On Sundays, student chatter and cafeteria clatter are absent from the area around Whitman’s lunchroom, the halls filled instead by crooning Spanish songs. It’s 10:30 a.m. and the cafeteria’s weekday student occupants have been replaced by another group: Ministerios El Shaddai, a Spanish-language Evangelical congregation.

Pastor Martin Mejin and his wife Aury founded the church in 2001 with only eight people, primarily family members. Today, their congregation boasts nearly 200 members.

As it’s grown, El Shaddai has used several MCPS buildings, including Glenallan Elementary School and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. Ministerios El Shaddai began holding Sunday services at Whitman two years ago.

Services are energetic, jubilant and fill the room with music. The congregants, most of whom live in the D.C. metro area, make their way into the cafeteria as the church’s band plays hymns combining English and Spanish lyrics.

“Jesus el Señor, Lord our God,” the band sings. Some congregants, mostly women and children, wave colorful banners in the aisles. The minister and those behind him close their eyes, raise their hands, and sway to the power of the service.

Immer Rios directs the church’s children’s program, music, and worship. A guitarist and vocalist in the band, he believes “our job is to pump people up for worship.”

By the time prayer begins, the cafeteria is filled with over a hundred worshipers, young and old.

Though the church delivers prayers in Spanish, Rios simultaneously translates the service into English for non-Spanish speaking congregants and for children, whom Rios said connect more with an English-speaking tradition. Rios speaks in English immediately after – and sometimes while – Mejin speaks. Sometimes, he must anticipate Mejin’s next words, but says he likes the challenge. “It’s a lot of fun for me, hearing how the message sounds in English.” In addition to translating Mejin’s words, he tries to embody the physical and emotional characteristics of the message, Rios said.

The system is clearly well practiced, with frequent pauses for translation, and soft guitar chords in the background keep the service from sounding choppy. The majority of the crowd, however, clearly connects more with the Spanish prayers than the translations, and there’s often a roar of appreciation for Mejin’s words before Rios has had a chance to finish translating.

“We are a solidly Spanish-speaking community, but we’re very open to others with other needs,” Rios said. Some members hail from places like Rwanda, El Salvador, Ecuador and Mexico.

The church focuses on intercessory prayer, signifying that members pray on the behalf of other church members, visitors, and the greater community.

“Our main skill level is prayer,” Rios said. In one recent emotional instance, the church prayed for a young couple to conceive a child, drawing tears from those involved.

El Shaddai is part of a closely linked international network of churches centered in Mejin’s native country, Guatemala, and attracts many congregants originally from the country.

Groups like Ministerios El Shaddai can use Whitman facilities after undergoing a county application process, training on the use of school space, and then finally attaining the administration’s approval, business manager Eddie Campbell said. Over the years, diverse activities ranging from Friday night pick-up games to concerts by international musicians have found homes at Whitman.

Though the church is happy with the Whitman facilities, the congregation doesn’t plan to stay in the Whitman cafeteria forever.

“We’re real-estate hunting,” Rios said. “Right now, the church is really linked to Whitman – you Google it and it comes up with pictures of Walt Whitman. The address is Walt Whitman. We’re looking for a physical place we can point to and say: this is El Shaddai.”