February 19, 2001
AT VISTA DEL SOL BAPTIST CHURCH in El Paso, a technology crew (above) keeps all systems working properly while a praise group leads worship. More than 600 people worship each week in the church's two Sunday morning services. (Photos by Ferrell Foster)
VISTA DEL SOL BAPTIST CHURCH
A church for everyone
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___EL PASO--It looks like a wedding, but it's not.
___It's her day, and she's dressed in white. But rather than celebrating a wedding, this 15-year-old girl is celebrating her quinceañera--a common rite of passage for Hispanic girls turning 15.
About this series
This week, the Baptist Standard launches Lone Star Churches as a new serialized feature. Every few weeks, this series will spotlight a Baptist General Convention of Texas church and explore how the church is creatively reaching its community for Christ.
___At El Paso's Vista del Sol Baptist Church, the girl is introduced to womanhood with a biblical message on maturity. Her friends and extended family are introduced to a different kind of church.
___Quinceañeras are a distinct part of Hispanic culture but often are associated with the Catholic Church. In a Catholic church, the rite is celebrated with a mass. At Vista del Sol, the rite is observed in an elaborate ceremony coupled with a sermon from the pastor.
___That's just one way this El Paso church is making its mark in one of the state's most rapidly growing metropolitan areas.
___Fifteen years ago, Vista del Sol was a traditional Anglo church in east El Paso running about 60 in worship attendance. Today, it is a multi-ethnic congregation with more than 600 in worship most Sundays.
___"Our church is trying to be truly a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic church," said Pastor Walter Mueller. That's necessary because the church ministers in a multi-cultural community.
___It is "very important" for El Paso to have a church like Vista del Sol, said Lorenzo Peña, former director of missions for El Paso Baptist Association. He now is coordinator of the associational missions and administration section of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___East El Paso is home to about 150,000 people,Peña said. Sixty percent are Hispanic surnamed. Of those, the majority are middle class, educated, white-collar workers.
CHURCH MEMBERS and guests grab coffee and donuts prior to Sunday morning worship. The serving area is located adjacent to a large foyer where people mingle before and after services.
___Vista del Sol now reflects that community, with a membership that is 58 percent Anglo and 40 percent Hispanic, Mueller said.
___The church "built a vision to reach out to that segment of the population that was not being reached," said Peña, who was associate pastor at Vista del Sol in 1991 and 1992. A lot of the strategy Mueller implemented "really hit at the heart of those folk." The contemporary worship setting "is what attracted many of these people," he added.
___From Pastor Mueller's perspective, "the key thing is the general atmosphere" of the church--one of acceptance and love.
___Vista del Sol welcomes people unconditionally, said Greg Swann, men's ministry leader.
___Joe Granados, a fifth grade Sunday School teacher, remembers his first time at Vista del Sol three years ago. "When I walked in, you could feel the friendliness, the family atmosphere," he said. "You can't walk through the halls without someone making you feel like you belong."
PASTOR Walter Mueller greets worshippers before the second service on a recent Sunday morning.
___A new worship center has just been built. The foyer leading to it is expansive, with several round tables, a serving bar and lots of empty space for people to stand and talk. The area is crowded before and after the church's two Sunday services.
___On one recent Sunday, a young Hispanic woman walked into the area alone, looking around as if uncertain where to go. Within minutes, she had been invited to a table for coffee and conversation with other women.
___Granados, who is Hispanic, said the multi-ethnic character of the church made him feelmore welcome when he first came. In churches where everyone is of another race, "you feel like an outsider," he said. The racial mix at Vista del Sol "makes you want to do more."
HUGS are common at Vista del Sol.
___The church's motto is taken from the words of Jesus--loving God and loving people.
___Granados sees that love in hugs. "A lot of people who come here will tell you, 'That's the only hug I get.'" And guys even hug guys, he noted.
___Vista del Sol, however, is not just about showing love inside the church building. "We are an outreach-focused church," Mueller said. It's about "touching people on the outside" of the walls; it's "not about us."
___The church uses an acronym to measure spiritual health--GO and GROW. It stands for grace (believers), obedience (baptism and communion), gifts (being used), relationships (genuine and in small groups), outreach and worshipping (individual and as a congregation). When those things are seen, Mueller said, you can tell how much someone really loves God and other people.
___"We're just trying to be a biblically functioning community," the pastor said. "I think we're not so much trying to build an organization, an institution." Rather, Vista del Sol is simply trying to minister to people, he explained.
___The church is not burdened with a complex organization. It has no nominating committee. The only elected body is the church council.
___"If God has gifted you, you serve," Mueller said. "It goes back to that atmosphere where people feel empowered to minister in the name of Christ; and there are no structures in the church that keep them from doing that.
___"I don't need to be in control of everything," the pastor said. "My primary role is to keep the congregation focused, that we become who Christ intended for us to become, ... and that what we do is always genuine, ... authentic ... and biblical."
___In a church where boundaries between ethnic groups have been dropped, it perhaps is fitting that the pastor would cross cultural boundaries himself. A native of Austria, Mueller sounds like actor Arnold Schwartzenegger as he preaches from the pulpit.
___"I'm coming from a different culture, so I'm sensitive" to cross-cultural issues. Mueller said. "Six pounds of skin don't really make a difference."
___In crossing cultures, "you become more sensitive toward people's values," Mueller said. "You have to look beyond your own cultural biases, learn to be sensitive to what really matters."
___Cindy Lopez grew up in a Hispanic church. At Vista del Sol, she said, "we learn from the other ethnic groups, and I think that's exciting."
___Lopez and her husband, Gilbert, joined Vista del Sol seven years ago because the church "really emphasized children." Due to the multi-ethnic nature of the church, their children, Lindsay, 9, and Brianna, 6, "have made friends with all types of people."
___As a result, the parents believe that "out there in the world," their daughters will be able to make friends easier with people from other backgrounds.
___Vista del Sol is like a family, said Swann, the men's ministry leader. "We can act like we do at home. This is our home. ... There is a closeness here that I can't find anywhere else."
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