chairman of the Standard's board as well as chairman of the newspaper's long-range planning committee; and Leroy Fenton, pastor of First Baptist Church of Waxahachie and past chairman of the Standard's board.
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