Written by Luz Marchena
Thanks to the time and initiative of a Harding University teacher, a school of preachers in Honduras will have the chance to be part of a seminar about business this coming summer, taught by Spanish-speaking students from Harding.Budd Hebert, Harding University’s International Business teacher, along with Carmen Cuadra and Daniel Avelar, both current students at Harding, will be part of the first seminar headed by theCollege of Business Administrationat theBaxter Institutein Tegucigalpa, Honduras.The idea of bringing the seminar to Honduras is part of theHarding Character Initiativeprogram, a partnership between COBA andEastern European Missionsof Dallas, Texas. The program teaches young people the nature of the American business model in order to help them build their own business through spiritual and financial lessons, according to HCI Web site.According to Hebert, who is the executive director of HCI,it was his friendship with Howard W. Norton, now the fourth president of Baxter Institute, that helped him develop his idea of bringing the business seminar to Honduras.”This is the first shot,” Hebert said. “We thought: Can we come in and build a skill set with these preachers to help them support themselves?”Baxter Institute, the place where the seminar will take place, began in Mexico City in 1964 and then moved to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 1978, after problems developed with the Mexican government, labor unions and postal service.Baxter is an institute that offers a four-year ministry and missions training program. It attracts students from Mexico, Central and South America, and from Caribbean countries and now has more than 500 graduates working in North, Central and South America.Hebert, who was raised in Alaska, has conducted similar seminars in Japan, Canada, Nigeria, United Kingdom, China, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. He has a Ph.D. in Economic Transportation and a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Planning and Geography.”We want to take a step forward and also teach them how to get business knowledge, which will help them to work in benefit of their own communities,” Hebert said.The students Hebert chose to be teaching the seminar are members of theWalton International Scholarship programat Harding University. This program provides a full scholarship to Mexican and Central American students, granting them free transportation, tuition, textbooks, insurance and allowances, while attending college atJohn Brown University,University of the OzarksorHarding University.Hebert said he chose Cuadra, from Nicaragua, and Avelar, from Honduras, because of their knowledge in two different cultures and languages, as well as two different ways of doing business.”They were people I knew,” Hebert said. “I could see who they were. They were chosen because they have been my students and I can see the kind of people they are.”Cuadra will be in charge of the logistics of the event, and will be part of the people presenting the seminar to the students at Baxter.”I hope everything goes well and that I can do my job in the best way possible,” Cuadra said. “I also hope that those guys get to comprehend that God and business are not separate, and that they can put both together in order to economically sustain their churches.”In addition, the seminar will count with the participation of former Harding students from Central America, who were also members of the Walton program.”These seminars aredesigned for young people because they are the ones who are still able to change their attitudes,” Hebert said.
