b. 1940 Topics: Los Sacramentos Santa Comunión Author of "Una Mesa para todos (One Table for All)" in Fiesta Jubilosa Joel is the grandson of sharecropper farmers who came to the U. S. at the turn of the century. He was born in Seguin, TX, to Guadalupe and Dora Martinez. He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a B.A. in history. While in El Paso, he met Raquel Mora, a Methodist pastor's daughter. They married on June 9, 1961, and Joel enrolled in Perkins School of Theology in the fall of 1961.
Ordained deacon and elder by Bishop Paul E. Martin, Joel held membership in the Rio Grande Conference until his election to the episcopacy in 1992. Pastoral appointments were in Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso. He served as Director of Planning and Development at Newark Houchen Center in El Paso and later, Executive Secretary, Office of Ethnic and Language Ministries, National Division, GBGM. Joel served as district superintendent in the Rio Grande Conference and as President of the Greater Dallas Community of Churches. He was a delegate to the Seventh Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Canberra, Australia, 1991.
From early exposure to the plight of farm workers, and in student ministry to migrant workers, Joel learned to appreciate the urgent need for poor people to organize in order to participate more equitably in society. He worked with Cesar Chavez during the 1970's, worked to establish the first federally funded health clinic for the poor in El Paso, was a founding member of the National Hispanic Caucus in the UMC in 1970, and supported the organizing of poor fishermen on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico in the late 1970's. Joel worked on the initial proposals to the 1976 General Conference for a Missional Priority on the Ethnic Minority Local Church. He chaired the National Missional Priority Coordinating Committee in 1984-88. He chaired the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries National Committee (1992-2000).
He served as bishop in Nebraska for eight years and returned to serve as resident bishop of the San Antonio Episcopal Area from 2000–2008. He chaired the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry of the United Methodist Church from 1992–2000. He served as President of the General Board of Global Ministries for two quadrennia, 2000–2008. Since retiring in 2008, he organized and directs the Oral History Project on Hispanic/Latino United Methodism which is an affiliate of the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church, He serves on the Board of Trustees of Lydia Patterson Institute, The Hispanic Cultural Center in San Antonio, the National Board of the Industrial Areas Foundation, and the Advisory Committee of Encounter with Christ, a Permanent Fund for mission in Latin America and the Caribbean. In retirement, he served as Interim General Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries from September, 2009 – March, 2010. A graduate of Perkins School of Theology, SMU, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1995, and in 1996 Nebraska Wesleyan University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree. He and his spouse Raquel Mora Martínez are co-authors/editors of Fiesta Cristiana: Resources for Worship, published by Abingdon Press in 2003. They are currently working on a Research and Publishing Project to develop liturgical and historical resources for the Church.
FVS - from Bishop Joel Martinez - The United Methodist Church
Joel N. Martínez
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files
