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            Student Workers Needed
         for Phone Bank

         CBF Leadership Scholars   
         Recognized

         Groundbreaking
         Punch Lines Wanted

         Latest Online Resources

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u Student Life

u Representing BUA

u Birthdays

u Prayer Requests

Students Hit the Road to Strengthen
Southern US Hispanic Churches

SAN ANTONIO – When you’re a
Guatemalan pastor serving in rural Alabama,
a friendly Hispanic face with news from home
is a welcome sight.

That’s why students from Baptist University of the Américas spent most of their summer traveling the Southern United States conducting mission projects, vacation Bible schools and community outreach efforts with Hispanic churches led by BUA alumni in seven states from Alabama to Virginia. As the only Hispanic Baptist university in America, BUA is the leading exporter of Hispanic church starters and ministers from its Texas campus to areas throughout the country with exploding Hispanic populations.
 

“The pastors were so happy to see us,” says student and designated van driver Cesar Casasola, who himself originates from Guatemala. “I was surprised to find so many Guatemalans who had come to work on the poultry farms in Alabama.” The growing Hispanic churches in these communities are a vital source of social support as well as spiritual nurture. The students learned how growing opportunities for Hispanic workers in these communities also bring occasional cross-cultural tensions that the churches help their members learn to manage. Casasola observed, “Guatemalans tend to be humble people so it’s easy for them to get taken advantage of. We saw how the churches really encourage the people and help them adjust to American life.”
 

The students also witnessed some outstanding involvement of Anglo churches in Hispanic ministries when they worked with BUA alumni Jesus Amaya in Owensboro, Kentucky. Amaya and his wife Elizabeth are 2005 graduates of BUA who first interned with Bellevue Baptist Church in the summer of 2003. As the Hispanic Ministries Pastor, Amaya leads worship services and oversees a program of English and Life Skills classes that have been a tremendous success. Student Ester Vallejos of Argentina was particularly impressed with how the Anglo and Hispanic members work together.

Speaking in Spanish Ester recounted, “The Hispanic and Anglo members go out in teams to invite people from the community to come attend English classes. Several of the Anglo members speak Spanish. They also teach the classes together. The Anglo youth build relationships with Hispanic youth in the community through basketball games.” Vallejos added that the church provided dinner and childcare which seemed to help make the whole program a huge success. The community
                                                                outreach of the student team also helped spread the word about
                                                                a Hispanic festival the church was to host in August where  
                                                                over 1,000 Hispanic attendees were expected for a soccer  
                                                                tournament, food, music and games.

Team member Casasola’s favorite stop was Lynchburg, Virginia where students worked with La Iglesia de Las Americas, a diversely multicultural church that includes many different Latin American, African and Asian cultures among its membership. With the leadership of BUA alumni pastor Carlos Payán, the team conducted neighborhood witnessing projects alongside other area ministry students and church members. “The culture of the church was just so rich and open to including everyone,” said Cassola, “it’s the kind of church I would like to serve someday.”

 One of the highlights of the trip came as the
students finished their tour working with Cuerpo Vivo Baptist Church in Rogers, Arkansas. The church is led by two BUA alumnae, pastor Jaime Zamarón and worship leader Oliver Martinez. When student
Mary Prasanna of Hyderabad, India gave her testimony of how God had led her from India to develop her cross-cultural skills
and theological training at BUA,
Oliver Martinez felt the spiritual confirmation of God. For some time he had
had been sensing God calling him to serve in India and he took Mary’s unexpected visit as confirmation of the direction God was leading his ministry.

“I guess one of the biggest lessons of this trip for us," says Casasola, "is how creative the Hispanic pastors are at adapting ministry to their communities. They all came with a plan but the communities are all very different
and to be effective you have to understand
your community and build cross-cultural
partnerships to reach it.”

And no doubt, having an occasional visit by a team of
energetic and talented university students is a
huge shot of encouragement too.

The BUA team included Carlos Ramos, Cesar Casasola, Francis Rodas,
Ester Vallejos, Mary Prassana, Santiago Vasquez.
 

uuCampus Briefs                                                      

Student Workers Needed for Donor Phone Bank

The new campus groundbreaking this month signals the launch of the public phase of BUA's fundraising campaign called Crossing Over Together. An important part of this fundraising effort will be phone calls made by students to donors asking them if they have received our brochures in the mail and if they have any questions about our plans.

The Advancement Office is looking for students who speak English and Spanish to earn work study hours by making phone calls on the evenings of September 18 - 20. A training session will be held for all phone bank workers on Thursday, September 14. Students with a social security number are eligible to earn work study credits to their tuition. Pizza will also be provided on the evenings of the phone bank. Contact Roxane Lopez if interested, rlopez1@bua.edu or call x246.
 

CBF Leadership Scholarship Students 2005-2006

Equipping future cross-cultural leaders is essential to our vision at BUA, and we are pleased to have partners such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship who provide leadership scholarships to our students. The annual General Assembly meeting of CBF in Atlanta included a Theological Education Dinner where the following BUA students were recognized as recipients of leadership scholarships in 2006:  Curtis Castleberry, Abraham Garcia, Jaime Massó-Nieves, Raul Pastor, Ernesto Ramos, Olber Roblero, Kevin Rodriguez, Sergio Salazar, Laura Sura, and John Work.

New Campus Goundbreaking Festivities
Aug 29, 10:00 a.m.

Catch the spirit of our Groundbreaking invitation and give us your best punch-line
to the age old joke. Why did the University cross the road?

You can be funny . . .

You can be "culturally relevant" . . .

You can be astutely academic even . . .

But "look both ways" and then email brussell@bua.edu and maybe you'll make
our top ten list!

Click Below for Latest Online Resources

    Recruitment flyers (General, Online BA Degree, AACS Degree, BSM Course)
    Fall is beginning but Spring enrollment is coming. You will find a number of digital  
   recruitment resources on the link above. We encourage you to email these resources to a 
   friend who needs to know more about BUA. When emailed, these materials have links 
   embedded in them that will lead them back to the web site or help them order an 
   admissions kit. Simply go up to your browser toolbar and click the "mail" and "send page"
   option. Of course, you may also simply print these materials for distribution.

    Aug 29 Groundbreaking Invitation
    Help invite friends and neighbors to our big Groundbreaking festivities

    Campus Map & Directions
    Conveniently email to a guest or link through the web site off the directions to BUA page.

    Preview the New "Crossing Over Together" Capital Campaign Brochure
    Our new capital campaign brochure will be introduced on August 29 at the groundbreaking
   and mailed to over 4,000 donors and potential donors as we launch the public phase of 
   the Crossing Over Together campaign.

uuEvent Calendar                                                     

    Aug 13...............New Student Orientation, 2:30-5:30 p.m.
    Aug 14...............New Student Orientation, 9:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.; 5:30-6:30 p.m.
    Aug 15...............New Student Orientation, 9:00 a.m. -12:00 noon
    Aug 14-18....………FALL REGISTRATION WEEK
    Aug 21…………………First Day of Fall Semester Classes
    Aug 21-25……………Late registration and schedule changes
    Aug 21................Ministry Training Strategy Meeting/South Texas, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
    Aug 22…………………Evening Student Orientation
    Aug 25…………………New Student Welcome
    Aug 29……….........Last day to drop/add a class with 100% financial reimbursement
    Aug 29................New Campus Groundbreaking
    Aug 31................Classes are cancelled for students who have not completed their     
                             financial settlements by 5:00 p.m. If allowed to re-register, a $100
                             re-registration fee will be assessed.
    Aug 31...............Student Assembly; inauguration of Student Council
    Sept 4................Labor Day (No Classes)
    Sept 5................Welcome Chapel, Dr. Marconi Monteiro
    Sept 7................President's Chapel, Dr. Albert Reyes
    Sept 12..............Convocation Chapel, Steve Vernon, FBC Levelland, BGCT 1st Vice-Pres.
    Sept 14..............Constitution Day Chapel, Suzii Paynter, BGCT Christian Life Commission
 

uu  Student Life                                                       

uu  Representing BUA                                               

uu Birthdays                                                           

    Aug 12    Sandee Elizondo
    Aug 12    Jimmy Adair
    Sept 22   Val Martinez

uu  Prayer Requests