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worth every mile
For many, making a 1,200-mile round trip is anything but refreshing.
Yet that’s a word Carlos and Birmania Cortes use when describing why they’ve traveled from Mexico to North Texas over the past few years to attend Apoderados, the Spanish session of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Empower Conference.
Empower is hosted annually to encourage, equip, and inspire all church members to evangelize.
“All the topics at Apoderados have been very educational for us, and we feel that it refreshes our vision and helps us move forward,” Birmania said, echoing the sentiments of her husband, Carlos, pastor of Eliacim Baptist Church in Monterrey, Mexico, the past 16 years.
The Corteses were first invited to Apoderados by their friend Cesar Gabriel, who pastors Trinity Baptist Church in Laredo. “You need to go to the Apoderados conference to refresh your vision and be up to date [in ministry],” they remember Gabriel telling them.
“When we talked with Pastor Gabriel, we realized that we have a very [similar] ministry calling,” Birmania said, “because he also mobilizes his people to do missions in places of great need.”
The Corteses have a heart for discipling and preparing missionaries. They met through a missionary association dedicated to recruiting college students to use their gifts and talents in the service of the Lord. Twenty years later, they continue to serve this ministry with great commitment and passion, with Carlos recruiting potential missionaries for training while Birmania forms prayer and discipleship groups at the university to reach out to students.
“I think we need to have as much information as possible to train the students [who could become future missionaries],” Carlos said. “They are ahead of us in terms of information, and we should try to educate ourselves in all possible areas to be able to minister to their needs.” One of the ways they do that, he said, is through sessions offered at Apoderados.
There are other ways Carlos has found support for his ministry at Apoderados, as well. He said the conference not only offers new information, but confirms the effectiveness of some of the work he and his wife have already been doing in the church, as well as identifying areas where they can improve.
“I received confirmation [at] one of the conferences that it is necessary for all ministries to be connected, for youth to interact with adults and vice versa,” Carlos said. “Principles such as these reaffirmed for me our vision of creating spaces that connect the church.”
“I received confirmation [at] one of the conferences that it is necessary for all ministries to be connected, for youth to interact with adults and vice versa.”
The fact Apoderados heavily emphasizes evangelism is very important to the Corteses.
“Something that really struck me about Apoderados is that they directly address people’s need to share the gospel. I was very surprised that they had tracts to preach to all kinds of people. They focus on preaching the gospel, the integrity and the healing of the servant of God,” Birmania said.
The Corteses said they enjoy sharing the information and tools they receive at Apoderados with others in their city. In addition to assisting her husband in ministry and evangelism, Birmania is a speaker for the Santiago Hickey Regional Baptist Convention and a teacher at the convention’s Bible institute in Nuevo Leon.
“All the information I receive, including the booklets, such as the data and statistics mentioned by the workshop speakers, has helped me a lot in my teaching and conferences,” Birmania said.
The couple said they plan to continue attending Apoderados as often as possible.
“I pray others will be encouraged to obey God and be equipped for their calling,” Carlos said.
