Boxes filled with old files may not excite many people, but Bobby Martinez sees them as buried treasure—valuable resources that reveal Hispanic Texas Baptists’ history and heritage.
Martinez, a Ph.D. student in Baylor University’s religion department, wants to shed light on the people, events and institutions that shaped Hispanic Texas Baptist life.
“There is a broader Baptist tradition than the Anglo Baptist story we typically are taught,” he said. “I want to bring the complex history of Hispanic Baptists to the forefront.”
He is working as an intern at the Texas Baptist Historical Collection in Waco, meticulously cataloging and reviewing the records of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and related documents.
Martinez, a graduate of Howard Payne University and Baylor Truett Theological Seminary, is serving as a Hispanic Theological Initiative Scholar, a program designed to encourage Latinx doctoral students.
The program, based at Princeton Theological Seminary, involves a consortium of two-dozen schools, including Harvard Divinity School, Vanderbilt Divinity School, Brite Divinity School, Duke University and Fuller Theological Seminary.
“Sometimes I feel like I am in way over my head,” said Martinez. “I carry the weight of knowing I am in select company. At the same time, I love doing the work.
“I tend to second-guess myself, because the spaces of academia are not really made for me. But I made it, and I am thankful for professors who have believed in me.”
Examining boxes and boxes of material
Martinez is reviewing material in more than 60 file boxes of archival material, examining items page by page to identify and organize the available records.
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Ernest Atkinson, a missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board for 40 years, placed 26 boxes of personal files, photos and other records in the Texas Baptist Historical Collection.
Atkinson served 28 years at the Mexican Baptist Bible Institute—later known as Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary—as professor, librarian and dean.
The boxes Martinez already has examined include minutes of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas—later Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas—from 1910 until the 1980s, along with records from the institution in San Antonio now known as Baptist University of the Américas.
Uncovering unknown resources, discovering gaps
Alan Lefever, director of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection, said he knew only in general terms what archival materials related to Hispanic Texas Baptist history were in the collection before Martinez started working on the project.
“He already has been able to identify significant material and discover gaps in the historical record that we need to fill,” Lefever said.
Jesse Rincones, executive director of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, expressed appreciation to the Hispanic Theological Initiative for making it possible to inventory and catalogue important historical records.
“We knew we had a lot of resources, but we’ve never had the volunteers or staff available to go through them in a methodical way,” Rincones said.
“The older I get, the more I realize how valuable our history is. … As we learn about the challenges Hispanic Baptists in Texas have overcome, we discover the faithfulness of those who have come before us, and we are reminded of God’s faithfulness throughout our history.”
‘I want to tell the story of our people’
Martinez particularly is interested in reading all available material related to two key figures in 20th century Hispanic Texas Baptist history—Josue Grijalva and Leobardo Estrada.
Grijalva was dean of the Mexican Baptist Bible Institute from 1962 to 1981 and president of the renamed Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary from 1989 to 1993. From 1981 to 1989, he was national consultant of ethnic leadership development for the Home Mission Board.
Estrada was language missions coordinator for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, a president of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas and preacher on La Hora Bautista radio program.
“I want to tell the story of our people,” Martinez said. “It’s a complicated history.”
He expects his doctoral dissertation to grow out of the work he is doing—perhaps exploring how controversies in relatively recent Southern Baptist and Texas Baptist history affected Hispanic Texas Baptists.
“I want to see Texas Baptists and Hispanic Baptists in Texas take ownership of the story and ask, ‘What are we going to do with it?’” he said.
‘A labor of love’
Martinez views himself as an “insider-outsider” when it comes to Hispanic Texas Baptist life.
Martinez is the grandson of a Mexican Baptist pastor. In some ways, the history he is uncovering and hopes to record is the story of his family and other families like his.
At the same time, as a “military kid” who spent some time in Germany and Virginia and grew up attending First Baptist Church in Copperas Cove, his personal experiences have been in predominantly Anglo churches. Currently, he attends Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, where he is involved in ministry to youth.
“I haven’t really been part of Convención, so I can be somewhat objective in looking at its history. At the same time, it’s in some sense autobiographical when I look at the story of Hispanic Texas Baptists,” he acknowledged.
“I’m passionate about it. This is a labor of love.”
Martinez wants to connect with anyone who has additional records and resources beyond those in the Texas Baptist Historical Collection—particularly the Grijalva or Estrada family. He can be reached at (254) 371-5383 or (254) 754-9446.
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