[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–What do the first day of high school, a new job and LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention all have in common? They all offer orientation.
LifeWay’s orientation for Hispanic church leaders, for example, offers pastors, associations and others an opportunity to become acquainted with LifeWay, its resources and services, said Ramon Martinez of LifeWay network partnerships.
“The goal is to give these pastors an orientation of the ministries of LifeWay and its solutions — to get acquainted with the resources, conferences and services we have to offer them,” he said.
LifeWay hosted an orientation session for Hispanic pastors from the Miami Baptist Association of Miami, Aug. 29-30, 2002.
“For me personally, it’s just opening up the availability of resources and learning support that LifeWay is prepared to give us,” said Artemio Burns of Broadmoor Baptist Church in Miami. “Being a bivocational pastor, this is extremely beneficial because we don’t always have time to go to the associational offerings.”
For Fernando Franco of Iglesia Bautista Hispana Riverside, the orientation was not only an opportunity to learn more about LifeWay’s available resources, but also to learn about various ministry options and tools.
[2]“We are a church that is growing and we’re involved in ministry in a community near our church,” Franco said. “We heard this was the perfect place to get acquainted with the materials.”
Franco was especially interested in learning about LifeWay’s transitional pastor ministry, a resource he said not only helps ease the stress during a difficult time in the church, but also allows the pastor to focus on the job, not the problems. The information about new technology also was helpful for ministry, he said.
The orientation program at LifeWay has been in place for about five years, Martinez said. It is held several times a year, depending on the needs of the association requesting the event.
“This had been very successful,” Martinez said of the orientation sessions, adding that the orientation often encourages pastors to become more involved in the activities and events offered by their individual Baptist association.
“Each association wants to send them here, and [the pastors then] see that the association is interested in their ministry, so they start to take part in what the association has to offer,” he said. “That is especially important for Hispanic American churches.”
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: MIAMI MEETING.