EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an expanded article based on the 2020 Cooperative Program Prayer Guide for Oklahoma Baptists. For more information, please visit www.oklahomabaptists.org/cp.

About 400,000 Hispanics live in Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, an 85 percent increase since the 2000 census was taken.

To meet this growing need, Oklahoma Baptists have called Everardo Borunda as a Hispanic ministry partner.

“My main responsibilities are to provide specific resources for Hispanic churches throughout Oklahoma,” Borunda said. “To provide quality training for existing leaders, to facilitate connections around the state, and to offer pastoral care to pastors and their families. And I work with the local pastors wanting to identify leaders. The next planters will come from those churches.”

Borunda was himself a church planter. He started a Hispanic ministry four years ago out of Oklahoma City, Rancho Villa in the south part of Oklahoma City, where most of that city’s Hispanics live. That ministry has now evolved to becoming part of Rancho Villa, in what was a planned growth step, Borunda said.

Born in Mexico, Borunda moved with his family in 1990 to Oklahoma, where his father was working. His mother had taken the family to a Baptist church in Mexico, and his father joined them after they moved to Oklahoma. A graduate in 2015 of Luther Rice Seminary with a bachelor’s degree in religion and pastoral studies, Borunda plans to complete by the end of 2020 a master’s degree in theological studies from Southwestern Seminary.

His online studies enable him to work in ministry and to enjoy family life, Borunda said. He has been married to Dania for 18 years; together they parent Alek, 10, and Alexa, 11.

“We like to spend time together,” Borunda said. “We’re very tight knit family. The Hispanic culture identifies itself as family first, and a lot of time that extends into other close relationships. The church really becomes family for us.”

Because of the generous giving of Oklahoma Baptists through the Cooperative Program, an amazing array of ministries are supported. This unified giving encourages fellowship with other believers all over the world. Collectively, Oklahoma Baptists are advancing the Gospel together. Learn more at www.oklahomabaptists.org/CP