Camacho to be nominated for
BGCT first vice president at Waco session
By Marv Knox
Editor,
The Baptist Standard
FORT WORTH—Rudy Camacho, a longtime leader in both the
Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Hispanic Baptist Convention
of Texas, will be nominated for first vice president of the BGCT this fall.
”Rudy Camacho is a soul-winner, a great Christian and a great friend, and he will make a wonderful first vice president,” said his pastor, Clyde Glazener of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, who plans to nominate him.
The election will be held during the BGCT annual session, Nov. 11-12 in Waco.
Camacho is the immediate past president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention and has worked tirelessly to strengthen the cause of Christ in the state, Glazener noted.
”He’s represented the BGCT throughout Texas with pastors and churches, helping them to understand who we are and to want to relate to us and be a part of our mission and ministry,” Glazener said. “He’s heavily involved in Texas Baptist Life and the life of the kingdom.”
On the local level, Camacho is “a wonderful churchman,” Glazener added. “He is active in our deacon body and serves on our missions committee. He is a good friend and a great friend to the BGCT.”
If elected, Camacho said, he hopes to be a convention supporter and a builder of bridges within the BGCT.
”Ever since I can remember, I have been promoting others. That’s what I am all about,” he said. “I would rather support others, ... but after awhile, I said, ‘I think I have some contributions to make.’”
Those contributions can be comprised of linking BGCT Baptists together, he added. “I am a people person. I have established relationships with others—primarily Hispanics, but also blacks and Anglos. I can reach across to everybody. I would listen, communicate and, of course, cooperate.”
Camacho’s experience as president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention has given him the background to emphasize and “speak of the many positives” the BGCT has to offer, he said. Those include the convention’s tremendous diversity, as well as its broad range of ministries, which include hospitals, child care institutions, aging care institutions, scholarships for university and seminary students, and programs to start churches throughout the state, he added.
”We are growing; we have more church starts than any group, and that speaks to how the BGCT has reached out,” he said. “I want to be able to speak to many groups, not only Hispanics, to say how the BGCT has made such vital contributions.”
Camacho is retired from the U.S. Postal Service and is a lay preacher. In addition to serving as president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention, he is a member of the BGCT Executive Board, the George W. Truett Seminary board of advisers, the Texas Baptist Laity Institute board of directors and the board of directors for Howard Payne University, his alma mater. He also is active in Tarrant Baptist Association.
His wife, Micaela Camacho, is second vice president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention, the first woman to be an officer of that convention. She also is a trustee of Hispanic Baptist Theological School.
The Camachos have established a student scholarship fund through the Hispanic Baptist Convention, and the convention named the scholarship in their honor. The scholarship currently helps five students and previously has provided funds to seven other students.
October 2002