Cuba seminary rises from near-extinction

Cuba seminary rises from near-extinction
Posted on Jul 22, 2013 | by Keith Collier

HAVANA, Cuba (BP) -– More than 70 students in Havana received diplomas
July 5-6 through a partnership that has revived a Cuban seminary during
the past eight years.

Western Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary in Havana, which was on the
brink of extinction, has flourished under its partnership with
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, as
pastors and church planters receive theological training for spreading
the Gospel throughout the Caribbean island country.

Southwestern President Paige Patterson and missions professor Daniel
Sanchez presided over the Havana seminary's two graduation ceremonies.

"The interesting thing is that this is more graduates than they had
students when we first started helping them, and this does not count all
the [graduates] from the extension centers," Sanchez said. "They were
rejoicing over not only the quantity but the quality of students that
they have who are graduating, all of them active in churches throughout
the convention."

One request the Cuban seminary had was for Southwestern professors to
teach courses in Havana so that Cuban professors could get their
master's degrees.

"We did that, and now their professors are doing an outstanding job
teaching," Sanchez said, "so we've not had to go back and teach those
courses to their students because they are the ones doing the teaching.

"With Dr. and Mrs. Patterson going to Cuba, it shows commitment at the
very top level of our seminary," Sanchez added. "This doesn't go
unnoticed with them. They realize that we are serious about helping
them, and that's one of the things that has been so encouraging for them."

Patterson expressed joy over the increase of churches planted across
Cuba and the number of pastors being trained.

"The Cuban Baptists are amazing," Patterson said. "They have succeeded
in generating a genuine church planting movement, which has produced
thousands of churches and baptized tens of thousands of converts. After
traveling in 120-plus countries, I know of nothing quite like it."

Patterson, who shares the Gospel at sportsmen's banquets across the
United States, also had the opportunity to speak at a game banquet
hosted by the Cuban seminary during their visit.

The outreach drew more than 50 people, as pastors from the area brought
non-Christians with them to hear Patterson speak. Twenty-six men made
professions of faith, all of whom will be discipled by these pastors.

One of the new converts, a man who previously had never attended an
evangelical church, is the head of a local hunting club. He asked
Patterson to stay in contact so they could discuss ways to reach
sportsmen in Cuba with the Gospel.

Hermes Soto, president of the seminary in Havana, said he was surprised
to discover more hunters in Cuba than he imagined. The son of a hunter,
Soto said the banquet has opened a new ministry area that he will
continue to engage.

In addition to the professions of faith at the game banquet, Patterson
and Sanchez saw more than 25 people come to faith in Christ through the
men's preaching at two local Baptist churches and personal evangelism.

Sanchez said he looks forward to the ongoing partnership between the two
seminaries.

"Southwestern has played a crucial role in helping them to continue
their ministry," Sanchez said. "And as a matter of fact, they are
expanding their ministry.

"They are very grateful that Southwestern Seminary has stood by them all
these years," Sanchez noted. "They said they didn't know what they would
have done without this partnership during very difficult times."

Thirteen professors from the Cuban seminary will fly to Fort Worth in
August to participate in Southwestern's Latin America Summit, an event
designed to connect and equip theological seminaries throughout the
Americas.

"They are very excited about the idea that we can help them form a
consortium of Latin American seminaries that can be a channel through
which they can share information, resources, professors, courses and
mutual recognition of their degree programs," Sanchez said.

More than 60 representatives from Baptist seminaries in Latin America
and Spain will be participating in this meeting.

After the summit, Cuba and Guatemala participants will remain on campus
for another week to take classes taught by Southwestern professors on
subjects such as youth ministry, evangelism, missions, theology and
Christian education.
--30--
Keith Collier is director of news and information for Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Get Baptist Press
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Source: "Baptist Press - Cuba seminary rises from near-extinction - News
with a Christian Perspective" - http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=40772