{"id":46656,"date":"2024-02-08T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T20:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridabaptist.wpengine.com\/?p=46656"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:19:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:19:35","slug":"east-central-baptist-network-celebrates-first-hispanic-pastors-wives-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/east-central-baptist-network-celebrates-first-hispanic-pastors-wives-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"East Central Baptist Network celebrates first Hispanic pastors\/wives retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

TITUSVILLE\u2014 Hispanic church leaders and their wives from Daytona, DeLand, Deltona, Oviedo and Sanford gathered Jan. 18-20 at Park Avenue Baptist Church<\/a> in Titusville for the inaugural East Central Baptist Network<\/a> Hispanic pastors and wives\u2019 retreat.<\/p>\n

The gathering focused on camaraderie, relaxation, and physical and spiritual nourishment. It also zeroed in on building a Hispanic fellowship in the East Central Baptist Network that will encourage healthy relationships and increase the visibility of language churches among Florida Baptists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted pastors to relax in an atmosphere where they can be themselves,\u201d said Misael Castillo, Florida Baptists\u2019 migrant ministries<\/a> catalyst. \u201cWe recognize their hard labor and want them to know they are not alone in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo added, \u201cThe men were helping cook and could be seen serving each other in the spirit of camaraderie and eating together.\u201d Pastors and wives had opportunities to network with fellow ministers and participate in an ice cream social and challenging games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pastors and wives had opportunities to network with fellow ministers and participate in an ice cream social and challenging games.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carlos Mendez, lead pastor of Iglesia Nuevo Comienzo<\/a> in Sanford, spearheaded the pastors\/wives retreat, and he explained the vision for the East Central Baptist Hispanic Network began to take shape in September 2023 with Hispanic pastors coming together in a roundtable event to discuss launching the network.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was on board with the idea of building the fellowship from the ground up and being able to participate in the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Retreat guest speaker Samuel Otero, from San Antonio, Texas, spoke on spiritual leadership based on 1 Timothy 6:3-5. He reminded the pastors and wives of the importance of God\u2019s leaders remaining subject to the Lord, His Word and sound doctrine.<\/p>\n

Catalyst Castillo read from 2 Timothy 4:1-8 and challenged pastors and their wives to \u201cbe faithful to what God has called us to be and do.\u201d His wife, Silvia Tamez, ministered to pastors\u2019 wives.<\/p>\n

The feedback from the retreat was encouraging.\u00a0 \u201cSome told me it was too short. Others asked me when are we doing this again,\u201d reported Castillo.<\/p>\n

Mendez added, \u201cPastor William Garay of Iglesia Cristiana Nueva Creaci\u00f3n in Deltona exclaimed that the retreat was fantastic! Pastor Carlos Mendez of Iglesia Bautista Anastasis in Deltona said he has never gone to a pastor\u2019s retreat, but he loved this and was truly blessed. His wife, Elsie Mendez, called our director of missions and expressed her gratitude for the retreat; she is ready for next year\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Coats, Florida Baptists\u2019 East region catalyst, said he is \u201cexcited to partner with the East Central Baptist Hispanic Network and delighted and honored to have met the pastors and wives and fellowship with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coats added, “It is great to see how we support one another in the Florida Baptist Convention and see our language churches working together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo agreed, \u201cThere is no reason for Hispanic pastors and their wives to feel alone anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hispanic church leaders and their wives from Daytona, DeLand, Deltona, Oviedo and Sanford gathered Jan. 18-20 at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Titusville for the inaugural East Central Baptist Network Hispanic pastors and wives\u2019 retreat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":46653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,48,10,11,583,17,18,25],"tags":[624,628,625,604,559,627],"class_list":["post-46656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-developing","category-region-east","category-espanol","category-expanding","category-migrant","category-missions","category-multicultural","category-stories","tag-carlos-mendez","tag-east-central-baptist-network","tag-migrant-ministries","tag-misael-castillo","tag-patrick-coats","tag-samuel-otero"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67718,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46656\/revisions\/67718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}