By Kristen Thomason

In one of the most polarized corners of the country, Agustín Quiles is uniting Latino Christians in Florida to serve God and advocate for social justice. Latino Christians are the fastest growing group of evangelicals in the country; but in 2016, cultural currents were pulling the community apart. Young people were leaving the Hispanic church for well-resourced white churches.

“Their narrative is that they don’t fit in the churches they grew up in,” Quiles said. To help young Latino leaders discover what it looks like to live out the Gospel in a Hispanic context, Quiles founded Mission Talk.

As many as 600 Christian leaders under the age of 40 have gathered annually at the Mission Talk forum to connect with God and one another. While there, they also connect with their Latino heritage through music, dance and storytelling.

“God made us Latino for a purpose, and reinforcing their identity as Latinos is crucial and key to this conference,” Quiles explained. The Latino church is a unique expression of the Body of Christ, so Mission Talk looks to Latino experts to raise awareness, educate and mobilize leaders.

Mission Talk began first and foremost as a way to bring awareness to social justice issues to Latino Christians in Florida.

“Most Latino evangelicals have simply not been exposed to critical policy issues related to things like poverty, racism, violence, mass incarceration and immigration,” said Rubén Ortiz, CBF’s Latino field ministries coordinator, who also serves on the advisory council of Mission Talk. “Agustín gets them to question the Church’s role and responsibility in addressing these issues.”

Quiles himself is no stranger to the challenges faced by the Latino community.

Born in Puerto Rico and raised by a single mother, he moved to New York City as a child with his four siblings. This experience, and his early involvement with the Church, influenced his desire to make a difference.

“Quiles embodies a unique combination of advocacy and action for the people Jesus called ‘the least of these.’ He is a seeker after justice for those oppressed by systemic racism and for those who do not have a voice to request justice for themselves, especially for ethnic minorities,” said Elket Rodríguez, who serves as CBF field personnel on the United States-Mexico border.

To help Mission Talk participants learn more about the issues affecting the Latino community, the organization launched a six-week Community Transformation Cohort in 2019. As of 2022, more than 500 church leaders have received introductory training and 300 have completed the full course. “We bring in practitioners, not celebrities,” Quiles said.

Experts in poverty, hunger, immigration, mass incarceration, human trafficking, social entrepreneurship, ethnic diversity and racial reconciliation tailor their instruction to address the needs in each cohort’s community. Once the six-week session is finished, Mission Talk selects a few interested individuals to become part of a four-month program on advocacy and organizing. Recently he launched the “Justice Leadership Development for Community Transformation,” a training program designed to launch sustainable justice-oriented ministries within Latino churches. “They learn to mobilize their churches, denominations and institutions to press lawmakers for policy change,” Ortiz said.

Quiles is a prophetic voice for those seeking justice in Florida, where he has organized churches to demonstrate for the restoration of voting rights to 1.4 million Floridians with felony convictions. He also mobilized 500 Latino evangelical pastors in a march in memory of George Floyd and to protest against police violence.

“If we as leaders don’t speak up publicly against injustices, we are irrelevant to this generation,” he said. “We can’t say we love our communities and stay quiet when members of our communities are brutally killed by law enforcement.”

Another issue dear to Quiles’ heart is immigration. In 2022, he led 230 Hispanic clergy members in a “Day of Action” at the Florida statehouse to rally against the governor’s anti-immigration legislation. In 2023, he again led 300 faith leaders against one of the worst anti-immigration, criminal justice and death penalty bills.

“For us, it’s personal. It’s our church members; it’s children,” Quiles emphasized. “We did actually kneel down in front of the Capitol, and we sang worship songs and we prayed.”

For his social justice work, Agustín Quiles received the Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Award in June at the 2023 CBF General Assembly in Atlanta.

“His passion for the Kingdom, his intention to create unity and consensus, and his love for God’s justice to be established are inspiring and transformative,” Ortiz said. Rev. Carlos Malavé, executive director for the Latino Christian National Network, who also serves on the advisory council of Mission Talk, agrees. “What Mr. Quiles is accomplishing in Florida is nothing short of a miracle. Some have called it a spiritual revival, and this movement is barely starting!”

Watch a video to learn more about Agustín Quiles and the McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Award at www.cbf.net/mccall.