SAN ANTONIO – Students at the Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio will continue to receive scholarships for purchasing textbooks thanks to an on-going partnership with Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions.

Since 2001, CBF Global Missions has provided $3,000 each semester for BUA to distribute to students for assistance with textbooks. CBF Global Missions Co-coordinator Barbara Baldridge presented a check to F. Marconi Monteiro, BUA’s dean of student services, in a special presentation Thursday during the We Love Missions Conference at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.

“Students have to make a lot of sacrifices to get here,” said Javier Elizondo, dean of academic affairs at BUA. “CBF scholarships allow us to help the neediest each semester.”

BUA’s mission is to train Hispanic Baptist pastors and missionaries. Many of its students come to the United States. to study at BUA from Latin American countries.

Joel Gomez-Bossio, a third-year student from Colombia, has received a CBF Global Missions book scholarship. What seems like a small amount can be crucial to BUA students because of the limitations of students from other countries, he said.

“Books are expensive, and I can’t work off campus,” Gomez-Bossio said. “I have to read lots of books and without the scholarship, that adds to the bill.”

Gomez-Bossio, who has been away from his wife, Gabriela, for the past two years of his education, said he appreciates the scholarship because it enables him to prepare to return to his native Colombia to minister.

“I would like to go back to my country and share the gospel with my people,” he said.

The CBF scholarship is filling a need that isn’t been met by other funding sources, according to Monteiro.

“There are scholarships that help with tuition, and churches that help with housing,” Monteiro said. “Books are forgotten. And for some students, it comes down to buying books or eating.”

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.

Photo information:
CBF Global Missions Co-coordinator Barbara Baldridge, center, presents a check for $3,000 to F. Marconi Monteiro, dean of student services at Baptist University of the Americas, during the We Love Missions conference in San Antonio. Also pictured are front row from left, Norvi Mayfield, Claudia Munoz, Naomi Munoz, Baldridge, Monteiro, Javier Elizondo, Anyra Cano. Second row: Joel Gomez-Bossio, Daniel Munoz, Rick McClatchy, Louis Nevarez, Mario Samaniego and Priscilla Lambarria.

Photo by Russ Dilday/Buckner News Service