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SAN ANTONIO?Eighteen months ago, Edward Beltran had serious doubts about pastoral ministry. Apprehension underscored his desire to keep his secular job and to become a spiritual counselor to Hispanic people because, as Beltran puts it, “I want to serve my people.”
Today, having quit his job, Beltran serves the largely Hispanic neighborhoods of southeast San Antonio as pastor of Genesis Hot Wells Bible Baptist Church, which has grown from about 30 to almost 200 people, some of whom are former members of street gangs.
“Lives are being changed every day,” Beltran said. “People are coming to Christ, marriages are being restored, and one suicidal person no longer has such thoughts.”
Beginning with the founding of Genesis and the subsequentmerger a few months laterwith about 35 members fromHot Wells Baptist Church, Beltran has emphasized reaching others with the gospel of Jesus Christ, traditionally and creatively.
The church hosted Southern Baptist volunteers for the SBC’s Crossover evangelism outreach just prior to the 2007 SBC annual meeting, with church members and visiting Baptists canvassing the neighborhood with former SBC president Bobby Welch.
In July, the church kicked off its Vacation Bible School with a Saturday parade through the neighborhood. “I chose a parade because it attracts children,” Beltran said.
With about 50 church people, the parade included banners, balloons, clowns, candy, drums and popsicles. As the parade passed the second block, Beltran noticed on a porch four boys dressed in gang garb, displaying their colors. He approached the one who seemed to be the leader, whose street name is Sonny Boi, and asked him, “If you were to die tonight, do you know where your soul would spend eternity?”
Sonny Boi didn’t know.
“The Spirit of God gave me an opportunity to share the gospel” with Sonny Boi, Beltran said. “In front of the other boys, I led him to faith in Christ.” Then Beltran prayed for the three others: J, Pete and Kid.
On the very next block, “There was another young man sitting on the porch,” Beltran said. “So I posed the same question, and by the grace of God led him to confess Christ as Savior.”
At Beltran’s invitation, Sonny Boi and eight other gang members showed up at the church. “But he also brought his mother, grandmother,” said Beltran, who was “nervous because I didn’t know these people. I didn’t know their intent. I didn’t know what was in their pockets.”
“The Lord has never spoken to me in an audible voice,” Beltran noted. “But he told my heart, ‘If you want revival, this is how revival begins.’ So I prayed, and the Lord directed me to start preaching from John 14:1-6. I felt the presence of God so strong,” he said. “There in that fellowship hall they all confessed Christ as their Savior.”
The group also committed to attend church the next day and VBS on Monday.
The only two who came back for Sunday worship were Kid and J, or Julian, both of whom made public professions of their faith.
On the night Beltran was scheduled to baptize Julian and other former gang members, a girl named Diamond, also a gang member, showed up to see her brother Joe’s baptism. Beltran asked her about salvation, and she starting crying, indicating to him her need for salvation. Beltran shared the gospel using the Roman Road, and Diamond committed her life to Christ and was baptized that same night.
Before his baptism, Julian had told Beltran he would be “rolled out” of the gang for leaving it and accepting Christ.
Beltran explained to the TEXAN that prospects wanting to join the gang are “rolled in,” or are beaten and kicked by other gang members as a requisite initiation. And if a member wants to leave the gang, they’re “rolled out” in an identical ritual.
Joy pervaded the church when Julian went ahead with his baptism. “But the joy we experienced was short-lived,” said Beltran, adding that rumors began spreading in the neighborhood that Julian would not be rolled out of the gang, but would be “stabbed out.”
Beltran said that Julian was a general in the gang, and generals from other areas were coming to stab him for leaving the gang, so he sent Julian home with a church family for protection.
“This was one of the saddest times of my life,” Beltran said. “I went from a spiritual high to a dark valley. I was swimming in completely uncharted waters. This was wild.”
The church youth group gathered to pray and quote Scripture. They also agreed to fast and pray for Julian’s deliverance.
Julian showed up at the church the next day looking only slightly roughed-up, Beltran recalled. “They went easy on me,” Julian told Beltran. “There was only two of them, and it lasted maybe 20 or 30 seconds.”
Despite the risks, Julian and his cohorts continued to attend church and a few weeks later found themselves attending an SBTC summer youth camp, Alto Frio, where a call to surrender to full-time ministry was made. Julian was among five teenagers who answered the call.
Beltran started a Sunday school class where he now personally disciples the young men. However, he not only wants them to be spiritually prepared but academically also. That’s why he approached officials of the San Antonio Independent School District and inquired about GED classes for the many high school dropouts living near the church.
After Beltran had offered to do any and everything with regard to the classes, one school district official told him he had to do nothing but provide facilities for classes and recruit students. The first classes began Sept. 24.
The church’s unusual ministry in inner-city San Antonio caught the attention of Telecran, a French media concern. “Some people in San Antonio had told us about the great work PastorBeltran was doing in his church,” Nathalie Lefebvre, an interpreter on the crew, told the TEXAN.
She explained they were filming a documentary attempting to show the social role of American churches, and “howAmerican people live their faith differently than European people.”
Beltran takes his ministerial role seriously, saying: “I’m standing between the living and the dead on a daily basis. I am the presbyter, and this role is no joke. We have a burning desire to reach souls, and our prayer is that God will pour out his Spirit in this community.”
