The following post is from Greg Smith, one of CBF’s field personnel in Virginia, and director of Latino Partnerships, John Leland Center for Theological Studies.

 The issues made several students uncomfortable.  “What are you going to say to this person who has just stepped into your office to talk with the pastor?” asked Sue Smith during a recent class on pastoral care.  A few kept silent, while others squirmed in their seats.  The Latino students meeting at Second Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia, weren’t sure how to respond or what their professor wanted to hear.  Finally, one student broke through the awkwardness not to provide an answer but to offer a comment.  “None of this is easy to talk about, and sometimes there aren’t any good answers,” he observed. “ I’m just glad we have this class to dialogue about these kinds of things.  Because here we can talk about things we can’t talk about anywhere else.”

 Richmond’s Second Baptist Church houses one of ten “Partnership Sites” developed by the John Leland Center for Theological Studies and directed by the Leland School of Ministry offering the Diploma in Theology  to students with at least a high school diploma or GED.  The Virginia seminary’s main campus is currently housed at the Baptist World Alliance headquarters in Falls Church, and the School of Ministry’s office is located at First Baptist Church, Newport News.  While other off-campus Partnership Sites provide classes in English, Second Baptist’s classes are taught in Spanish for Latino pastors and church leaders.

 The idea of offering Spanish-language classes outside Leland’s main campus arose in 2008 when Rev. Susan Moore, director of the School of Ministry, approached the Latino Network of Virginia Baptists with the “Latino Leadership Development Initiative.”  The Latino Network of Virginia Baptists is a collaboration of six Baptist agencies and seminaries in Virginia for the promotion of ministry among Latinos, including the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, WMU of Virginia, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Virginia, the John Leland Center, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and LUCHA Ministries, directed by CBF field personnel Sue and Greg Smith among first-generation immigrants in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

 Moore’s idea had two aims. To establish a partnership with a local church that would provide a stable base from which to offer Spanish language theological training and to develop programs for leadership development that were customized to meet the unique needs of Latino churches.  The first was realized with the creation of the Partnership Site at Second Baptist Church. 

Identifying Second Baptist was easy.  Craig Sherouse, pastor of Second Baptist, and Greg Smith, director of the Latino initiative—today called “Latino Partnerships”—had spoken previously about the church’s desire to reach out to the Latino population in his area, including involvement in theological training for Latino leaders.  Courses began in January 2010.  The congregation graciously offered its facilities for classes on Monday and Thursday evenings.  Instructors fluent in Spanish and knowledgeable in Virginia’s Latino context teach courses in the Bible, theology, history, Christian ministry and others.  The goal is to offer the Diploma program’s full complement of 16 courses over a four-year period.

The Latino Partnerships’ second aim is also being realized.  Recognizing many Latino pastors and leaders in Virginia have little if any prior theological or academic training, the School of Ministry developed a non-academic Certificate course of study. 

The year-long Certificate program launched classes in September 2009 in Fredericksburg, graduating sixteen students at Leland’s Spring Commencement in June 2010.  For the academic year 2010-11, Certificate courses are being taught on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with 21 students, and in Culpeper with 10 students.  Five additional students who graduated from the Certificate program are taking additional courses in Fredericksburg toward the Advanced Certificate. 

When the first module (semester) of courses ended for Christmas break on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Rev. Saul Hernandez, who oversees program logistics in the area, reported the students’ disappointment not with the classes themselves, but that they ended for Christmas break!   And these are students who meet from 9:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon every other Saturday!

With the backing of the Latino Network of Virginia Baptists, Leland’s Latino Partnerships received vital financial support from WMU of Virginia, the Virginia Baptist Foundation, and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.  The money received for the Certificate program through these and other channels goes to underwrite both program costs as well as student scholarships.  To date, over 50 students have received direct tuition support.

 One of the pastoral care students studying at Second Baptist is Ricardo,[i] a native of Mexico who is seeking God’s will as he determines the next steps in his life.  In class, Ricardo talks frequently about his journey to Christ, his past alcohol abuse, and his current involvement with Alcoholics Anonymous.  The class requires students to talk to people in potential or real pastoral care situations, and Ricardo has grown as he learns to incorporate new skills and begins to see himself in a unique ministry role with people going through difficult times.  “People just want to talk.  And they talk to me, because I’ve been there.  They sense that.”