In this time of chaos, the Spirit moves. She lifts us high, gives us strength and encourages us to build another possible world. There is no way to stop the Spirit, as no one can stop those who move on her wings. • Interim Executive Director, Doris Garcia Rivera, preached at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC last weekend to kick off a virtual Pentecost preaching series hosted by Calvary. Read her inspiring words on where the Spirit is moving us! Calvary Baptist is a BPFNA Partner Congregation.
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Founding BPFNA board member, Olive Tiller, will celebrate her 100th birthday on December 13, 2020! A life-long peace activist, she has supported BPFNA since its inception, and even before as she was active in the Baptist Pacifist Fellowship, which later transformed into the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. Olive and her late husband Carl Tiller were also the co-recipients of ABCUSA’s Dahlberg Peace Award in 1991, which recognizes those for their significant efforts in working for peace and justice over a period of time. As we celebrate this significant milestone in the life of Olive Tiller, we also remember how she helped BPFNA celebrate a historic birthday of our own almost 27 years ago. On July 5, 1994, when BPFNA celebrated 10 years as an organization, Olive gave a recorded speech to those present in Granville, OH at that year's Summer Conference. In it, Olive shares some history of BPFNA as well as her future vision for what she hopes the organization will become.
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On Saturday, August 29, God allowed me to enjoy the wonderful experience of listening to reflections and sharing worship with many brothers and sisters in Christ from the continents of the Americas, from Canada to Argentina. A reflection that deeply moved me was made by Jesús Vera. He spoke of the massacre that occurred in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on August 22, 2010. The state in which I live.
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As you know, we began preparing for this year’s Summer Conference a few months ago, very eagerly because we know it symbolizes the core of our organization. It’s a space where we share, connect and reconnect, plan, learn, embrace, renew and bless each other. This year, however, in light of the spread of the pandemic we face, we will not meet in San Diego as planned.
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The board of BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz recently completed its meeting in Puerto Rico, which was held from March 12-14. An important part of our meeting was the discussion of our transition plan to guide us through today's challenges. We share these updates so you will be informed when we invite you to provide your thoughts and participate in this process. We remain optimistic about the path ahead of us and the possibilities we see to respond to our call! We are peacemakers! Today more than ever!
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Join us in welcoming Rubén David Bonilla Ramos as our Spanish Editor for Baptist Peacemaker and Ximena Ulloa Montemayor as our 2020 Summer Conference Coordinator!
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My attendance at the Global Baptist Peace Conference in Cali was prepared with enthusiasm. My 16-year-old son, Carlos David, whom I had promised to take with me, was very excited. How could he not be?! For him it would be his first plane trip and the first time he would leave Mexico.
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Here we are again at the end of another year that has brought as many possibilities as challenges for peacemaking in North America and throughout the world. Yet, this coming year, 2019, promises to be a year like no other in the life of BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz!
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For future church, to me it is not necessarily changing how we think about what we do or changing traditions, but how we take our Christianity and ourselves into the world. How we pass on what we know to the next generation. Like in the scripture that has the rock as the foundation, because without a strong foundation we can’t build.
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Your “Wall” brought us together, 200 of us, Baptist Christians of all ages, Mexicans and Americans, but also Canadians and Cubans, Caribbeans, South and Central Americans. Your having proclaimed this despicable “Wall,” we had to cross it.
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The following report is from Asaf Vera Baltodano, member of Shalom Baptist Church, student at the Baptist Seminary in Mexico City, and the most recent Youth and Young Adult (TYAYA) representative on the BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz board of directors.
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Originally from South Dakota, Jodi Spargur lives in Vancouver, BC (a city on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations). Jodi has an MDiv degree from Regent College in Vancouver and currently runs Healing at the Wounding Place, a movement seeking to catalyze justice and healing between church and Indigenous peoples.
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Deb Norton and Jonathan Sledge are longtime members of BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz who live in Raleigh, NC. They are members of Pullen Baptist Church, a BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz Partner Congregation. Deb works as a medical doctor in Raleigh and is on the board of directors of AMOS Health & Hope, an organization ran by missionaries Drs. David & Laura Parajón, that "exists to improve the health of impoverished communities in Nicaragua by working alongside them in health, education and development." As both were children of missionaries, Deb and Jonathan have traveled for much of their lives. Deb grew up in Kenya and the midwest United States while Jonathan spent his childhood in Peru and Louisiana. Both have lived in Raleigh for about 30 years.
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We are pleased to welcome Asaf Vera Baltodano as the newest Youth and Young Adult Representative to the Board of Directors. Youth and Young Adult representatives are selected by and voted on by the youth and young adults each year at Summer Conference.
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Born in Puerto Rico, Ricardo Mayol has been a missionary with American Baptist Churches for more than 20 years. He is currently serving as a regional consultant encouraging the development and consolidation of the Red Continental Cristiana por la Paz (Continental Christian Network for Peace, or CCNP). Based in Guatemala, Ricardo travels to coach CCNP members and future members in theological and pastoral training for peace, as well as on the basic goals of CCNP.
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Lázaro González, Suriana (Sury) González & Noé Trujillo are employed with the Baptist Seminary of Mexico in Mexico City. Lázaro is a retired professor who still works part time. Sury is in charge of the administration for the seminary and also runs the Open Education program that supports adults needing to finish their secondary education. Noé is a current professor with the Seminary, and he is also in charge of its academic programs.
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The Mayan Intercultural Seminary (SIM) is a non-denominational theological school located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. The Seminary contributes to the construction of peace from an intercultural perspective and promotes the values of equity, justice, inclusiveness, dialogue, human integrity, reciprocity, and a sense of vocation. SIM focuses on creating solidarity networks through initiatives in particular for women and youth, to build a more inclusive world.
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Anna Burkett is from Granville, Ohio and recently moved to Maryland to teach Spanish to middle schoolers. Anna grew up coming to Peace Camp.
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This was my second time attending the Summer Conference of BPFNA ~ Bautista por la Paz, which was held in Misión Mazahua, San Felipe del Progreso, México from July 17-22, 2017. There were many international entities represented in the conference program, but the three that challenged me the most were the seminaries. The moment that impacted me most was when the Seminario Bautista de México showed a YouTube video of La Patronas, a group of Mexican women who make food out of their own resources to help feed those immigrants that ride the cargo train called “The Beast.”
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Lem Arnold grew up in Houston and Port Arthur, TX. He went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for undergraduate school and returned to Houston to attend medical school at the University of Texas at Houston. Lem worked as a pediatrician for about 30 years before retiring in 2016. He and his partner Pat live in Lafayette, GA.
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