Hispanics contribute to the growth of the Kingdom

TAMPA (FBW)-The Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board (now called the North American Mission Board) records the first work with Hispanics in South Florida in 1940 at a good will center in Key West.

At the same time, efforts were made in Ybor City, a section of Tampa, to begin a Hispanic Baptist church there.

FBC photo by Ken Touchton

Children fromm Iglesia bautista Manantial de Vida in Goulds learn about Christ through activities designed for their age groups.

According to the Florida Baptist Historical Society’s Fall 2000 journal, the population of Ybor City was made up of Cubans and Italians involved in the cigar industry. Through the years, many of the residents who settled in Miami and Tampa were refugees from Cuba.

The Hispanic church at Ybor City finally constituted in about 1945 and constructed — with help from the Home Mission Board — a good will center and a Latin style church building.

In 1968 the Ybor City church disbanded, but a group that had formed an independent congregation about the same time reaffiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention in 1980 and is now one of the largest Hispanic Baptist churches in the Tampa Bay Baptist Association.

Hispanic churches in Florida face challenging times. With 22,000 individuals representing 20 differing culture groups, they are the largest minority group represented in Florida Baptist life.

As such, Raul Vazquez, director of the Language Division of the Florida Baptist Convention, said Hispanics have risen to the challenge and are working together with others "in reaching Florida for the Kingdom of God."