On a humid day last fall, the Rev. Gustavo Segovia sat with his wife in a Roanoke church waiting for parishioners. As the wall clock ticked away the minutes, he glanced expectantly at the open door.

No one came.

Nearly a year later, his fledgling Spanish-language Mision Hispana congregation has grown and shrunk as Latinos move through the region.

"It's been very hard," Segovia said, switching between Spanish and English in his office at Huntington Court United Methodist Church on Williamson Road. "The thing we are very satisfied with is, when people come here, they feel it is family."

With Hispanics a growing presence in Southwest Virginia, a few Hispanic churches are trying to take root. Meanwhile, many mainline churches are reaching out to the immigrants as a way to revitalize their aging congregations.

Segovia, 32, remains upbeat as he holds his services in two Methodist churches, one in Roanoke and the other in Blacksburg. On Friday, a team of Mexican clergy and lay speakers will arrive for the first Hispanic Christian fair in Roanoke.

Nationwide, Hispanics often intertwine their religious and political views, worshipping in ethnic congregations and embracing a spirit-filled, charismatic style of Christianity, according to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center.

The trends signal shifts in the U.S. religious and political landscapes. Hispanic Catholics, who make up two-thirds of the Hispanic population, are solidly Democratic. But born-again or evangelical Hispanics, at 15 percent of the Hispanic population and rising, slightly favor Republicans.

Segovia's Mision Hispana attracts immigrants from Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and some South American countries. His greatest challenge is coaxing people to attend regularly. Many start, but then stop because of work schedules, jobs that take them elsewhere or demands at home.

His faith is infused with social work, harking back to Methodist founder John Wesley. Along with other Hispanic pastors, he helps make appointments with the Mexican consulate and helps people navigate through confusing bureaucracies.

"We try to help the families when they need to go to the courthouse or to a job," Segovia said. "Sometimes, after they've received the help they go away. We know what we're doing with these families is something good. We have peace in this."

He also faces denominational challenges.

"The two things with Hispanic congregations are that they are usually Roman Catholic and are very mobile," said Stephen Hundley, Roanoke district superintendent of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church. "Our roots are Anglican and revival movement and part of that stream was Pentecostal."

Community outreach

Segovia hopes to raise awareness with Roanoke's first "Feria Hispana," or Hispanic fair, on June 23. It will offer food, games, merchandise, music and preaching in the parking lot of the Huntington Court church from 2 to 9 p.m.

In a reversal of many U.S. church missions to Latin America, the nine-person missionary team from Mexico will be hosted by families from area Methodist churches until June 25. The team, from three cities in Mexico, will evangelize at Happy's Flea Market, Raleigh Court apartments and elsewhere in a Hispanic version of a Southern tent revival.

"We'll go to different stores, houses, trailers and soccer fields to tell them about Jesus Christ," Segovia said.

Ordained in Mexico, Segovia's goal is for the Latino congregations incubated in the two local Methodist churches to become independent. His congregations mix with the Anglo host churches about four times a year.

"We decided he could start new faith communities in Blacksburg and Roanoke," Hundley added.

Segovia, of Monterrey, Mexico, was formally recognized Monday by the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church, along with a minister from Brazil and from Puerto Rico. This ceremony allows Segovia, who has been on loan by a Mexican bishop, to perform weddings and deliver sacraments of baptism and Communion in Virginia.

"That is a real coup for us," said the Rev. Russell Cheatham. "We will be able to support him better financially."

Forging bonds

Cheatham has witnessed Segovia's unflagging belief that his Roanoke church will flourish just as his group at Blacksburg United Methodist Church grew from one parishioner to about 15 to 20 regulars. Many large churches, and even mega-churches, had modest beginnings with just a handful of loyal followers.

"Gus is a humble man," Cheatham said. "He's really believing that, as he's been faithful, that God will be faithful. We're very supportive."

Segovia said he's been forging bonds with area Hispanic congregations. The pastoral fraternity has held occasional nighttime prayer services, with about 120 Latinos attending the last one at the Huntington Court church several months ago. The next one is set for July 20 at a Pentecostal church.

On Sundays, when the pews are filled with families in Huntington Court's Fellowship Hall, Segovia stands in his pulpit draped with a purple cloth. Lyrics in Spanish are projected on the back wall of the Fellowship Hall.

Parishioners hold La Santa Biblia, a bilingual edition of the New International Version of the Bible.

"Part of the reason we have these Bibles is because some people speak Spanish, but read in English. This helps bridge the gap," said his wife, Lori.

Service for one

On a recent Sunday, though, only one person showed up, creating a lonely but personal service that illustrated both the difficulties and rewards of trying to connect with the region's growing Latino population.

Julio Ramirez, 41, a Cuban who typically attends the church with his wife and two daughters, listened to Segovia weave anecdotes of people's conversions into readings from Acts.

Segovia, a big man with a tie clasp emblazoned with a United Methodist cross wrapped in a flame, sang hymns with Ramirez. Their voices filled the little room. In a clear tenor, Ramirez sang with passion: "La unica razon de mi adoracíon eres tu mi Jesus [the only reason for my adoration is you, Jesus]," he sang in Spanish.

During the informal service, the pastor munched on a sausage biscuit left over from an Anglo breakfast meeting at the church. Then he wiped his hands on a napkin and softly played his guitar as Ramirez clasped his hands over the Bible passages and prayed for the success of the Mexican missionary team.

Segovia added his voice quietly to the prayers.

"We ask for more people to come to the church who He desires -- not me, but the Lord."