The Hispanic Ministry of Brunswick Baptist Association

Strategic Plan
June 8, 2008

Presented by Rev. José Miguel Hernandez, Director of Hispanic Ministries and Church Planter, Brunswick Baptist Association

My strategic plan includes different tasks and activities in order to develop a ministry targeting Hispanics in the entire area of Brunswick County.

The goal will be to establish churches with the following characteristics:

• Biblically sound and financially self sufficient.
• Functioning with programs such as Sunday School, discipleship, evangelism, and singles ministry.
• With an ongoing process of training and equipping the saints for ministry.
• Focus on the new churches starting additional new Hispanic Baptist churches in Brunswick County.
• The sending of missionaries to different areas.
Each of these plans are based on the Lord's commandments in Matthew 28:19- 20 and Acts 1:8.

The process of organizing a church that carries out the basic functions of evangelism, teaching, discipleship, worship, and training may take about two or three years. It may take four to seven years for each church to become financially self-sufficient.

Leland, North Carolina will be the area where I will work to establish the first Hispanic church under this ministry.
Almost simultaneously, I will be working in the area of Southport in order to start the second church, while I will be considering all areas in this county as potential areas to start a ministry, church, preaching point, Bible study, or any other ministry with the purpose of reaching Hispanic people.

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Vision

The Hispanic ministry of Brunswick Baptist Association will engage in planting churches, training laypeople, and reaching out to as many Hispanics as possible all over Brunswick County.

Church Planting

Churches will be planted in locations according to the needs of the Hispanic population, in Leland first, Southport second, then in other areas with concentrations of Hispanics. The plan is for these to be financially self-sufficient churches.

Training

Ongoing leadership training will supply workers for many kinds of ministry. I intend to fulfill the role of pastor-teacher as described in Ephesians 4:12b-13, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

My roles will include coaching, mentoring, and training leaders such as the leadership of Iglesia Bautista Puerta al Cielo, and future pastors and lay leaders of Brunswick County.

• As coach, I will help them develop specific skills to enable them to better serve as ministers.
• As mentor, I will offer them personal guidance in areas of their lives that affect their ministry.
• As trainer, I will urge them to take advantage of every opportunity for training given by the Association, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, North American Mission Board, and other organizations, as well as specific training I can provide myself.

Evangelism

My purpose is to reach each Hispanic person in Brunswick County with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to reach Hispanics, I will Mobilize leaders I will have trained in prayer, witnessing, and relational evangelism.

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Getting to Know the Community

Survey

At first, I will concentrate on surveying Leland's Hispanic neighborhoods, in order to become familiar with the community and identify people who are already believers and potential lay leaders. Also the surveys will help me to know the people who need to be evangelized and the activities which will be the initial steps to disciple them.

Similarly, I will go into other areas with high concentrations of Hispanics, such as Southport, Supply, Bolivia, and Shallotte, to establish the level of need in the communities and evaluate the feasibility of establishing Bible studies, preaching points, and new churches.

Bible Studies

From people identified in the surveyed areas, I will select some homes in which to start Bible studies. The home Bible studies will focus on basic Biblical doctrines, including some Baptist doctrines.

Fellowship

One of my strategies to implement this summer and fall will be monthly fellowship meals at Iglesia Bautista Nueva Visión in Leland, in order to get to know people better and encourage them to connect to each other socially in preparation for being formed into a body of Christ in the future.

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Initial Steps Toward the Organization of Churches

Weekly Worship Services

Preaching, praising, praying, and teaching will be part of the weekly services which began in Leland on July 6, 2008.

Sunday School

People who participate in the home Bible studies and weekly worship services, and other prospects will be invited to take part in the Sunday School, and to invite non-believers to attend a growing Sunday School. The purposes of Sunday School will be to teach Biblical doctrine, build fellowship, help people discover and use their spiritual gifts, and possibly take the first steps to organize as a church.

Development of Praise Leadership

I will attempt to identify possible praise leaders, get them trained to use the Gloria machine and/or to play guitar and other instruments, guide them in preparing to lead worship appropriately, and obtain musical instruments if needed. (The Gloria machine can play the instrumental accompaniment for several hundred hymns in Spanish).

Stewardship

Opportunities to give financially will begin in home Bible studies and pre-launch services in the church facilities, and continue regularly during Sunday School (where people will be encouraged to tithe) and worship services (where offerings will be encouraged). I will promote the annual associational, state, Annie Armstrong, and Lottie Moon mission offerings with ongoing missions education and teaching about the cooperative program. I propose that the Hispanic missions in Brunswick County give 8% of all undesignated offerings to Brunswick Baptist Association, and 7% of all undesignated offerings to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, beginning with the pre-launch offerings. In addition, each new Hispanic Baptist church in Brunswick County will give directly to support another church plant, probably another Hispanic church plant in Brunswick County.

Prayer

I will develop prayer in three different areas. The first area will be corporate prayer as a cell group Bible study emphasizing prayer. This will have the purpose of uniting people and strengthening their spiritual lives as a core group. Out of these groups, I will develop the second area, prayer walks with the purpose of starting new projects in an area, such as evangelism, Bible studies, or starting a new mission. As we walk and pray in an area, I believe God will work in that area. The third area is to guide a spiritual formation process for my trainees as individuals so that they develop the spiritual discipline of prayer.

Governing Documents

I will work closely with the Associational Missionary regarding the appropriate nature and timing of governing documents.

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Leadership Development

The processes of identifying potential leaders, training them, and encouraging them to continue to grow in their ministry will continue, because praise leaders, teachers, and other workers in the churches will need to be replaced from time to time, as they move out of town or leave to help start new churches. Some leaders trained in Brunswick County will return to their countries of origin or go to new places as missionaries to continue enlarging the Kingdom of God.

In regard to training for lay people and pastors, I will be using the services of Bible Training Centre for Pastors, an institution that is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of Georgia. The Bible and the materials of this institution will be the primary texts I will use to train leaders and pastors in Brunswick County at first. Later I may add training from Baptist University of the Américas in San Antonio, Texas and Campbell University. The training of key people to carry out all areas of ministry will be one of my priorities.

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Core Beliefs and Values

• Almighty God the Father as Creator of everything that exists; omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent; revealed in His Son and His Spirit.
• Jesus Christ as the only way to attain salvation, and the Holy Spirit as the One who helps us grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ and God the Father.
• The Bible as the infallible and inerrant Word of God, the only source of truth about salvation.
• The Christian church as the organism with the person of Jesus Christ as fundamental Cornerstone, the body of Christ, made up of born again believers.
• The family, formed by the marriage of a man and a woman, as originated in God's mind from the beginning of human existence, living in homes where Jesus Christ is the center of people's hearts and wills.
• The testimony of Christian families who submit to God, within the church and outside the church.
• Living by the supreme commandments, Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
• The priesthood of believers as the privilege of individual believers to approach God through Jesus Christ.
• The Baptist denomination as a great legacy encouraging all people to accept salvation by grace through faith in Christ, to study God's Word, and to support missions cooperatively.

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Conclusion

This strategic plan will be modified and improved according to needs, opportunities, and obstacles that we may encounter in the process of achieving our goals. My intention is to work in cooperation with Brunswick Baptist Association, the churches, and pastors, so that the self-supporting Hispanic churches established will join with the other churches in the Association to achieve the purposes of the Brunswick Baptist Association in obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20.

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