| By
Michael Wacht
LAKELAND — The Rev. Cruz Edwin Santos, pastor
of First Hispanic Mission at First United Methodist Church, Kissimmee,
was recently selected to serve as the Florida Conference’s first
director of Hispanic ministries. His appointment becomes effective at
the close of the 2002 Florida Annual Conference Event May 28-31 here.
The director’s position was created at the
2000 Florida Annual Conference Event. It was part of a proposal that
adopted the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry and provided $125,000
to support its implementation.
Santos said he is prepared to make the National
Plan a high priority in his work in the conference, but not just among
Hispanic churches. “I will interpret the plan for the conference and
be a coach for the plan,” Santos said. “The National Plan is a
tool for strengthening…and revitalizing the church in all cultures,
not just Hispanic.”
He said his goal is to establish the plan among
Hispanic churches first, then expand it to include English-speaking
churches. The National Plan has already published material in English.
Bill Walker, the Florida Conference’s director
of connectional ministries, hopes Santos will be able to build bridges
among the various cultures in the Florida Conference. Walker is
working with Santos toward meeting that goal by putting together a
team of conference pastors and lay people who would work together to
nurture Santos’ leadership.
“It will be a mentoring and empowering group…who
would include in their concerns his success in his work,” Walker
said.
Santos said he is looking forward to working
with the team. “It is something Bill Walker and I came up with at
the same time,” he said. “It will be a group of people open to
diversity, good ideas and multicultural ministry. I believe it is the
best way. I believe in working as a team. Any success is not mine, it’s
the conference’s and the Hispanic ministry team’s.”
Santos is also looking forward to working with
the diversity of people and cultures in the Florida Conference. “I
believe language is not a barrier, but strengthens us,” he said. “It
strengthens us because we are a more open church and we are connected
within the context of the church. The structure is coming together to
allow us to communicate and connect.”
Santos has 13 years of ministry experience in
the Methodist Church. He was ordained in the Methodist Church of
Puerto Rico and has worked five years in the United Methodist Church.
He spent two years at an inner-city multicultural ministry in the
Northern Illinois Conference and has been pastor and director of the
Multicultural Center in Kissimmee for three years. He is a professor
of pastoral care at Asbury Theological Seminary’s Orlando campus.
He received his master of divinity degree from
the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico and is a candidate for a
doctor of pastoral care at McCormick Theological Seminary. |
