BrownwoodNews – Dr. Jimmy Garcia of Duncanville has been named the recipient of Howard Payne University’s Dr. José Rivas Distinguished Service Award. He is among eight who will be honored during HPU’s Homecoming 2018 festivities, November 2-3. Additional honorees are listed at www.hputx.edu/homecoming.
He will receive his award during the Hispanic Fellowship Breakfast on Saturday, November 3, beginning at 8 a.m. Dr. Garcia and the other honorees will be recognized during the Alumni & Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, November 2, beginning at 5:45 p.m. The honorees will also be featured in the Homecoming Parade on November 3 beginning at 10 a.m. Ticket information for the breakfast and banquet and a full schedule of the weekend’s events are available online at www.hputx.edu/homecoming.
Dr. Garcia graduated from HPU in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible and psychology. He went on to earn the Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and completed further graduate studies at Baylor University’s George Truett Seminary. He received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from HPU in 2001.
He was licensed to preach by First Baptist Church in Del Rio in 1967 and ordained to the Gospel ministry by First Baptist Church of Miles in 1971. He is an active member of First Baptist Church of Duncanville, at which he teaches Sunday School and chairs the church’s Missions Committee.
Dr. Garcia currently serves as adjunct instructor at Dallas Baptist University and Mountain View College. He has additionally lectured at Truett Theological Seminary and Baptist University of the Americas. He has held pastorates at Primera Iglesia Bautista of Dallas, Calvario Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Calvario Baptist Church of Corsicana and Immanuel Baptist Church of Miles. Additional ministry-related positions include serving as director of missions of the Del Rio-Uvalde Baptist Association, ethnic missions coordinator for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and associate director of missions for the San Antonio Baptist Association.
He has served as a board member for Baptist University of the Americas, Valley Baptist Academy and the Institutional Coordinating Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Additionally with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, he is a member of the Intentional Interim Ministry and the Baptist Distinctive Counsel. He also served as chair of the nominating committee for the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas.
Dr. Garcia and his wife, Dolores Garcia, have three children and three grandchildren.
