The Rev. Ricardo Lizcano came to Rogers in 1994 to build a small congregation of Hispanic Methodists at Central United Methodist Church. He and his wife each Sunday would drive by what is now Grace United Methodist Church in Rogers. And Alicia asked him one time, "I wonder if you'll ever pastor there."
"I told her, 'I don't think they're ready for us yet.'"
Well, they are ready now. And so is he.
Over the past year, he has taken two congregations -- Spanish and English -- and made them one.
"There is no need for us to be separate," Lizcano said. "I believe God wants us to be together as one."
TWO SERVICES
Although Grace offers two services each Sunday -- one in English and one in Spanish -- the worshipers belong to one congregation, Lizcano insists. "You pick [which service to attend]," he said.
Church member Jan Wilsey, a member of Grace, talked of the coming together of members of both cultures to host a food pantry and serve Sunday night dinners for the community (with support from other Methodist churches in Rogers). They also work together for children's activities -- including a garden -- and Sunday's pastor appreciation service, which will see the services combined.
"The coming together of the church has been wonderful," said Wilsey, who has been a member for about 18 years.
"We had lost a lot of membership. We had a lot of turmoil and with one pastor after another -- and that was not our fault," she said. "The Hispanics are welcome. We needed youth or we were going to die."
About 75 people attend the first service, which is in English, and 115 in the second, which is Spanish, Lizcano reported. That's up from about 20 and 75.
"The church has accepted it well," he said. "There is excitement in the air. You can feel the spirit of God here. I did not bring God here -- he's always been here. But we've opened our hearts and let God move in."
THREE TIMES
Lizcano's ministerial experiences throughout his career brought him here.
Lizcano's father was a minister in a Pentecostal Holiness church in McAllen, Texas.
"I learned a lot," he said. "I felt God was calling me in that direction. And as any young man not willing to submit, I joined the Marine Corps. I have no regrets. I learned a lot -- with a few thumpings from my sergeant.
"But I still felt the calling. I couldn't push away. And I was not enjoying myself in my sin. The calling was so strong.
"But God thinks differently than we do, and I'm glad he does."
Lizcano still felt the calling at his wedding and when he had kids. He became a loan officer.
"I loved the finance field," he said. "But I felt a need to witness to people rather than just giving them financial counseling."
He didn't know he could be a pastor without experience and education.
But he started his ministry in 1986, pastoring churches in Texas. The superintendent for his Methodist council moved him to Lubbock and pushed him to an undergraduate degree from Texas Tech University. The superintendent then sent him to Dallas for seminary at Southern Methodist University.
In Lubbock, Lizcano served two congregations. In Dallas, he served a Hispanic congregation, and when the older pastor died, Lizcano moved to serve that English congregation, too.
"It was a lot of work," Lizcano said. "It was my first experience dealing with two cultures. What a blessing. God works in some ways you can never imagine what would happen."
When he graduated seminary in 1994, Lizcano hoped for a job in Texas. But the Methodist bishop of Arkansas asked him to come to Northwest Arkansas to work on a four-year project.
"There was a tremendous Hispanic influx here, and the Catholic Church was the only one doing anything. They wanted me to lead an outreach to the Hispanic population."
After serving that congregation at Central Methodist, the district moved Lizcano to Springdale where Wesley United Methodist Church, also home to the Spanish Betel United Methodist Church, was being closed.
"I was assigned there to help the congregation move out and move on," he said.
When the pastor of Wesley moved on, Lizcano again took over both congregations. "Again, I was dealing with two cultures and two languages, for the second experience in my career."
Then to Grace, where the pastor of the English congregation left to serve full time at Oakley Chapel United Methodist Church in Rogers.
Again, Lizcano found himself leading two congregations.
"But is was not working -- 'Us' and 'Them,'" he realized at Wesley. "Even though I pastored both and gave equal time to both congregations.
"The third time I was given two congregations (at Grace), I said, this time was going to be different."
FOR THE PEOPLE
"There's not that 'war' between the different backgrounds you see on TV," Wilsey said of Grace.
"We respect each other. We love each other. And we do all we can to contribute," Lizcano said.
""With any two congregations coming together, you still have some hard feelings from some," Wilsey admitted. But if someone of either culture doesn't understand something, why something is done the way it is, they ask for it to be explained, she said.
Wilsey credits Lizcano and his wife of 44 years, Alicia. "They both have the ability to make each and every person present feel like they are the most important thing in that church," she said. "Brother visits people, he goes to the hospital, and we haven't had a pastor for a long time that would do that."
Wilsey noted that Lizcano sat with her family for the duration of her four-hour surgery, although she asked him not to. And Alicia brought Wilsey a homemade meal when she got home from the hospital.
Lizcano also feels the plight of the Hispanic immigrants who populate part of his church. His father was from Texas and his mother from Mexico, and he grew up just nine blocks from the Texas-Mexico border.
"I am I missionary here in this place," Lizcano said. "They come from Venezuela, Chile, other places in South America, Columbia, Peru, Bolivia ... all these countries. They are not in my backyard.
"The undocumented needed help. I listen to their stories and cry so much," he continued. "I hear about the savages who take advantage of their own race. But the savages are also struggling to make a living. They also need God. Everybody needs God."
Lizcano said he has worked with church members through alcoholism, divorce, separation, cancer treatment. "One member had a baby with a broken arm, but her husband was in Mexico," he related. "She did not know who to call. You don't call 'The Ghostbusters.' You call the pastor.
"Everything since 1994 has been for me to learn to minister to this population," he continued. "I care for them. I love them. I don't play favorites. I thank God that he allowed me to prepare them to accept the spirit of the Lord."
Wilsey spoke of the bonding she has felt with her fellow members in the multicultural church. She shared the words of one Hispanic member who calls her "Jane" in broken English. "Are you hurting?" the woman asked. "I love you so much. My family loves you so much."
She also tells of a baby of a mixed-race couple. "They never get to hold that baby while they're at church. [The members] pick that baby up and carry it around."
"There is lots of diversity in our church," Wilsey continued. "Different people are coming and belonging."
NAN Religion on 10/08/2016