February 4, 2005

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. – The Rev. Luis Cortes, founder and director of Nueva Esperanza and Esperanza USA in Philadelphia and an American Baptist home missionary commissioned by National Ministries, has been named among the 25 most influential evangelicals in the U.S. by Time magazine in its Feb. 7 issue.

Over the past two decades Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) has enabled affordable housing to be built in North Philadelphia, helped hundreds of families to receive first mortgages, provided homebuyer workshops for more than 2,600 people and attracted $40 million in new financing to the neighborhood.

Esperanza USA is the only nationwide Hispanic Protestant faith-based organization within the U.S. It received a $2.76-million Department of Labor grant last summer that will make possible job placement and training for Hispanic youth. Another grant of $500,000, which will encourage Hispanic pastors to become proactive in ministries to families impacted by HIV/AIDS, was received in September from World of Hope, a charity founded by Senate Republican leader Bill Frist.

In 2002 Cortes established the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast, which has been attended annually by President Bush and other prominent politicians from both parties. He also recently was interviewed for Street Saints: Renewing America's Cities, a Templeton Foundation Press book highlighting the work of faith-based groups.

"National Ministries is proud to count the Rev. Luis Cortes among its commissioned home missionaries," said the Rev. Dr. Margaret Ann Cowden, National Ministries' acting executive director and treasurer. "He lives out God's love by bringing opportunities for job training and placement, affordable housing and much more to neighborhoods in North Philadelphia – and now his ministry is expanding across the United States. Thanks be to God that Cortes' organization is delivering the promise inherent in its name, Nueva Esperanza (New Hope), to so many."

American Baptist News Service