Convención highlights message of family, elects officers

ARLINGTON–The Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas convened as part of the the 2018 Family Gathering July 30-31 in Arlington. The joining of Texas Baptists fellowships and conventions inspired an annual message on the biblical family heard by 233 registered messengers and numerous visitors.

“The Family Gathering provided the opportunity for us to see the family of God,” said Rolando Rodriguez, director of Hispanic Ministries for Texas Baptists. “The family is filled with diversity. It contains the great and the good from ages past, as well as the present. It includes men and women serving in various ministries. There is a place in the Family of God for everybody.”

During his sermon on Tuesday, Pastor Roberto Arrubla of Iglesia Bautista el Buen Pastor of Fort Worth said, “Today, the concept of the nuclear family is under attack. We live in a world that calls bad things good and good things bad. The world is trying to redefine marriage…making it acceptable for people to go through surgery to change their gender. It is trying to label the Bible as antiquated.”

He said Christ’s followers deviate from the norm because we don’t think according to the norm that’s been established by society.

“The church continues to be the light in darkness, the light of the earth, ambassadors of the Gospel,” Arrubla said. “We will continue to the end and the gates of hell will not prevail. Family, we are conquerors and we have the best message for a world that’s lost hope. We have the map for a world that is lost.”

Motions and Elections

During the business session, messengers voted to pass a motion to extend a grace period through 2019, allowing churches who are not contributing to the budget to continue to have messengers. Currently, Convencion has about 70 contributing Hispanic churches.

During elections, Rolando Aguirre, Spanish language pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, was re-elected president. Dr. Carlos Valencia, from Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo of Fort Worth, who previously served as second vice president in 2017, was voted first vice president. Dr. Tony Miranda was elected second vice president and Abiel Aké was elected to serve as secretary.

The group also voted to approve the 2018-2019 budget of $114,600, less than a 1% difference from the previous year.

The next Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas will be held on June 23-25 in the McAllen, TX Convention Center.