Published: July 27, 2007 10:08 pm      

Services begin for deaf, Hispanic

Building Richmond’s new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses was not easy, thanks to Mother Nature, but it is now complete and expanding services to accommodate the Hispanic and deaf communities.

“One weekend a storm came and it blew the trusses off,” said Brad Bates of Lexington’s Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “We had to redo it, but it worked out well.”

The building was built in three weekends of the fall of last year, finished in October, all by volunteer labor all around Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. We had to redo it, but everything worked out well.”

The new building, located at 661 Hampton Way, is home of three services: one in English, one in Spanish and one for the deaf.

“It’s working out well in this area,” Bates said.

Both services for the Hispanic and the deaf have a congregation of about 60 people. English services draw in about 120 people, he said.

Elder Mike Gellar oversees the English services, the Spanish services are directed by Elders Bates, James Miller and Jose Benitez and Elder Larry Goss directs the sign language services.

“We have people come from as far away as Louisville,” he said. “The next closest sign-language group of Jehovah’s Witnesses is in Ohio.

However, most of the Hispanic congregation was gathered from going door to door, Bates said.

“As Jehovah’s Witnesses, a large part of our ministry is going out and actually talking with people about the Bible,” he said. “The challenge is finding out where they live. Another way to find them is to ask English-speaking people if they know of anyone who speaks Spanish.”

The Hispanics who attend the services appreciate the fact that the entire service is done in Spanish, rather than it being translated into Spanish following the English version, Bates said.

Miller and his wife had been attending the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Danville until they heard about the Spanish services being conducted in Richmond.

The two recently returned from living in South America and were excited to get a chance to attend the Spanish services, Miller said.

“We enjoy getting to speak to the Spanish people,” he said. “It’s interesting to find that some of the ones who come from Latin America, they seem to have more of a curiosity about the Bible and are wanting to learn more about it. Sometimes, it’s even easier to talk to them about it (opposed to those of an English-speaking culture). It seems that most people who come from Latin American countries are more open to talk about the Bible.”

All services combine the adults and children, and no monetary collection is taken, Bates said.

The English-speaking congregation meets Sunday at 10 a.m., Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The Spanish-speaking service is Sunday at 2 p.m. and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The deaf congregation meets Saturday at 2 p.m.

Call 624-3008 for more information.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.