LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–Hispanic Southern Baptist pastors and state leaders from across the United States will join in Hispanic-focused events prior to this June’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Louisville. The theme will be “Live with Urgency: Sowing Together for the Harvest” for the North American Mission Board-sponsored events.
“While 1,000 attended the events in San Antonio two years ago, we expect a good turnout in Louisville because there are 10 Hispanic Southern Baptist churches in the city and even more in the surrounding Louisville area,” said Jorge Sedaca, NAMB church planting coordinator.
“It’s always a big event,” Sedaca said. “We do it year after year because of the fellowship, the inspiration, the worship and the training.”It takes Sedaca and several other NAMB Hispanic team members to develop and carry out the annual event.
The Hispanic emphasis actually begins prior to the SBC annual meeting. This year, coinciding with Crossover ’09 in Louisville, Hispanic Baptists will conduct their own Crossover — sharing Christ in Hispanic neighborhoods and in the Churchill Downs area and holding simultaneous revivals in Louisville’s Hispanic churches during the week of June 15. Hispanic Crossover will culminate on Saturday, June 20, with a Hispanic block party.
Some 500 attendees are expected for the annual National Hispanic Celebration sponsored by NAMB June 21-22. A dinner and worship celebration is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Parkland Baptist Church, with Rudy Gonzalez, dean of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary-San Antonio Center, as the featured speaker. New Mexico-based Christian family group Caballero will provide the music.
The Hispanic Pastor’s Conference/Breakfast will follow on Monday from 8 a.m.–noon in Room South C201 at the Kentucky Exposition Center. Featured speakers will be Sedaca; Joshua Del Risco of NAMB’s evangelism group; and Jess Fairbanks from NAMB’s church planting group. Simultaneously at a Hispanic ladies conference, 9 a.m.-noon, Alicia Zorzoli, an IMB missionary based in El Paso, Texas, will speak on “Issues Hispanic Women Face in Ministry” in Room South C202 in the Exposition Center.
The day will culminate with a noon Hispanic luncheon sponsored by the International Mission Board in Room South C203 in the exposition center.
Also in conjunction with the SBC, the Fellowship of Hispanic Churches of the SBC will be meeting June 21-22 for various activities (see related BP story from April 24.)
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Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.
