Hope for the Future 2024 honorees are: (top row) Bishop L.W. Francisco III, Elder Wilma Redbird, Maria Hinojosa, Eduardo “Lalo” Hinojosa, (second row) Roy Williams, Esther Hinojosa and Conrado Hinojosa. Top photo by Juan Moya, Anabaptist World. Used with permission.
MC USA honored seven community elders at its 11th Hope for the Future Conference, Feb. 9-11, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. Read more about the conference here. See the Hope for the Future photo album here.
Bishop L.W. Francisco III is the oversight pastor of Calvary Community Church (C3), Hampton, Virginia, and presiding bishop of Calvary Covenant Ministries Inc., an organization which provides spiritual oversight and counsel, as well as ministerial and administrative support, to churches throughout the United States and abroad. He also is the president of MC USA’s African American Mennonite Association, serves as the minister of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Viginia Mennonite Conference, and has served on the Executive Board of MC USA. Francisco entered full-time ministry in October 1990, with his wife, Natalie. Together, they merged the Newport News congregation with Calvary Community Church in Hampton, and the ministry grew rapidly under their leadership, while establishing several ministries: radio, television, print media, Calvary Christian Academy and Calvary Bible College. Francisco holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from International Bible College & Seminary, Independence, Missouri, as well as a Master of Arts degree and Doctor of Ministry from Carolina University of Theology, Manassas, Virginia. He is an FAA certified private pilot and the author of several books. The Franciscos have three grown daughters, who also are serve in the C3 ministry.
Conrado and Esther Hinojosa are the founders of Iglesia Menonita del Cordero (Mennonite Church of the Lamb), the earliest Mennonite church plant in Brownsville, Texas, a border town in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The Hinojosas were part of a new wave of young Latina/o leadership that worked in barrios across the country. They strengthened the church’s missionary calling by sharing the gospel and merging evangelicalism with social justice. It was a tradition strong in Latin America, known as “misión integral.” Borderlands theology was born at Iglesia Menonita del Cordero, where people from across the country and Latin America came to learn of the church’s work with immigrants and refugees. For a time in the 1970s and early 1980s, Iglesia Menonita del Cordero was the largest and fastest growing Latino congregation in the United States. Their work inspired many pastors in South Texas. In addition to church planting, Conrado served in numerous leadership positions over the years, including moderator for Iglesia Menonita Hispana; assistant conference minister for South Central Conference, a former area conference of MC USA; interim district minister in Kansas; and member of the Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries and Board of Trustees for Hesston College. He studied the Bible at Hesston College in Kansas and attended seminary at the Rio Grande Bible Institute. Esther served as the Hispanic representative for Women’s Missionary and Service Commission, a precursor to MC USA’s Mennonite Women USA constituency group, for eight years in the 1970s and 1980s. Her main work, however, was in leading and organizing the women’s ministry in Brownsville. The Hinojosas attend Iglesia Menonita Fuente de Agua Viva in Los Fresnos, Texas and have seven grown children.
Eduardo “Lalo” and Maria Hinojosa were instrumental in the growth of Iglesia Menonita del Cordero, the first Mennonite church plant in Brownsville, Texas. They began serving as youth leaders and, eventually, youth pastors at Iglesia Menonita del Cordero in 1969, working alongside Eduardo’s brother and church planter Conrado Hinojosa. In the 1980s, Lalo and Maria saw a great need in “el barrio de la Southmost” (the neighborhood on Southmost), which was ridden with heavy drug selling and use. They started a ministry called “Dios llega al Barrio” (God comes to the neighborhood). Every Friday night, they showed a Christian movie and provided snacks, served by the youth group. Over the next 10 years, the neighborhood came to know and serve the Lord in big ways. Lalo has served as president of the board for both Iglesia Mennonite del Cordero and New Life Chrisitan Center. Maria has served as Sunday school teacher for 52 years and continues to serve in this capacity. She has also served as treasurer for over 40 years. During their time at Iglesia Mennonite del Cordero, Lalo and Maria were house parents to Mennonite Mission Network’s Mennonite Voluntary Service unit, and Lalo served as the full-time director of the program. In 1994, God called Lalo and Maria to help at new church plant. They eventually became the senior pastors at New Life Christian Center, San Benito, Texas. The Hinojosa’s daughter, Ana Alicia Hinojosa, serves as co-pastor at New Life Christian Center and is also the interim senior executive of Ventures at Mennonite Mission Network.
Elder Wilma Redbird of the Cheyenne community in Oklahoma has been a member of Koinonia Indian Mennonite Church, Clinton, Oklahoma, for more than 50 years. Redbird has been active in MC USA’s Native Mennonite Ministries from its inception, representing them as a delegate at the 2009 Mennonite World Conference Assembly in Paraguay. Wilma currently serves as treasurer/secretary for the newly reformed Native Mennonite Ministries of MC USA. She studied at Oklahoma’s Western Technology Center. Redbird is the administrative assistant for the Tribes Emergency Services. She also is one of the Grandmothers (néske’e) of the Koinonia Indian Mennonite Church. Her dedication to our faith and the younger generations sets the example for our community and other indigenous churches.
Roy Williams is the assistant moderator of Mosaic Mennonite Conference. He is a retired bank executive, the former pastor of College Hill Mennonite Church (1985-2023), Tampa, Florida, and a former moderator of MC USA. In addition, Williams served the church in various other roles during his career, including MC USA Constituency Leadership Council chair, moderator of Southeast Mennonite Conference (a former MC USA conference), vice chair of Mennonite Education Agency, and urban ministry director for Mennonite Mission Network. He has been an evangelist, serving several denominations and independent churches since he was licensed for ministry at age 16 by the Wesleyan Church of Jamaica. He and his wife, Ruth, have two grown children and four grandchildren. They are both active in Tampa church community. Ruth attends and lends a helpful hand at College Hill Mennonite Church, where their daughter, Sheri Samuel, serves as pastor, while Roy assists Pastor Carl Walcott of North Tampa Christian Fellowship, as they work to restart the church.