wfn.org | ABCUSA: MONTANEZ NAMED EXECUTIVE IN PUERTO RICO

[RICH.SCHRAMM@ecunet.org]

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE 
Office of Communication  
American Baptist Churches USA 
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851 
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

MONTANEZ TO BEGIN NOV. 1 AS EXECUTIVE 
MINISTER IN PUERTO RICO
 The Rev. Dr. Cristino Diaz Montanez, senior pastor 
of Primera Iglesia Bautista de Rio Piedras in San Juan, 
Puerto Rico, was elected executive minister of the Baptist 
Churches of Puerto Rico last month.
 He will begin in that position Nov. 1.  The Rev. 
Miladys Oliveras has been serving an interim executive 
minister.
 Montanez previously served pastorates in Hato 
Nuevo-Gurabo and Santurce.  He also has been visiting 
professor of Homiletics and of Baptist Principles and 
History at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, one of 
10 seminaries related to American Baptist Churches USA 
through Educational Ministries.
 He has been involved in the Baptist Ministers 
Council of Puerto Rico and the Evangelical Council of 
Puerto Rico, and was instrumental in establishing both the 
Baptist Home for the Elderly and the Colegio Bautista de 
Rio Piedras, a child care center and elementary school. 
 Montanez currently serves as vice president 
(Spiritual and Personal Wholeness) for the American 
Baptist Churches USA Ministers Council Executive 
Committee.
 The Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico, one of 34 
regions within American Baptist Churches USA, includes 
approximately 101 congregations and 25,000 resident 
members. 

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