To the sounds of modern Christian hymns, the echo of loud claps and waving of raised hands, the parishioners at the Sunday worship service of the Cristo es mi Refugio Church passionately professed their religion.
The crowd, consisting completely of Hispanic immigrants, both families and individuals, were able to do so entirely in their native language.
"My goal is to have a place where I can search for God, to change my life, to live a better life," said Tulio Bautista, a construction worker from Reston standing in the back of the room, a church attendant for the past year and a half. "To continue forward in the word of God, to behave in the way the Lord wants, that is why I come here."
The Cristo es mi Refugio Church — Spanish for "Christ is my Refuge" — welcomes about 70 worshippers each week, to its shared home at the Vienna Assembly of God, located just outside of the town's downtown district, according to founder and head pastor Roberto Paz.
"We believe that the societies and the communities that we live in, we are all composed of families," said Paz, in an interview before Sunday's service. "If we want to have a society that is more healthy, where there is less crime, where we participate in local government, we must encourage this behavior and do this through sharing the word of God."
ESTABLISHED a little more than four years ago by Paz and his family, the Pentecostal Cristo es mi Refugio Church looked to reach out to a Hispanic community that was largely untapped in the area, he said.
Paz, a former restaurant worker who immigrated to the area from rural El Salvador in 1983, first became religious upon visiting area churches in 1993. When he started working in area churches in 2000, he soon realized that he wanted to start his own congregation that would focus on the Hispanic community.
"Spiritually speaking, the area here was very poor, and we wanted to find a way to breathe in spiritual life to the people here," Paz said. "We saw that they could be better people, and by living in the area, could raise better families."
The church first opened its doors — at the Paz family's Fairfax home — to 15 worshippers on July 27, 2003.
The group began renting out a conference room at the Fairfax County Police Department. After growing to several dozen regular members, the grassroots-founded church became a registered place of worship with the state of Virginia.
After nine months occupying the rental room at the police department, it soon became clear that if the church were to progress, they would need to find a more formal, permanent home, Paz said.
"At that moment we did not have a location for the church, so we asked God to help us look for one," he said.
THE ANSWER came in the form of the Vienna Assembly of God, when pastor Craig Burns and the rest of the church welcomed them in March 2004.
"When we first came to knock on the door, we did not know the pastor [Burns]," said Paz. But after learning of their plight, Burns agreed to assist them, and the two set about working together, he added.
Burns could not be reached by phone.
The church now operates services on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, with Saturday nights featuring a rotating service specifically geared to men, women, young adults or children.
"Many [Hispanic residents] work in the restaurants and hotels, they work nights, and that can make it difficult to get to church," he said. "So we want to have as many options as possible for them."
The individualized services work to address the different issues occurring in the lives of its parishioners, such as young people dealing with the pressures of growing up in the area, Paz said. His brother, Geronimo Paz, guides those services.
"Our objective is to influence [young adults] to stay away from things like drugs, sex and alcohol, and to do this by finding God," Geronimo Paz said. "We tell someone [in a gang], or someone who is addicted to drugs that it is possible to make a change, to have a better future."
"We want to infuse young people with the desire to work, to go to school, to live a healthy life."
AS THE CHURCH enters its fifth year, Roberto Paz and his family want to continue to reach out to more of the area's Hispanic residents and families.
"It is very important to have a place where people can come and meet with their families," he said. "To have that place, to go for services every week, means very much for people."
And that focus will remain devoted to encouraging those who attend the church to be better human beings and citizens, Roberto Paz added.
"We want people to understand the word of God and to live a life that is free of things like drugs and alcohol," he said. "To be able to strengthen their lives as human beings and living a life that is more healthy, more secure. With more programs and through our congregation, we want to deliver that message."