INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–Caroline Jones, multicultural ministry consultant for the national Woman’s Missionary Union, was elected to serve as secretary for the executive committee of the National Fellowship of Hispanic Southern Baptist Churches during their annual meeting June 13.
Jones, along with Damaris Medina, a Hispanic pastor’s wife from Missouri who was elected at the same time as vice secretary for the fellowship, are the first two women to serve on the committee.
Jorge Sedaca, chairman of the nominating committee, said the group desired to have an intentional connection with WMU and its missions purpose.
“It is truly an honor and privilege for me to be invited to serve with my bothers and sisters in the Hispanic Fellowship,” Jones said. “I look forward to partnering with them to help grow strong missions organizations in their churches as we work together to carry out the Great Commission.”
Heberto Becerra, newly-elected president of the fellowship, welcomed Jones to the executive committee and said he was looking forward to working more closely with WMU.
Prior to working for national WMU in Birmingham, Ala., Jones served as president of North Carolina WMU and worked with her husband, Archie, as Hispanic church planters for Blaise Baptist Church, Mocksville, N.C. She is a missionary emeritus, having served 14 years in Chile with the International Mission Board.
Firm in her commitment to engage Hispanic churches in missions through WMU, Jones also serves on the Ethnic Leadership Initiative Task force for the Great Commission Council of the SBC, which was started in the spring of 2004. Their purpose is to develop a pilot project to identify ethnically diverse young emerging leaders, both male and female, and equip them for ministry leadership.
Headquartered in Miami, Fla., the National Fellowship of Hispanic Southern Baptist Churches organized 16 years ago as an autonomous entity aligned with the purposes of the Southern Baptist Convention. The fellowship serves approximately 4,000 churches representing 300,000 members in Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States.
As expressed in their vision statement, the fellowship seeks to “unite and mobilize Hispanic Baptists of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.”
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For more information regarding the National Fellowship of Hispanic Southern Baptist Churches, visit www.confraternidad.org
