Twenty-nine churches participated in the Baptist Convention of New Mexico’s (BCNM) 2019 Hispanic Simultaneous Revivals campaign. The number rose from 24 churches during the 2018 campaign.
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Submitted photo Raul Arreola, pastor of Buenas Nuevas Mission, Las Cruces, performs a baptism during one of many simultaneous revivals across New Mexico. |
Based on reports from 28 of the 29 participating churches, a total of 783 non-Christian Hispanics attended the outreach events. The effort resulted in the recording of 103 professions of faith and 12 baptisms.
Ricardo Rivera, the BCNM’s Hispanic ministry strategist, organized the multi-church campaign. While the revivals centered around Good Friday and Easter, several churches’ events took place later. The campaign motivates churches to “think outside the box” about community evangelism and inspires them to try new outreach approaches. Participating churches received $500 assistance grants from the BCNM’s Mission New Mexico State Missions Offering.
During the campaign, Primera Iglesia Bautista, Farmington, held a nightly concert and preaching event April 26-27, and hosted a preacher from Texas for the event.
The church’s pastor, Frank Soto, told the Baptist New Mexican that during the event an average of 60-65 people attended nightly services, and three people expressed professions of faith. One family has attended the church regularly since the event.
Soto said he “found it to be a very good blessing to be able to participate with a statewide revival,” adding that the church is considering participating next year as well.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Baptism Day in the Southern Baptist Convention is Sunday, Sept. 8. Daniel Porter is a staff writer with the Baptist New Mexican news journal and GoBNM.com, news and information outlets for the Baptist Convention of New Mexico.)