Archive for April 18th, 2008

     At the age of seven I accepted Christ during Vacation Bible School.  One of the key elements that made me realize the need of Christ on that day, and still impacts me today, was when my teacher told the group that “the love for Jesus was so strong that he did not pay attention to the pain He suffered for us.”  This has influenced my life and my commitment to become more like Christ.  I strongly believe that through true love and its attributes one can find the path to success.   As I work and relate today with Christian leaders my first and most important objective is that people will experience or see the love of Christ in me. Even though being a friend of Julio makes it difficult (Se te quiere chavo!).

     Another important aspect of my childhood and part of my adolescent years was my participation in the Royal Ambassadors of Christ.  This organization helped me develop strong Christian habits and friendship.  Obedience to Christ and self-discipline was highly encouraged in this organization. One of the important influences of this ministry was the confidence I gained in my social skills. This confidence has allowed me to be able to relate with other leaders in today’s ministries. I have learned the importance of social skills as the bridge that will allow results to happen. Also, I have been able to grasp how the elements and dynamics of relationships play a crucial role in my spiritual journey. 

     The Royal Ambassadors experience also helped me discover how self-discipline and trust are crucial in obeying God.  Even today, as I encounter the different situations and different personalities, I still practice the focus on God and His principles instead of allowing the present moment determine my final decisions. Discipline has helped me reflect on my values and keep God’s love as my goal instead of the emotions I might have at the moment.

     While the above stories give a glimpse of some elements I consider important in how I practice leadership today, it was the following experiences which led me to concretize how my purpose would be implemented. My father has been a pastor for 43 years.  I have been able to experience first hand the amount of challenges and injustices that ministers go through in their vocation. I observed how it affected my mother, other ministers that I knew through friendship with my parents, and my brothers and me. I saw my parent’s frustration when they failed to accomplish their visions as a result of lack of skills, resources, and even ill intentions of others. On the positive side I also became aware that ministries through the use of networks (support systems), following God’s principles, and encouragement were able to accomplish their visions.

     The other side of this experience was also the difficulty that my father, and at times my mother had in balancing ministry and family. I know the pain this created in my siblings and me as my parents struggled to make time for the home and ministry.  These experiences gave me a desire to help and serve ministers.  Also, having an inside look at the ministry dynamic in addition to the opportunities God has provided me to understand the leadership environment, motivated me to make a commitment to God to serve, equip, and challenge those who have devoted their lives to expand His Kingdom.

I answered a call to salvation when I was nine years old and a call to vocational ministry when I was about 15 years old in 1975. I am a third generation native Tejano born to Baptist Christian parents. My family first heard the gospel in the 1930′s as migrant workers picking cotton near Snyder, Texas. Edwardo P. Gonzales was the church planter/missionary who announced the gospel to our family. Francisca Rodriguez Reyes responded in faith and the gospel that came to us went through us and each of her children. My mother was a Roman Catholic when she and my father were married. They began attending Primera Iglesia Bautista in Corpus Christi before I was born. Ignacio Gonzales was their pastor and discipled my dad.

After I was a year old my family moved to California in an effort to raise us in a part of the country where discrimination was not so prevalent during the early 1960′s. We joined Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel where my mother and older brother, Gus, came to faith in Christ and were baptized. The family later joined Memorial Baptist Church in Rialto, California under the leadership of Leonard Roten and later Bill Thornton, a transplanted Texan. I came to faith in Christ and was Baptized under Rev. Thornton’s ministry. My younger brother, Fred was also born in California. He is married to Sharon and they have three children: Ahnna, Caleb, and Seth and live near Nashville, Tennessee. Gus married Leticia Lozano and they live in Dallas with three children: Andrea who is married to Fabian Ramirez, Gus 2nd, and Samuel.

We moved back to Texas in 1970 to be closer to our families, the Reyes’ and the Garcia’s. We returned to my father’s church PIB in Corpus and Rudy Hernandez was the pastor followed by Rudy Sanchez. Those were wonderful years of growing up at PIB, learning Spanish and the culture. Those were the years that Primera was a softball powerhouse at Alto Frio and Mount Lebanon during the Texas Baptist Mexican American Youth Camp. I answered a call to vocational ministry as a 15 year old at Primera in Corpus and began to preach when I was 16. Bro. Rudy put me in charge of the Children’s worship and I found myself in leadership roles in the youth ministry.

During those years I sang in the Ambassador Quartet and went with Bro. Rudy Sanchez as he preached in churches around South Texas. In one of those churches, Beeville, I met Belinda Ruth Alvarado, whom I would later marry. I saw her again at youth camp where we began our courtship.

I graduated from Mary Carroll High School and went to Angelo State University to earn a BBA in Management. Belinda went to Baylor University and earned a BS degree in Speech-Pathology. We were married in 1982 and then moved to Fort Worth to attend seminary. I graduated with an MDiv in 1989. In the meantime, Belinda earned an MS in Communication Disorders and a PhD in Communication Disorders and Human Sciences from UT Dallas.

During my seminary years I served as pastor at Home Gardens Baptist Church in the Hispanic mission, Iglesia Bautista Amistad and after graduation from seminary I served as pastor of North Temple Baptist Church in Dallas. I enrolled in the DMin program in 1991 and graduated in 1995 with a DMin in Missiology. In 1992 we sensed a call to El Paso, Texas to plant Pueblo Nuevo Community Church until 1999 when I was called to Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary to serve as president. I really thought I was going to retire at Pueblo Nuevo in El Paso and HBTS in San Antonio but the Lord had other plans. HBTS went through certification to grant degrees, accreditation, a name change, and the purchase of a new campus in seven years. It was a phenomenal time of growth and miracles. During those years I enrolled in a PhD degree program in leadership at Andrews University in an effort to enhance BUA’s potential for accreditation and certification to grant degrees. I am doing my dissertation on “Exploring Organizational Transformation in Higher Education: A Study of Executive Leadership Reflection.” This is an exploratory qualitative case study on my tenure at BUA in light of its 60 year history.

In 2007 I began my current assignment as president of Buckner Children and Family Services, Inc. in Dallas. I have to say that I am fully engaged and fulfilled in this role. I have felt this way in every Kingdom assignment the Lord has given me. I think it it important to be faithful in one’s assignment, focus on building skils, competencies, and providing leadership where we are. Rather than looking for the next career move, I have made it a practice to radically invest myself where I was with a 100% commitment to give up my life for what the Lord has called me to.

Belinda is my best friend, bar none. She has been a wonderful partner in ministry and in life. She is a fantastic mother to Joshua, David, and Thomas. These guys are a blessing to me even if I am not cool during their teen years. We love each other and Belinda and I work hard each day to help them learn how to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

You can read more about my stuff at www.pandulce.typepad.com especially if you look at February of 2007. There may be more info there than you want to know.

Ellis Orozco, Josh Guajardo, John Roman, and serveral other friends from across the state starting talking about what it means to be both Latino and Baptist at the same time back in the early 1990′s. Ellis mentioned this in his entry. Today the tribe has grown and I hope we make room for lots of emerging leaders who will make a positive impact in the Kingdom for years to come.

My mission is to develop kingdom leaders from my circle of influence to the ends of the earth.