Jacqueline and Marvin Batres depend on a particular truth from Christ in John 15: abide in him and they will bear much fruit. 

The Lord’s faithfulness to this principle became a lesson to this Minnesota couple as they watched one ministry activity after another influence more people for Christ.

Several years ago, they befriended youth while volunteering at a church near their St. Paul home. At first, about 10 teens came, each wearing a scowl, gang colors and bandanas. 

“They had a face like, ‘I hate being in this room,’” he said. 

But, according to Marvin, six months later, 50 kids were running through the church to take a front-row seat at that same youth group.

“My wife and I said if we’re going to do something, let’s do our best,” he said. “We started noticing that everything we did would grow. So, that’s where we started seeing our leadership.”

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Planting a church on the foundation of lessons from multiple churches

They invested more than 10 years volunteering at two Hispanic churches. Then, they joined a predominantly-Anglo church and learned a lot about how to do ministry. 

After that, the Batreses pondered a question that redirected their lives: What if we create a church for Hispanics that integrates what we’ve learned from the English-language church?

In response, Jacqueline and Marvin decided to act on the gifts and growth received at these churches. So, they planted Espíritu Santo, which means Holy Spirit, in May 2021 in the northeastern part of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Before the Batres family even guessed they’d be planting a church, they and four others started sharing devotionals and Scripture over the phone. As they kept abiding in Christ, the fruit kept growing. Before long, 10 people were in this digital discipleship community; several weeks later, 15 engaged God’s word together.

At that point, Jacqueline suggested they start hosting the devotional times in their home. That drew about 20 people, then 30, then 40. Next, somebody desired to sing worship music aside from the meditations and devotionals.

Related: See what God did when another couple gathered disciples at home.

In his teens and twenties, Marvin learned to play drums, piano and bass in worship settings. So the group added people as they gathered each week in worship, growth and fellowship.

“Jackie and I would always daydream about a church,” Marvin said about those early gatherings in 2020 and 2021. “But we never saw ourselves as pastors.”

Part of that perspective existed because Marvin and Jacqueline had careers. He managed a dumpster rental business and investment properties while running a flooring business with 15 employees. She was a therapist. Some of Marvin’s paradigms about ministry grew out of thinking the title of pastor was too big for them.

But Mill City Church, a Converge congregation planted in the Twin Cities several years ago, acted with such generosity, love and support for the Batres family that their perspective shifted. The daydream of starting a church became a reality.

First, Mill City shared a worship space for the new congregation. Plus, they’ve supplied a keyboard, drum set and mixer, pianos, banners and a generous donation to cover other costs.

“Mill City has given us everything we need,” Marvin said. “They make us look like a church we’ve been on for a while. We’re blessed for those contributions.”

Espíritu Santo is creating a holistic, multicultural ministry

The community in northeastern Minneapolis will also be blessed because Espíritu Santo pursues multicultural diversity that meets spiritual, emotional and social needs with a wisdom informed by various leadership philosophies.

From the beginning, the team has sought to utilize strategic wisdom, incorporating best practices from the various churches they’ve attended in different countries and the micro-cultures of America. 

“We want to let the community know we’re serious about planting a church,” he said. “We emphasize a lot about the movement of the Holy Spirit.”

In addition, Jacqueline earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree at Bethel University so she could work as a therapist. Her skills strengthen the church so people can access trauma recovery resources and grow in faith through Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by pastor Peter Scazzero.

“There’s a lot of traumas that happen in the past, and (churches) don’t usually help people with that,” Marvin added.

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Instead, he said many Hispanic churches emphasize people’s behavior and create a sense of guilt for activities that aren’t sinful or punish people more than a mistake deserves. As a result, many leave the church because of this emphasis on rules rather than a relationship with a loving God.

The Father still runs to meet his children as they start toward him

Through Espíritu Santo, Batres and his core team welcome back people who’ve walked away, especially the younger generation and pastors’ kids like himself.  Many have seen Christians hurting one another, yet they will come to Espíritu Santo.

“Our emphasis is relationship, not religion,” Marvin explained. “You don’t have to be perfect to belong.”

That’s why a diverse group of Minneapolis residents come to Espíritu Santo, including college students seeking immersive Spanish learning during worship. Many people in worship are college-educated or will be, while many others work in blue-collar jobs. 

“We want to have a Hispanic church where you have professional people and people who are not professional worshiping God in one space,” he said. “People who do construction and a therapist sitting next to each other and a white person who is humble and wants to do a full service in church next to a Hispanic person.”

Whether caring for traumatized people, explaining God’s truth with common words or welcoming the Holy Spirit who moves like the wind, Espíritu Santo opens up about tough topics and real life with hope because the gospel is for everyone.

Marvin and his wife have encountered churches that emphasized the exorcism of demons or congregations that celebrated how much better they were than the next church. They’ve seen churches they couldn’t bring their friends to and God’s people taking a posture toward one another that pushed people away.

Still, despite all those imperfections and shortcomings, God has made plain his perfect plan: abide in Christ and see what the Lord will do. As a result, Marvin said the new congregation keeps placing expectations for people and God at the right level, a place of grace and truth that only the Espíritu Santo can accomplish.

“I think it’s amazing what God is doing with our church,” he said. “We want to make sure the emphasis is always Jesus.”

Converge’s 10 districts have committed to deploying 312 church planters before 2026. Read more inspiring church planting stories and learn about the goal to send out 312 church planters in five years.