The five-year partnership between Alabama Baptists and Venezuela Baptists continues to grow — evidenced by the ongoing bridge of cooperation between the two entities.
The latest exchange of teamwork between the Alabama Baptist State Convention and the National Baptist Convention of Venezuela took place April 22–29. Five Venezuelan pastors spent a week in Alabama participating in various types of evangelism programs throughout the state.
They were hosted by Hispanic pastors connected with Alabama Baptist churches and associations that have active Hispanic ministries.
Those areas included Birmingham, Cullman, Athens, Enterprise, Russellville and Boaz.
This was a first-time visit to Alabama and the United States for several of them.
Reggie Quimby, director of global partnerships/volunteers in missions for the State Board of Missions (SBOM), organized the exchange, which was sponsored by the SBOM.
The visiting pastors were David Romero and Alexander Alvarez from Maracaibo; Arenis Bignga and Alejandro Gracia from Valencia; and Lucas Medina from Coro.
According to Quimby, this visit from the pastors was the first phase of an ongoing plan between the two conventions.
“This is just the beginning of one of the many reciprocal parts of this partnership,” he said from the Birmingham International Airport, where he and several other Alabama Baptist representatives were seeing the pastors off on their return trip to Venezuela.
The pastors were all jubilant about their individual experiences in Alabama.
Romero, who had been to Birmingham once before, said he worked in Cullman with Gene McDonald, retired International Mission Board missionary to Venezuela, who recently returned to Cullman to assist with Hispanic missions in the area.
Romero said he felt at home in Alabama and he received a warm welcome from everyone he met.
When asked about his impression of the Hispanic ministry in Alabama he said, “It needs to be a ministry that makes connections with people in the home. There are so many Hispanics that are coming here every day and the population is growing.
“To reach these people it has to be a relationship,” he said. “The wives of the ministers need to go out and make contact with the wives in the home because they spend so much time there.”
Romero stressed the importance of letting the Hispanics know that the Baptist denomination is different from Catholicism.
“They may at first reject it because it is so different from what they know. In their culture they are accustomed to a very traditional religion,” Romero said. “They need to know that being Baptist is about a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Romero said that although the current political situation in his country is not stable, he and his fellow pastors are trusting in God to allow Alabama Baptists to continue to send missions teams to Venezuela to help them. “We see the next three years as very promising,” he said.
Limestone Association’s Director of Missions Robert Fullerton and his wife, Ann, along with the Hispanic congregation at First Baptist Church, Athens, hosted Alvarez during his visit to Alabama. The 35-year-old pastor poured out compliments about his hosts whom he had previously met during the Alabama delegation’s August visit to Maracaibo.
Alvarez spent his time in Alabama preaching at revivals that the church and association held during his visit.
“The response here to the gospel was as strong as it is in Venezuela,” he said. “It was very, very good,” he emphasized.
“I’m impressed with the vision that the Baptist churches in Alabama have,” he added. Alvarez, who has been pastor for four years at The Lily of the Valley Church in Maracaibo said, “I believe it is the will of God for us to work together.”
Ann Fullerton said that one of the most touching experiences she witnessed during Alvarez’s visit was during the last night of the revival.
“The revival went very well and the Hispanic pastor had Alex come stand in front of the small congregation. Each one of them came to the front and shared with him what his visit had meant to them. They each gave him an envelope with an offering in it,” she said.
Robert Fullerton added, “The congregation responded well to Alex. They understood what he said and he just connected with them. Alex got to witness a young man’s baptism,” he added.
Bignga, who was hosted by First Baptist Church, Enterprise, said he assisted with evangelistic work and preaching at evening revivals in both Enterprise and Abbeville.
“It was an excellent experience,” he said, adding that “many lives were saved.” Bignga serves as the third vice president of the Venezuela Baptist Convention. After leaving Alabama he traveled to Tennessee where he visited with Baptists who assisted him several years ago in rebuilding his dilapidated church in Valencia where his membership has grown from 40 to 180 in three years.
“Our new church can now hold up to 600 people,” he said with pride.
He said one of their long-term goals in Valencia is to set up numerous missions points that will eventually grow into churches.
Gracia, who spent his time in the Boaz area, said he and several others went door to door witnessing in a trailer park where Mexicans and Guatemalans live.
“It was a wonderful experience,” he said, explaining that they conducted an outdoor worship service where 13 people made decisions. “People came from out of their trailers to see what was going on. It was a miracle.”
Gracia said that he also was invited to preach on a radio program that one of his hosting Hispanic pastors conducts.
“We need to let these people know that the dollar is not their God. They come here looking for the dollar and their refrigerator may become full but their soul is still empty. That is why it is important to go from door to door and witness to them,” he said.
The next SBOM trip to Venezuela is scheduled for Aug. 12–19.
Evangelism efforts will take place in Valencia and Maracaibo. For more information, contact Quimby at 1-800-264-1225 ext. 239 or e-mail him at rquimby@alsbom.org. (Jennifer Davis Rash contributed)
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