wfn.org | ABCUSA Well Represented at Hispanic Prayer Breakfast

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

American Baptist News Service (5/24/02)--More than 850 Latino Protestant
leaders, including more than 60 American Baptists from across the United
States and Puerto Rico, met in Washington, D.C. May 16 for the first
National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast.  Special guests included President
George W. Bush, House and Senate leaders, and Hispanic members of Congress.

The Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., a National Ministries home missionary and
president of Nueva Esperanza, Inc., served as master of ceremonies at the
event, hosted by AMEN (The National Alliance of Evangelical Ministries) and
Nueva Esperanza (a north Philadelphia economic development corporation that
serves low- income Latino families).  The Rev. Eddie Cruz, National
Ministries' director of Hispanic and Portuguese Ministries, called the
breakfast "a who's who of Hispanic Evangelical leaders" and "a historic
event" that represents "a tremendous responsibility and hope for future
generations of Hispanic leaders."

Following the breakfast more than 380 pastors and leaders spent the day
visiting members of Congress to discuss the president's faith-based
initiative and to address the health and welfare needs of the Hispanic
community.  Those needs, according to the Rev. Hector M. Cortez, National
Ministries' associate executive director of Biblical Justice Ministries,
"remain virtually unmet by existing social service delivery structures and
agencies."

Cortez, along with Cruz and 28 other national leaders, participated in a
specially called meeting with senior White House advisors and National
Ministries' Office of Governmental Relations the day before the breakfast.
"While Hispanics understand that poverty is localized and entrenched in many
of our communities, our leaders have broader world views and visions for
solutions and partnerships that can offer hope to all who suffer in
poverty," Cortez said during the three-hour meeting.  He added, "Hispanic
evangelical leadership-with its particular 'kingdom accent' of faith and
hope-is giving voice to issues in American life."

02ABN77

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