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DALLAS—Mike Gonzales, director of Hispanic Ministries for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, will be nominated for first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Texas pastor Juan Sanchez announced April 18.
Gonzales served as a missionary to Spain for 15 years with the International Mission Board and later became an IMB trustee from 2005 to 2013 with committee assignments relating to the regions of East Asia, Europe, South America, American Peoples and European Peoples. Gonzales led mission and crusade trips to Australia, Mexico and Cuba.
Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin and SBTC president, said of Gonzales, “Mike has been a faithful brother and faithful missionary; he has a daughter on the mission field. I think that speaks volumes, not just of the character of someone but of a basic parenting commitment.”
His pastoral experience includes Primera Iglesia Bautista of Pleasant Grove in Dallas and Primera Iglesia Bautista in Cameron. He also served as a minister of music and youth for La Loma Baptist Mission in Fort Worth, Mision Bautista el Calvario in Dallas and Primera Iglesia Bautista in Wichita Falls.
Gonzales served as an ethnic consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas Evangelism department, area director of retirement services and church marketing at GuideStone Financial Services and director of missions for Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association in Weslaco before joining the SBTC staff in 2004.
Noting the relatively rapid growth of Latin American Christianity, Sanchez continued, “I have a real concern for equipping pastors in North America. That is what Mike is doing through the SBTC. The Hispanic pastor in North America, in Texas, has a very hard life. My relationship with Mike has grown as we try to encourage these Hispanic pastors on the front line as they pastor their churches, care for their families and face [a wide variety of ministry challenges]. That’s why I think the work Mike is doing is important work.”
Gonzales served on the Board of the Baptist Spanish Publishing House Foundation from 2000-2004 and 2015-2018, having just completed a year as president. Gonzales was tapped to serve on the national Hispanic Task Force for the North American Mission Board from 2004-2005 and the SBC Executive Committee Hispanic Advisory Council from 2011-2015. He also served as a trustee of Howard Payne University from 2002-2004.
A member of First Baptist Church of Colleyville, the church reports baptizing 80 in 2017. FBC classified 2.6 percent of its undesignated receipts for 2017 as Great Commission Giving, including 1.3 percent through the Cooperative Program.
Gonzales earned two degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, including the M.Div. and M.A. in missiology. He was awarded a B. A. from Howard Payne University and also received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from HPU.
He also serves as a frequent Spanish language columnist for Baptist Press, the news services of the SBC Executive Committee.
Gonzales and his wife, Dalia, have one daughter and two granddaughters. Their daughter serves with her husband in Spain where they are IMB missionaries.
