“Every leader and every believer needs to ask some probing questions: Do we focus virtually all of our attention and resources on the people who sit in our pews each Sunday? Or are we called to be God’s representative to the whole community—even the foreigners? What does it mean, and what does it cost, to care for those who can’t give much back?”
—Wilfredo “Choco” De Jesus in Amazing Faith: How to Make God Take Notice. De Jesus is senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Chicago, America’s largest Assemblies of God congregation.
Understanding the Opportunity: The Latino Community by the Numbers
#2
Ranking of the size of the U.S. Hispanic population worldwide. Only Mexico has a larger Hispanic population.
8
Number of states with a population of 1 million or more Hispanics: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
More than 50%
The percentage of the Hispanic population living in California, Florida and Texas.
21
Number of states in which Hispanics are the largest minority group.
—U.S. Census Bureau
Latinos Surpass Whites as the Largest Racial/Ethnic Group in California
This makes California only the second state, behind New Mexico, where whites are not the majority and Latinos are the plurality. With more than 14 million Hispanic residents, California has the nation’s largest Hispanic population.
