This past weekend, I made a quick trip down to Florida to speak at an important event for the Hispanic congregation that meets at First Baptist Clermont, my former pastorate.
Nine years ago—on the first Saturday of May 1999—First Baptist Clermont officially launched its Hispanic Ministry. For nine years it operated under the umbrella of the main church, with our Hispanic Pastor serving as a member of the overall church staff. During those years, the
Spanish-speaking group had the goal of growing toward self-sufficiency, ultimately becoming a church in its own right. Just recently, they were able to incorporate as a separate, independent entity. No longer the Hispanic Ministries of the First Baptist Church of Clermont, they are now La Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de Clermont (or the First Hispanic Baptist Church of Clermont, if you prefer). So, this year’s 9th anniversary observance was cause for an even greater celebration.
When the ministry was launched back in 1999, we started out with Saturday night worship in the church sanctuary. But within a few months, we felt Sunday morning would prove more effective, so we moved the Spanish language service to Sunday at 11 AM, allowing the group to meet in our Christian Life Center (gymnasium), where they’ve met ever since. Once we started our Haitian ministry a couple of years later, we had three worship services in three different languages happening concurrently on our church campus, which was really exciting. Even more special were our periodic joint worship services, with all 3 congregations meeting together. We would have Haitian, Latino, and Anglo music all as part of the service. Then, the message in English would be translated electronically through headsets (a la the United Nations) for those without a basic understanding of English. Those special events were some of my happiest times. Each time we did it, I always learned a few new phrases that I could say from the pulpit in Spanish and in French as a way of connecting more intimately with our language groups. (Spanish is fine, but French is way too hard in my book! I always had much more difficulty with it.)
Nine years ago—on the first Saturday of May 1999—First Baptist Clermont officially launched its Hispanic Ministry. For nine years it operated under the umbrella of the main church, with our Hispanic Pastor serving as a member of the overall church staff. During those years, the
Spanish-speaking group had the goal of growing toward self-sufficiency, ultimately becoming a church in its own right. Just recently, they were able to incorporate as a separate, independent entity. No longer the Hispanic Ministries of the First Baptist Church of Clermont, they are now La Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de Clermont (or the First Hispanic Baptist Church of Clermont, if you prefer). So, this year’s 9th anniversary observance was cause for an even greater celebration.When the ministry was launched back in 1999, we started out with Saturday night worship in the church sanctuary. But within a few months, we felt Sunday morning would prove more effective, so we moved the Spanish language service to Sunday at 11 AM, allowing the group to meet in our Christian Life Center (gymnasium), where they’ve met ever since. Once we started our Haitian ministry a couple of years later, we had three worship services in three different languages happening concurrently on our church campus, which was really exciting. Even more special were our periodic joint worship services, with all 3 congregations meeting together. We would have Haitian, Latino, and Anglo music all as part of the service. Then, the message in English would be translated electronically through headsets (a la the United Nations) for those without a basic understanding of English. Those special events were some of my happiest times. Each time we did it, I always learned a few new phrases that I could say from the pulpit in Spanish and in French as a way of connecting more intimately with our language groups. (Spanish is fine, but French is way too hard in my book! I always had much more difficulty with it.)
I was quite honored that the Hispanic congregation invited me back as guest speaker for this important milestone in their history. I had been one of the “attending physicians” in the “labor and delivery room” at their “birth.” Now, years later, here I was the “commencement speaker” for their “graduation exercises” as they prepared to “leave the nest” and move on to “adulthood.” It was a great time of celebration, thanking God for all He had done. Special guests included representatives from the Florida Baptist Convention, the Lake County Baptist Association, and First Baptist Clermont, the mother church, as well as some other Hispanic congregations from Central Florida.
Pastor Jose Soto hosted the festivities. Pastor Jose and his family—wife Maria, daughter Mari, son Pepe—have been involved with the Hispanic work in Clermont since its inception. Jose shares my heart for missions. He and I tried to work with other Anglo Baptist churches and Baptist associations in Central Florida to encouarage the start of additional Hispanic ministries throughout the region. We weren’t always that successful, however, due to (I believe) the fact that Anglo churches have to wholeheartedly embrace such a venture (as well as wholeheartedly embrace the Hispanic people) in order for it to thrive. Some churches, honestly, are just not prepared to do that. They enter into it erroneously thinking it’s simply a matter of giving the Hispanic group a set of keys and lending them some meeting space. Pastor Jose and I understood, however, that it's really all about mutual love & respect & being relational. And that's an example we tried to set for others. Pastor Jose also shares my global vision. Over the years, he led combined Hispanic-Anglo mission groups from our Florida church to Mexico (several times) as well as other parts of Latin America. He also accompanied me twice on mission trips to Cuba.
Just before I spoke Saturday night, Pastor Jose presented me with a plaque from the Hispanic church for the role I had played in their founding and development. I’ve received a few plaques in my life, most of which are now gathering dust somewhere. But this one will find its way to a special spot in my office, right alongside one presented to me by the Haitian congregation just before I moved from Florida in 2006. For, truly, these two language works represent two of my most personally rewarding ministry achievements during my 11½ years in Clermont. In the words of the Apostle Paul, they are “my joy and my crown.”The service on Saturday night was great, but it ran a little longer than expected. We had dinner at 5:00 PM. Worship began around 6:00 PM. But I didn’t get up to speak until 7:00 PM. After concluding my remarks, and with the service continuing, I raced out the door to an awaiting car at about 7:25 PM, making it to Orlando International Airport in near record time. Then, passing through all the obligatory security checks, I reached the gate for my 8:40 PM departing flight just as everyone was boarding. After a raucous rock-and-roll rollercoaster of a ride—there were storms all along the Eastern seaboard—complete with crying toddlers exhausted from their last long day at Disney World, we finally landed (whew!) at Raleigh-Durham at about 10:30 PM. Sandy picked me up and we were home in Danville by 12:00 midnight, and then (after doing some final sermon prep and about four hours of sleep) I was up again to preach at our 8:30 AM service that morning.
It was a long day, but one I’ll certainly always remember with joy.
Pastor Danny
