Baptists reach Bullock County Hispanics

With nine churches under its umbrella, Bullock-Centennial Baptist Association is the smallest association in the state — numerically speaking.
   
But David Stewart, pastor of two of those nine churches — Inverness Baptist Church, Union Springs, and Midway Baptist Church, Midway — said he’s already envisioning the association’s 10th church — a Hispanic mission.
   
“It’s the dream God has laid on my heart,” he said. 
   
Stewart, who also works as a pharmacist, would drive often by a trailer park near the Wayne Farms processing plant in Bullock County and pray for a church for the 800–1,000 Hispanics he estimates live in mobile homes there.
   
He shared his dream with a friend who had a friend fluent in Spanish, and shortly afterward, open-air services began in the field adjacent to the park. Stewart began preaching with a translator there on Saturday nights and the crowd grew.
   
Soon Reggie Santay, a Hispanic pastor, came on the scene, and the church moved into a singlewide trailer and then a larger mobile chapel on loan from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
   
“It was wonderful having Pastor Reggie come. I know a lot of Spanish words, but as far as what’s going on, I don’t know a whole lot of Spanish,” Stewart said with a laugh. “But I do know that we need a presence over there, even though I sit there like a bump on a log. They need to know there are Americans who care about their Christian well-being.”
   
He thought his prayer for a church had been answered, but what he didn’t realize was that his vision had come doubly true — his preaching was actually the start of two churches.
   
“The church meeting there now — Iglesia de Jesus — is more toward the Pentecostal line, but they are meeting needs over there and soon will be building a church on land they have purchased,” Stewart said.
   
When Iglesia de Jesus moves, a new Baptist church will be planted in the same portable building in which the relocated church met.
   
“We don’t think everybody needs to be a Baptist, but we do want to start a Baptist Hispanic ministry in our association,” said Ted Youngblood, director of missions for Bullock-Centennial Association. 
   
“Omar Hernandez (director of Hispanic ministries for Montgomery Baptist Association) spoke at our annual meeting this year about how to evangelize our Hispanic families. His heart was moved to action after hearing of the progress we have already made, and he has informed me of his finding a Baptist Hispanic leader who is very capable and willing to serve in the new church,” he said.
   
Stewart said he believes churches in the association will encourage the new mission, as they have already proven supportive of Iglesia de Jesus.
   
“The ladies (at other Baptist churches) will fix baskets for the children and have bought Spanish-English Bibles for the people who come to the church,” Stewart said.
   
The Hispanics they meet are skeptical at first and the numbers fluctuate as seasonal workers come and go, but over the last three years Stewart has made lasting relationships — and seen an impact made for Christ.
   
“I had a real burden for them,” he said. “[The church is] still just getting off the ground, but I’m loving every minute of watching God bless all who are involved.”