Multiethnic conference ‘touch of heaven on earth’

More than 1,100 Christians from Hispanic, Indian, Cambodian, Brazilian, Burmese and Arabic congregations in South Carolina came together recently for a multiethnic conference in the Upstate.

Conference participants come forward to pray during a time of worship.

Under the banner of “Go and Make Disciples,” the second Multiethnic Evangelism and Mission Conference took place April 29-30 at Taylors First Church. This event was sponsored by the multiethnic group of the South Carolina Baptist Convention under the leadership of Marcos Elizondo, director, and Wayne Terry, associate executive director of the SCBC’s multiplication team.

The conference was designed to assist Baptist ethnic congregations in how to more effectively fulfill the calling of God to reach the lost and make disciples of the saved.

Each ethnic group held breakout sessions with speakers in its own language: Suhas Raiborne in Hindi, Sok Doeung in Cambodian, Denilson Duarte in Portuguese, Thein Lwin in Burmese, Ata Mikhael in Arabic, and Jim Goodroe in English.

The Hispanic group had the largest attendance (90 percent) and had breakout sessions for youth led by Ignacio Herrera. Other speakers were Pablo Juarez, Ruben Navarrete, Tony Hancock, Mario Maldonado, Joe Martinez, Roberto Fernandez, Dianne Daniel and Rebecca Archer.

The main speaker for the event was Luis Gabriel C?sar Isunza, pastor of First Baptist Church Zona Esmeralda of Mexico City. Isunza brought three messages.

The conference featured worship in multiple ethnic styles – in this case, Brazilian.

A highlight of the conference was the multiethnic worship time, during which the various people groups shared a song in their own language. The worship time was described by Elizondo as “a touch of heaven on earth.”

Recognitions were given to Jos? Juan Molina (Iglesia Bautista Alfa y Omega, Landrum,) for the most successful church plantings in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Mexico; Sa Tin Lal (Chin Baptist Church-Burma, Greenville) for the ethnic congregation with the highest amount given to the Cooperative Program; Flor Morales (Iglesia Bautista La Roca, Gaffney) for having served the longest time as pastor/church planter with the SCBC; Samuel Kioko (Sonpoint Church, Greenville) for planting churches with various ethnicities; and Jos? Adan Delgado (Iglesia Bautista Betania, Taylors) for excelling in church discipleship.

Burmese Christians lead in worship.

An outreach event was held on Friday, when participants went into the surrounding community and shared the gospel. More than 100 gospel tracts were distributed. During the conference, Taylors First Church provided a children’s camp for children ages 2 through 11. Five children prayed to receive Christ. – SCBC