A Puerto Rican pastor has been named coordinator of Global Missions for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, signaling a series of firsts.
Laura Ayala is the first person of color and the first person from outside the continental United States to hold this pivotal role. She is only the second woman in the role and also represents a second-generation wave of Fellowship Baptists, those not present at the creation of the group three decades ago.
Ayala has served almost nine years as pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Rio Piedras in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was selected for the role Nov. 8 by a vote of the CBF Governing Board upon recommendation of an eight-member search committee.
She will follow Steven Porter, who resigned in January and held the role eight years.
CBF’s current $14.6 million annual budget includes support for 60 field personnel who serve in the United States and 19 other countries and regions around the world. Global Missions also has birthed other innovative ministries, such as its Global Service Corps program for young adults and Together for Hope, CBF’s rural poverty coalition.
Prior to her pastorate of the 123‐year‐old church, Ayala was associate executive minister of Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico. She is active in FAMILIA, CBF’s Latino Network, also serving as the group’s current convenor, as well as on the CBF Nominating Committee.
“I’m really looking forward to being part of what God is doing through CBF in the world.”
“I said yes to be the next coordinator of Global Mission because I’m really looking forward to being part of what God is doing through CBF in the world,” Ayala said. “From local congregations to the wider ministries that are encouraged by CBF but also all around the world.”
CBF Global Missions has had a close relationship with its churches in Puerto Rice, strengthened especially since Hurricane Maria struck the island five years ago. That also was a turning point for Ayala.
“Being in Puerto Rico and going through Hurricane Maria is becoming aware that there’s a huge world, but yet this is an island. And the hurricane cut us off from help and assistance. You then have to do missions locally. You have to be prepared,” she said.
“I always thought about missions, about going, not about receiving,” Ayala added. “In these years, we’ve learned that in missions you also receive, and it’s OK. That gives you a bigger responsibility because now that you have received, you have to give more. So, that’s what the church learned in this process. We learned how to respond in disaster relief. We learned how to respond in emergency settings. We were trained by those who knew how to do it. And then when the pandemic arrived, we knew what to do. No one could come, but we knew what to do.”
CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley praised Ayala as the embodiment of CBF’s mission distinctives and as someone who has shown the gifts and graces needed for this leadership role.
“She has, indeed, cultivated beloved community, borne witness to Jesus and sought transformational development in contexts of global poverty and global migration in partnership with the Global Church,” Baxley said. “She has also demonstrated the ability to invite a wide range of congregations, partners and denominations into Christ’s mission and has also formed leadership cultures and congregations that are beloved communities and that participate in God’s transformation of the world through Jesus Christ.”
Ayala credits Rubén Ortiz, CBF’s Latino Ministries field coordinator and leader of FAMILIA, with helping to introduce her to CBF and get her involved in its work. Ortiz said with Ayala’s selection, “We are living an extraordinary moment in the life of the Fellowship and the life of FAMILIA.”
“Laura understands the local church, knows how to roll up her sleeves, focuses on the urgent, and responds with wisdom and effectiveness.”
“For years I have witnessed Laura, as a pastor and community leader, respond to the most significant difficulties with great hope, without losing her smile and generous kindness,” Ortiz said. “Laura understands the local church, knows how to roll up her sleeves, focuses on the urgent, and responds with wisdom and effectiveness. She knows the importance of being a witness in places of greatest need and values long‐term presence. Furthermore, Laura has traveled paths of cooperation and engagement with key players in the mission. I am confident that her skills and talents will trail‐blaze avenues for connection in CBF Global Missions.”
Ayala has also served in leadership of addiction recovery and homeless care organizations and in municipal government in Caguas, Puerto Rico, as a consultant and acting director of the Municipal Office of Faith‐Based and Community Initiatives.
She earned master’s degrees in religion and society from Drew University in Madison, N.J., and in business administration from Universidad del Turabo, in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. She currently is a candidate for the doctor of philosophy degree in theology from the Interamerican University in San Juan.
Members of the search committee included Hannah Coe, chair‐elect of the CBF Missions Council and pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Waco, Texas; Ruth Cuellar, pastor of Igleasia Bautista El Buen Pastor in Newnan, Ga.; David Hull, CBF moderator elect; Natasha Nedrick, minister of discipleship at Central Baptist Church in St. Louis, Mo.; Kevin Pranoto, associate pastor for social work, Second Baptist Little Rock, Ark.; Tammy Snyder, coordinator of CBF Florida/Caribbean Islands, chair of the CBF Missions Council; Ralph Stocks, retired CBF field personnel; Charles Watson Jr., member of CBF Governing Board and director of education at BJC.
Ayala will begin the transition to her work at CBF later this fall and will begin full‐time in February 2023.
This article includes reporting by Jeff Huett of the CBF communications office.
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