By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
LAFAYETTE – Prior to the Louisiana Baptist Evangelism Conference, Hispanics in the state will meet for their own version of the event at First Baptist Lafayette.
Scheduled for Jan. 22-23, the Hispanic Evangelism Conference will feature a banquet with music by El Renuevo and messages by Wilson Campoverde.
El Renuevo is the Hispanic church at First Baptist Lafayette while Campoverde is a native of Cuenca, Ecuador, who has been serving churches in Latin America.
He lives in Mission, Texas, and travels to many countries speaking at discipleship, evangelism and church planting conferences.
“I am very excited about the ECON in South Central Louisiana since we now have four congregations in the area,” LBC’s Hispanic catalytic church planter strategist Carlos Schmidt said. “In 2015 we have had a phenomenal growth in LBC works in this area. We have tripled since 2013. We expect a good attendance, a strong challenge and a great number of people mobilized to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Since Schmidt came on board as a strategist for Louisiana Baptists, attendance at the conference has grown, reflective of the trend for the planting of Hispanic churches in the state.
When Schmidt started in 2013, 46 Hispanic churches were ministering in the state. Today, 56 are now in operation, with the most in New Orleans where 65-70 percent of Hispanics live.
Plans for this year are to start nine more Hispanic churches.
Of those, one will be in Bossier City and one in Gonzales, areas that have no Louisiana Baptist Hispanic church presence.
Three will be planted in Baton Rouge, which has just one now. Others scheduled to have a Hispanic church plant in 2016 include Denham Springs, Natchitoches and New Orleans.
Schmidt said this bullish plan is reflective of the goals of the President’s 2020 Commission. Approved by messengers during the 2013 LBC Annual Meeting, 2020 focuses on two audiences – the next generation and every people group. A goal of the report is to plant more non-Anglo churches in south Louisiana.
In order to reach the 2020 Commission goal of 300 new churches by 2020, 40 churches should be planted each year. The mix of these churches should be 66 percent non-Anglo and 33 percent Anglo. Out of the 33 percent non-Anglo, at least one-third should be Hispanic. Thus, at least 10 Hispanic churches need to be planted annually.
He said annual gatherings like the evangelism conference not only build fellowship among the Hispanic church pastors but equip them to better serve their communities.
Each year Schmidt has concentrated on a goal that will help increase the number of Hispanic churches in the state.
The first year’s theme was educating Hispanic pastors about how to start church plants and the following year the focus was on how to better develop leaders and church planters.
In 2016, a greater emphasis will be on mentoring church planters.
In early December 2015, the I-12 Hispanic Network was formed, which includes churches along that interstate corridor, from Baton Rouge to Slidell.
“We had 16 people present, some older and some who are just starting out,” Schmidt said. “We all came together to strategize about how to start more churches in that area. As the Hispanic population in Louisiana continues to grow so must our churches and our new church plants. We believe that every Hispanic, in every parish in Louisiana, should have the opportunity to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
