Hispanic Baptist

I have enjoyed reading Dr. Albert Reyes’ post about Dr. Rudy Sanchez here and on his pandulce blog. I have also enjoyed the articles published in the Baptist Standard and on the North Dallas Family Church website. (See links to these below).

Bro. Rudy was not my pastor but he was nevertheless an encourager and his ministry has blessed me in so many ways. I first came in contact with Bro. Rudy Sanchez as I attended Convención each year as a young man. I was encouraged by his no-nonsense assertiveness. I watched him as he interacted with people, as he spoke from the platform (whether preaching, speaking as a messenger, or leading as the president) and noticed his enthusiasm for the Lord’s work, his concern for our youth and singles, and his determination to advance the cause of the kingdom. He would often honor those Hispanic leaders who had come a generation or two before him. He referred to them as “Los paladines de la obra bautista en Texas” (a graphic image of a champion knight to refer to the heroic service of those pioneers of the Baptist work among Hispanics in Texas). Though he referred to people of the caliber of Josue Grijalva, Leobardo Estrada, Ignacio Gonzalez, Carlos Paredes, Fortunato Gonzalez and others who came before them, I count Dr. Sanchez as one of those “paladines.” His desire to work across denominations and vocational domains to advance the cause of Christ, his ability to relate cross-culturally in the denomination, and his tireless efforts to see Hispanic work on the same playing field as its Anglo compliment mark him as such. We were all proud the day that Dr. Albert Reyes was elected the first Hispanic president of the BGCT, but it was a few years before that Dr. Rudy Sanchez broke ground by becoming the first Hispanic chairman of the executive board of the same institution!

Bro. Rudy Sanchez encouraged me with affection and words. He would see me at denominational events, spoke words of encouragement to me and hugged me with affection. That was significant to me. I saw him doing that with other young ministers also. He had a deep sense of connection with those who had come before him and those who were coming after him. He made it known that he was confident about the leadership that God has raised among us. May we be encouragers to those God is raising up and will raise up after us!

Though not explicitly stated below, Dr. Sanchez was also pastor of Primera in Fort Worth. This is significant because it is during his pastorate there that he met and married Hna. Ruth. It is significant to me because many of the members of my congregation were members of Primera then and remember him fondly. In fact, because of this connection, I have had the privilege of celebrating wedding anniversaries and officiating funerals for families in my church that loved him and whom he loved also. On one occasion, a family in Fort Worth that had not attended any church for many years asked him to officiate a funeral. Bro. Rudy agreed but asked if I could also officiate. This was his way of lovingly connecting a family with a local church. It was also a way of his communicating to me his trust of my pastoral leadership. It has been about ten years since this incident and that family continues to attend Getsemani faithfully every Sunday. What a lesson in pastoral ministry!

I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to have known Bro. Rudy, to have been encouraged by him and to learn from his leadership.

Julio S. Guarneri, pastor

Iglesia Bautista Getsemani

Fort Worth

On Saturday, I learned that my former pastor, Dr. Rudy Sanchez passed away in Dallas, Texas. He served as pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista (First Mexican Baptist Church) of Corpus Christi, Dallas, Bryan, and Trinity Baptist Church of Houston. He is survived by his wife Ruth, two daughters: Rhoda (Rev. Vincent Gonzales) and Rebekah (Chris Layne) and three sons: Reggie Sánchez, Scottie Sánchez, and Herman Splatt.

Dr. Rudy Sanchez

The Memorial Service will be held on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 7pm at Northway Baptist Church in Dallas and an Interment Service will be held at 10 am on Friday, February 13th at Rest Land Cemetery in Dallas.

I would not normally write about a personal friend on this blog. However, Bro. Rudy was my pastor when I answered a call to vocational ministry in 1974. I walked forward in the service during a revival to respond to an invitation to vocational ministry. I felt the Lord moving my heart in that service. Bro. Rudy took me under his wing and put me to work, immediately. He affirmed my fragile sense of calling and put me to work taking me at my word and heart. He gave me a responsibility in the children’s ministry, youth ministry and within one year provided an opportunity to preach my first sermon in a public congregational service. If you have heard me preach lately, you have heard me recount that experience. About 34 years have passed by and I am still preaching the same gospel. I am one of many of his sons in the ministry to include Frank Palos, Dr. Gus Reyes, Dr. Delfino Aleman, Joe Rojo, Charlie Diaz, Dr. Ellis Orozco, and the list goes on. There are many who will read this blog and will also add their names to the list of those who were formed for vocational ministry under Dr. Sánchez’ leadership or influenced by his life and ministry.

I have been asked to participate in the funeral services as one of the ministers to remember his life and ministry. Bro. Rudy taught several lessons through his example. He taught me to see the community as his parish rather than merely the congregation that met on Sunday. He demonstrated the value of engaging pastors and priests of other denominations while fiercely advancing the Baptist vision of Kingdom work. He never forgot his life journey as an orphan and found ways to serve the least of these: the orphan, the widow, the poor, the sick, the prisoner, and the oppressed. He taught me how to love the larger Baptist family and demonstrated that you enact change by personal involvement rather than critiquing from a distance. He taught me to expect much from the Texas Baptist Family and to dream for better days to advance the Kingdom. Most of all, he taught me how to be a pastor by taking the time to attend an awards ceremony at my high school Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps. He made time for me. To this day, I remain amazed but remembered how important it was for me to have my pastor there. I tried to replicate that value in my pastoral ministry but I am sure I missed of few of those divine appointments. Please take time to pray for Bro. Rudy’s family: Ruth, Rhoda, Vincent, Rebekah, Reggie, Scottie, Herman and their grandchildren as they remember their dad and grandpa.

Written by: Dr. Albert Reyes

Other articles written on Dr. Rudy Sanchez
Baptist Standard
North Dallas Family

I know what you’re thinking, Hispanic Youth Ministry, this should be good. You think that because Hispanic Youth Ministry, depending on the church, is so unorganized that you can only do the best you can.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful for the experience that I had and it was an honor serving Hispanic Baptist churches in Texas and it continues to be that way. Many say that the best way to learn is by doing and that is exactly how I learned to do this type of ministry. In other settings I would not have been able to do what I did the past six years. The reason is because so many churches require a youth leader to have some type of ministry related degree or training or experience for that matter. All I needed to qualify was to be active in the youth group before hand and to be a good responsible person that the “hermanas” can speak for whenever needed. So my calling to ministry was the first step and the second was getting involved in the youth leadership meetings.

Hispanic Youth Ministry does have its weak points but I think its because Hispanics are used to doing things on the fly and last minute. That is why we give people invitations to Quinceanera’s the day before the event. Then call everybody on Saturday to tell them that the location has changed. It’s awesome and informal at the same time.

The best part of Hispanic Youth ministry is also the worst part of youth ministry, the budget. Put a dozen youth ministers in room and ask them about what kind of help they need in their Hispanic church where they serve. I can almost guarantee you that its going to be budget. Once you have a set budget you can do the activities that the youth want to do.

I must admit, the best part of Hispanic Youth Ministry was coming up with activities to do for free. You’d be surprised what youth will do with marshmallows and string. Since youth act up in my lessons I often make them act out verses to get back at them, and they get creative. Maybe it was those dollar cheeseburgers that I would give away to the winning team. Nonetheless it doesn’t take a lot of money to start up a youth ministry inside a Hispanic church. Especially when BaptistWay Press has free bible studies for youth.

To all Hispanic Youth ministers reading this, hang in there and thank you so much for your service in our churches. People are afraid of Hispanic Youth ministry because of all the challenges that come with it but I know that the experience and creativity that I gained is priceless and the many youth who received Christ under my leadership as well.

Blessings!

Although our church is not currently seeking a full-time worship leader, we are constantly evaluating our effectiveness in this area.  The challenges of music styles, multi-generational congregation, bi-culturalism and, in our  church’s case, bilingualism are great.  I found this article interesting in its discussion of a search for a worship leader:

http://tinyurl.com/5jsv3t

I find the discussion very relevant to our particular context.  Add to that the challenge of addressing the cultural needs of the congregation.  In our case, there are 13 countries represented in our pews, not to mention that just in Mexico we have mariachi’s, nortena, spanish pop, cumbia’s and tropical, to name a few.  Now, keeping it bilingual is not the biggest challenge but it does make things a little more complex.

Though the author seems to assume that choir music is performance only and worship teams automatically involve the congregation in direct worship, I believe this is oversimplified.  This may be more the norm than the exception but times of contemplation and meditation are possible while choirs are singing.  But most importantly, some worship teams could be in danger of being more into performance than into worship leading.  It is important that the worship leaders and worship team members actually be worshiping and that they are seeking throughout the worship service to engage the congregation in worship, rather than getting through the song and onto the next song.

I couldn’t agree more on the necessity of quiet reflection, meaningful prayer times, scripture reading and affirmations of faith as integral parts of the worship experience, not as added side ingredients to the “main” thing which is the music.

I would like to hear what your experience and thoughts are on the subject.  Please post or comment.

 It looks like one of our very own authors of Rdestino is going to be speaking at Congreso at Baylor University. His name is Sergio Ramos. Congrats Sergio, I know you are going to be a blessing to our young Hispanic Baptist youth of Texas. If you are a Pastor or Youth leader, the Congreso 2009 website has launched and has all the information that you need for registering your young people for this life changing event.

Keep Congreso in your prayers, many Hispanic students across Texas will attend and make decisions for the Lord. They are the future faces of Hispanics in Texas so lets do what we can to educate them about the Lord and about making right decisions.

-God Bless

Wow it has been a while since I have posted anything on the blog, I thought I had a cool little routine down, but just like all the other routines I have had….well nevermind. You know when I was a in grade school summer couldn’t get here fast enough, as a speaker and youth camp coordinator summer comes way to F-A-S-T. I am writing from out first summer camp for the year, and although numbers are a little low we are seeing God impact the lives of the kids here in West Texas. Campamento West Texas is hosted by the Plains Baptist assembly, in Floydada, Texas, and is where I came to camp when I was 13 yrs. old. I am a whole lot older now (32), but it is so cool to see that although so much has changed, still so much hasn’t. The way God impacts lives is still the same, sometimes I catch myself trying to be super innovative or trying to keep up with all the cool trends all the big churches or big camps are doing. Campamento West Texas has reminded me why God put “Simplicity” on my heart to be our theme…all we truly need is Jesus. The Speaker for this camp is Carlos Lopez and he isn’t a flashy speaker, in fact he may be a little boring (just hold on Carlos I am trying to make a point) but he is bringing God’s simple, powerful, life impacting word, and you that is enough. To see the way the campers are responding can only be described as Divine. I thank God for reminding me that all we truly need is Him, and everything else will fall into place. Although summer came in a hurry I can’t wait to see how God will use this time to impact lives including the one on this side of the computer. Hope to keep blogging throughout the summer, but you know how I do with routines!

-TINY   

Albert caused me to think more specifically about one of the questions I offered several posts ago …

Albert said …

Ellis, your questions are refreshing. I am not sure I have answers for these tough questions. Through our work at Buckner we are providing a platform for the next generation to get on mission to serve children and families who desparately need help. I am hoping to open up internships to provide the next generation to discover ways God might use them in non-traditional capacities. Hopefully out of this call, some youth might gain a sharper call to pastoral ministry to equip the membership for ministry. When I was at BUA, a theological university, we were surprised to learn that only about 40% of the students were there to study to be a pastor. The majority wanted to serve the church but not as a pastor or staff minister. God is calling our youth but as you asked: Do we have a place to plug them in? We are making a place at Buckner through internships and staff positions. Let’s keep pursuing these questions. Very few leaders are thinking this way.

The part that caught my attention was that more than 50% of his BUA students were NOT studying to become pastors (by this I assume he means traditional senior pastors of a church).  The reason that strikes me is that I was recently asked to go speak at chapel at Truett and spend some time with students in a class setting, as well as Q&A time.  Truett is bringing in different pastor practitioners who can give the student body a positive message about pastoring because so few of them are wanting to go into the pastorate.  So, Al, I think it’s probably a pretty big trend.  We need to pay close attention to what God is doing and completely rethink the way we do church.

We are looking at the possibility of doing satellite worship services at my church.  I’m not particulary fond of the idea, but it’s growing on me.  One of the things we will need are “pastors” who are not interested in a traditional model of pastoring, but in being “lead shepherds” at these satellite congregations, ministering to the needs of the people, under the umbrella of Calvary.  These shepherds would not be traditional “preaching pastors,” but rather “pastoral ministry” … “spritual development” … and “equipping” type of ministers.  It seems a great place to get a lot of experience on the “nuts and bolts” of ministering to people, without the overwhelming demands of being a lead pastor … and without being a “preacher” in the traditional sense.

We have also attempted a co-op ministry where we rent a building and have businesses use the facility during the day (coffee shop, t-shirt shop, art gallery, etc.), and at night and at different times we have worship and bible study there … it begins to get the church out into the community.  No sign anywhere that says “Calvary” or anything that would smack of a church.  It’s just a place where people come to drink coffee or buy a shirt … but the Christ Spirit is there … and there are plenty of flyers around that advertise a Thursday night Concert or a Tuesday night AA meeting or a Saturday Karaoke night.

Anyway … I would see these kinds of ministries as ways to connect an entire generation that seems to be saying … “Typical Senior Pastor? … No thanks.”

ellis

Thanks for the bios … it has really helped me get to know you a little better. 

As I mentioned before, I’m a little “out of the loop” and am curious about the state of affairs in the existing structures for Baptist work among Hispanics.  I know that it is impossible to paint all Hispanics (American and Non-American) into a single category. It is impossible, in fact, to relegate all Texas Baptist Hispanics (a much smaller grouping) into one cultural body.  In the Texas Baptist Hispanic church I grew up in there were 19 different countries represented from all across the Latin world. Latinos in America are such a widely diverse group that to attempt a synthesis of their cultural patterns would be impossible.

Acknowledging that … what are the things that bring us together? Who are we talking about when we talk about Hispanics in Baptist life?  For me it would include anyone who would claim their Hispanic identity as part of their hermeneutical baggage (the way they interpret Scripture and the world), and who live their Christian lives within the context of a commitment to the Latino struggle to become a follower of Christ (salvation/liberation/discipleship). 

Justo Gonzalez, in his book Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes, identifies five lenses through which Hispanics view the Bible (and the world, for that matter): Marginalization, Mestizo, Exile, Poverty, and Solidarity.  Pablo Jimenez (Teologia en Conjunto: A Collaborative Hispanic Protestant Theology ) and Gustavo Gutierrez (We Drink from our own Wells) would add the supremacy of community to the Latino perspective (something Gonzalez addresses in his idea of solidarity). They both (Jimenez and Gutierrez) lament the privatization of the salvation experience in American Christianity and how it has warped the experience for American Latinos.

So … How are we addressing the issues particular to the Hispanic condition within the existing structures in Baptist life?  Are the existing structures able to carry the weight of the work that is ahead?  There’s no need to reinvent the wheel … unless the wheel isn’t turning. Baptist life is rapidly changing.  How are Hispanic Baptists changing with it? 

These are a few questions from someone “out of the loop” who is genuinely unaware of the answers …

I leave them unanswered …

I’m calling on you … my friends … to enlighten me …

Blessings,

Ellis

I graduated from SWBTS in 1992. In 1994 a few of us started meeting every year to “think together” on the issues that affected Hispanos.  We called it Network 2000 because that’s all it was … a loose network of friends who enjoyed thinking and talking about the same things … and because we planned on meeting only until the year 2000.  It’s been a while. I’m excited about thinking together again with my old friends from Network 2000 and with a bunch of new friends. 

After seminary I pastored a bilingual congregation in Corpus Christi for seven years.  I was active in the work of Convencion, Congreso, Hispanic Youth Camp, Hispanic Singles Camp, etc.  Over the last eight years I have pastored a wonderful congregation in McAllen that is predominately Anglo-American (95% when I got here).  I’ve been pretty much consumed with learning how to be the pastor of a church that is very different from what I had previously experienced.  All this to say … I feel somewhat “out of touch” with what is happening in the “Hispanic Baptist” world.  I continue to go to Convencion … but I still feel out of touch. 

For this reason … I will probably have a lot more questions than answers or advice.  I would love to get straight to the questions (always a good way to get a conversation started) … but feel a need to catch up with old friends … and get to know my knew friends a little better.  For this reason I’d like to ask each of the writers on this blog to please give me a brief synopsis of your life, call, and ministry experience.  It would really help me on the journey we are taking together …

I’ll be glad to start …

My name is Eleazar (Ellis) Orozco. I was born in Houston, Texas on October 4, 1961 to Antonio Alvardo Orozco and Carmen Flores Orozco.  My father was originally from Monterrey, and my mother from Houston.  I accepted the Lord as my Savior at the age of 14 and was baptized in the church I grew up in, Templo Bautista, South Houston.  I graduated from South Houston High School, where I played football, ran track, and chased cheerleaders (I didn’t catch very many).  I graduated from Texas A&M University (where they don’t have cheerleaders) with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.  I worked as an Engineer in Houston for a few years before God called me to ministry.  I earned an M.Div. from SWBTS and a D.Min. from Truett Seminary. 

I met my wife Priscilla (Castro) Orozco while I was at SWBTS. She graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Elementary Education.  She is a school teacher.  Her father is a retired pastor (Marcos Castro) and her mother, Ruby, went to be with the Lord when Priscilla was only 12 years old.  My wife comes from a wonderful Christian family and I am truly blessed that she married me.  We have three children … Gabriel (15), Michael (10), and Celeste (9).  Gabriel is a freshmen in high schoold and is beginning to carry on the legacy of chasing cheerleaders.  I think he’s going to catch a lot more than I did.  Michael is brilliant, and Celeste is beautiful (like her mother). 

Along the way I was Youth Minister at … Templo Bautista (South Houston), Primera Iglesia Bautista (Fort Worth), and Iglesia Bautista Getsemani (Fort Worth) – B.J. (before julio).  I’ve pastored two churches: Iglesia Bautista Gollihar (Corpus Christi) for 7 years, and Calvary Baptist Church (McAllen) for the last 8 years.  They are both wonderful churches with some of the greatest Christians I have ever met.  Calvary has some of the strongest and most brilliant leaders in the entire Valley.  I am truly lucky to be their pastor.

I look forward to reading a little about each of you. 

Blessings,

Ellis

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