One house of God is a heavenly host to three distinct congregations.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published July 23, 2003
KENNETH CITY - From a microphone at the front of the church, the call went out to the faithful trickling in from Sunday school classes and those just arriving in the parking lots.
"Gloria! Santo! Santo! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" went the summons from deacon Cali Garcia.
At Iglesia Palabra de Vida, 5945 54th Ave. N, the walls reverberate with the sounds of worship, which begins early on Sunday mornings and ends in the midafternoon or later. It's where the faithful from a trinity of congregations gather to worship.
The first shift begins at 8 a.m. and is the province of Nha Tho Tin Lanh Emmanuel, a nondenominational congregation whose name in English is Vietnamese Church of the Emmanuel.
Members of tiny Christ Covenant Church, who believe that Jesus' second coming has already happened, arrive next. Their service starts at 10 a.m. and they take their places in the blue upholstered pews recently emptied by the Vietnamese worshipers, who have moved on to an after-service meal in the fellowship hall.
The last congregation to meet in the spacious sanctuary each Sunday is Iglesia Palabra de Vida, the vibrant Hispanic church whose sign is on the building. Iglesia Palabra de Vida, or Word of Life Church, is landlord to the other two congregations.
Its pastor, the Rev. Juan R. Medina, is proud of the harmony the three faith groups enjoy under one roof.
"We don't have any problems. It's like brothers and sisters," he said.
"We cover here different languages, different cultures. That's the way the church has to work."
Earlier, Thanh Nguyen, who attends the Vietnamese church with her husband, Anh Duong, spoke similar words about her own congregation, which has been meeting at the Kenneth City building since March 2001.
"This is just like a small family. We love each other and we take care of each other," she said.
Services are conducted primarily in Vietnamese and follow the traditional format of evangelical churches. One recent Sunday two women, Yen Dang and Anna Duong, the pastor's wife, led praise songs to the accompaniment of a keyboard and drums.
Mrs. Dang and her husband, Quy Dang, drive from Tampa each week to attend services. On July 13, after inviting members of the congregation to give thanks for their blessings and request prayers for special concerns, Q Dang made a request of his own.
"Keep my dad in your prayers," he asked in Vietnamese for his father who is gravely ill.
That day pastor Levi Duong, who is completing studies toward ordination, based his sermon on the biblical account of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed the crowd that had gathered to hear him.
"God can take nothing and can create something," he told the congregation, which numbered about three dozen.
The Christ Covenant Church service that followed was less exuberant. Instead of clapping to catchy songs, the congregation of about two dozen sang along to recordings of old-fashioned hymns accompanied by organ music.
Members of Christ Covenant, an independent Presbyterian church, believe that Jesus' second coming took place in 70 A.D., the date of the fall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
That belief is reflected in the church's version of the Apostles Creed, which has been changed to say that Jesus "sat on the right hand of God" rather than "sits." Additionally, instead of coming to judge the living and the dead, worshipers say that Jesus "came" to judge the living and the dead.
The Hispanic congregation began its day with 11:30 a.m. Sunday school. Church member Gloria Latorre, of Puerto Rican descent, talked to a group of teenagers about mental health. She told them that the homeless, many of whom are mentally ill, should be treated with compassion.
"We cannot judge the homeless," she said to the small group in the undecorated classroom.
"The Bible says the only judge is God. As Christians, we have to give them love."
At 12:30 p.m. she joined members of other Sunday school classes and new arrivals in the sanctuary that bustled with people from Cuba, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Mexico and a variety of Spanish-speaking countries. They travel from far and near to attend the service, some coming from as far away as Tarpon Springs, Medina, the pastor said.
Gathering in the sanctuary, they greeted each other with enthusiastic hugs and kisses. A boy walked down the aisle clutching a clear plastic bag of mangoes. Some worshipers knelt between the pews, elbows on the seats and heads bowed, to pray before the service started.
The call to worship was made with increasing fervor.
"Gloria! Santo! Santo! Hallelujah!
Soon, the sanctuary, resplendent with colorful banners and artificial plants and trees, rocked with Latin-style music. The people swayed, clapped their hands and shook tambourines. The main event at Iglesia Palabra de Vida had begun.
