Volunteers turn Hanover Park house into church's Spanish ministry

Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hanover Park held a neighborhood barbecue Oct. 3 to celebrate the rescue of a derelict house and its future use in an outreach program and ministry to Spanish speaking residents of the area.

Gangs had broken into the house at 1605 Evergreen Ave., adjacent to the church at 7020 Barrington Road, punched holes in the walls and written graffiti on them, said Rev. Matthew Black, the senior pastor at the church.

The church took possession of the building in May and Leopardo Construction in Chicago provided about 40 volunteer workers from three states through its "Helping Hands" volunteer program to do interior demolition on June 1 and then rebuild the interior in the following weeks, he said.

Because of the damage and for its new use, the building needed wiring, new bathrooms, heating and air conditioning changes, and some walls moved, Black said. Parishioners and neighborhood residents helped with tasks such as painting, plumbing, laying tile and landscaping.

One neighbor who used to be a landscaper volunteered to help lay sod. "We couldn't have done it without him," Black said. Altogether, about 40 people helped with the renovation.

The building now has meeting rooms, classrooms and bathrooms. "It will be used as a Spanish ministry" and for church fellowship events, he said.

While the congregation is mostly English-speaking, Black, who spent four years as a Baptist missionary in Spain, says the congregation has been making more of an effort to connect with people in the neighborhood, who he estimated are 80 percent Hispanic.

The church now draws 10-15 people who speak Spanish and hopes to increase that, he said.

"We feel like we're in a strategic location for reaching out and helping these people," he said.