The Beginnings…
Several years ago, a married couple began riding their tandem bike to some local apartments and began to befriend the children. Over time they began a Bible study for the kids. Eventually, they took the kids to a local church’s Fall Fun Festival (Oct. 2001). They began bringing the kids to the church, but soon the task outgrew their vehicle and resources. They asked the church family ministry if they would be willing to find volunteers to go pick up the kids in the church vans.
As we began to bring the kids, we realized that in order to truly affect them, we needed more of a relationship. So a couple people started visiting the kids once a week after work to play games, make a craft, or just hang out.
Eventually, this led to a week-long Backyard Bible Club (Aug 2002) at the apartments. It was a joy to see not only kids having a wonderful time, but their mothers watching and sometimes joining in as well.
Our Own Place
As a result of the Backyard Bible Club, a few more volunteers committed, and we began a weekly Kids Club. At first we met outdoors. With the Fall time change, the management started letting us use whatever apartment was vacant that week. Soon, they decided to give us our own apartment (115) for the ministry. As our number of teens grew as well, the apartment management was kind enough to give us a key to the leasing office so the Youth could meet there while the younger kids met in Apt 115.
That first Backyard Bible Club made us more aware of the need for adult ministry as well. On the night the kids’ parents were invited to join us, 7 mothers and 1 father professed to give their lives to Christ. Some asked that we bring them to church. The problem: the affiliated church had no services for Spanish speakers. A local missionary began meeting parents and soon started a Bible study in one of their apartments.
As the ministry became more established, a name came to mind. The street where the apartment community is located is called Hidalgo Drive. After discovering that “Hidalgo” is an old Spanish word that signifies “noble, courteous, and generous”, we settled on the name “Hidalgo” for the ministry.
The Clubhouse
After a couple years, we discovered that the community’s clubhouse building had been left boarded-up for many years due to misuse and neglect. Negotiating to renovate the clubhouse at mostly our cost (through the local church), the clubhouse became our future ministry center. With plenty of volunteer labor, phase one involved renovating the larger upstairs social room. After beginning to use that space, we renovated the downstairs laundry room to make another usable meeting space.
In that space, over the years, we’ve had kids club, youth group, ESL classes, and even a temporary worship service.
Since our first outreach in 2002, we’ve grown into an independent ministry with volunteers from multiple churches within the DFW area. We continue to seek additional leaders who have a heart for reflecting Christ’s love in the community through the power of the Holy Spirit!