wfn.org | Congregation's vision implants new heart in Hispanic community

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Note #6805 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

21-August-2001
01288

Tiny church, tall dream 

Congregation's vision implants new heart in Hispanic community

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - First Presbyterian Church in New Braunfels, TX, was
thinking Texas-style when it imagined itself breathing new life into its
Hispanic neighborhood on the city's economically challenged West Side.

Responding to a crying need for evangelistic ministry in what may be the
town's poorest area, the 77-member church resolved to build a community
center to serve young and old people of all races and religions. But that
seemed to be just a pipe dream for community, which has no social services
or public transportation, but plenty of drug abuse, high school dropouts,
pregnant teen-agers, and children and elderly people suffering from abuse
and neglect.

"I think we serve a God that allows us to dream big - and we should," said
Carlos Campos, an elder at First Presbyterian, whose members are mostly of
Mexican-American descent.

The envisioned Westside Community Center would be a safe haven where
children could play ball and be tutored and others in the community could
take classes and attend cultural events. The idea first came up about four
years ago. But with a modest $70,000 annual operating budget and no property
for expansion, First Presbyterian seemed likely to be stymied by limited
resources.

Officials estimated that they'd need to raise $1.2 million - about $700,000
to build the center, and $500,000 to endow its operations.

"I remember when we first told our congregation that this is something we
were considering," recalled Campos, a former session member. "It was like
'Yeah, right. We're going to be leaving Egypt here? What are you talking
about?'"

But through the church members' determination, the helpful "hand of God" and
growing community support - from civic groups, government leaders and other
churches - doors began to swing open for First Presbyterian and its dream of
a modern community center.

In the past year, the little church has defied seemingly insurmountable
odds. Now it has broken ground on a 9,000-square-foot community center.
Church officials hope to start construction in earnest sometime this month.
The goal is to throw open the doors of the Westside Community Center about a
year from now.

"It's like the David and Goliath thing," said elder Rosalva Sherrow. "We're
a very small church, and we're kind of all putting it together. It's been
pretty amazing. Miracle after miracle."

The two-story community center, which will include a gymnasium, stage,
kitchen, showers, bathroom, Sunday school classrooms and an administrative
office, will be a place for retreats, banquets, after-school tutoring,
mentoring, computer classes, YMCA recreational activities, diabetes-care
education and classes in English as a Second Language.

"If you do the math, there's no way with our budget and with our membership
that we could really be ... doing what we're doing here," said the Rev.
Thomas Martinez, Jr., First Presbyterian's pastor. "It really is the hand of
God. It has been very much a faith effort, and one we've been privileged to
witness and participate in."

First Presbyterian is located on Interstate 35 about 30 miles northeast of
San Antonio. It is frequented by drop-in motorists passing through the town
of about 36,500 people, 12,600 of whom are of Hispanic or Latino descent.

The church is no stranger to community outreach. 
Since 1986 it has been home to a local Head Start program, which has helped
more than 200 local children get ready for school. In 1995 a local hospital
opened a clinic there to provide desperately needed medical services. An
outreach program to elementary school children, known as the "Neighborhood
Bible Club," started meeting in the church sanctuary two years ago.

First church's session, wanting to do more for the troubled West Side,
realized about four years ago that it would need a new facility to make the
community center a reality. It had no land on which to build such a center
when it first approached a San Antonio-based foundation about helping with
the proposed project.

The congregation's prayers were answered early last year when First
Presbyterian received a $250,000 grant from the Kronkosky Charitable
Foundation, which is known for its support of cultural and educational
programs.

"We have learned that God has a sense of humor," Martinez said, referring to
the incongruity of getting a grant to put up a building before obtaining
land to put it on. "... We are very sure that God has been at work in this
whole process. From the time we received our first grant to the present, God
has been active."

To actually get the grant, the church had to raise an additional $450,000
and break ground.

As word of the foundation's gift spread through New Braunfels, the phone at
First Presbyterian started ringing. Many people in the area were eager to
help. The owner of a weedy, 1.3-acre lot next to First Presbyterian had a
change of heart and agreed to sell the site to the church.

"Through lots of prayer, and people praying at home and in church  we've
been able to acquire this land, and it's so beautiful," said elder Noemi
Campos, who also serves as First Presbyterian's treasurer. "We could not
have done it without the Lord, His hand guiding us, leading us. It was all
through faith."

A local FM radio station donated the proceeds from its annual music festival
- $22,000 - to the Westside Community Center. The Wal-Mart Distribution
Center in New Braunfels matched $10,000 of the money raised from the music
jam, and later pledged as much as $50,000 in merchandise.

Small contributions from all corners of the city and state started pouring
in, crossing denominational and ecumenical lines: According to Martinez, the
donations included $5,000 from the First United Methodist Church, $1,500
from First Protestant Church and $3,000 from First Presbyterian's sister
church, New Braunfels Presbyterian.

"Community support, we've just been in awe over it," said Sonia Munoz, a
church member who also serves on New Braunfels' city council. Munoz's
grandfather, Medardo Munoz, started First Presbyterian in the 1930s. "It
crosses different denominations. Churches  have sent us donations for the
building, not only from New Braunfels, but statewide, too. ... And that's
good, because they know it's an uphill fight."

The project also received a $10,000 grant from the Synod of the Sun and
nearly $2,200 from Mission Presbytery. The city matched the $250,000
Kronkosky grant. And the church discovered that it would receive $63,000
over the next 15 years from revenue generated by a billboard on the
property.

"Is this God's timing, or what?" Martinez asked. 
"We felt very much the hand of God, affirming to us in a very positive way
that this is supposed to come about."

In all, the church has raised the $700,000 it needs to build the center and
$20,000 toward the $500,000 endowment.

"One of the things that we are convinced, I think as a church, is that
there's nothing that God cannot do," Martinez said.

Church officials recently met with the Alamo Community College District to
discuss the creation of a $350,000  "hi-tech center," complete with
computers and video conferencing.

"This community center project has become bigger than life," said Allen J.
Seelhammer, a Catholic corporate-education consultant who has helped mediate
between the church and college district.
"It's really blossoming out. I'm just very happy to be part of the program.
It's a dream coming true for all of us in this community."

How to help

Mail contributions for the center to First Presbyterian Church, 2910
Interstate 35, New Braunfels, TX, 78130. Or phone (830) 625-6060, or email
primpresbynb@axs4u.net.
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