LEWISTON – The first time the Rev. Esdras Solis walked into his tiny downtown mission, the faces in the congregation broke his heart.

So much hope – of feeding their kids, getting jobs or making peace with their spouses – seemed to have drained away, leaving only sunken expressions.

“As soon as I walked through the doors, I felt great sadness from everyone,” Solis said.

He felt needed.

“They were in real desperate need of something,” he said. The Hispanic mission, situated behind a curtained Lisbon Street storefront, had been getting by with only monthly visits from a pastor. “I tried to remind them that Christ is with them.”

Following that first visit to Lisbon Street’s Church of God of the Prophesy last October, Solis pledged to return every week from his home near his father’s church in Lawrence, Mass.

In May, Solis and his wife, Shannon, bought a house in Lewiston and moved here with their five children.

Their goal is reaching out to help the Spanish-speaking churchgoers and others in Lewiston, particularly those in the neighborhood around Knox, Bates and Bartlett streets. The area comprises one of the poorest neighborhoods in Maine.

Solis has distributed mattresses to people with no beds, gathered hand-me-down clothes, given away donated milk and eggs and held food drives in which each family was encouraged to bring a pound of meat to Sunday services. The meat was given to the neediest folks.

But even more important, Solis is trying to bring people a sense of control over their own destinies.

Caring for family

Young and energetic – “I never stand still during my sermons” – Solis, 33, hopes to pass on some of the values he learned as a kid.

His father, Eliud, taught him to work hard. Grades mattered; so did presenting himself well. And though young Esdras sometimes didn’t realize it, his dad cared about keeping the family close.

“When I was a teenager, I’d get mad that he didn’t do this or that,” said the younger Solis. “Later, I’d recall how we memorized Bible passages together or got together for a holiday every summer.”

As a teenager and into his early 20s, Solis rebelled. He spent too much time on the streets of Boston and he womanized a bit, but he grew out of it.

He credits God and his wife, Shannon.

“I am so blessed that I have someone like my wife,” he said. Sitting on a plastic folding chair near his pulpit, Solis choked up as he described Shannon, whom he married 12 years ago.

“She always had faith in me, always stayed, no matter what.” It’s the kind of faith that ought to bind every family, he said.

The couple have five children – three boys and two girls. Their ages run from infancy to 11 years old.

Similarly, children often outnumber the adults in the mission, Solis said. Several of the regular attendees to Sunday morning services are single mothers, each with several boys and girls.

Solis doesn’t mind a bit. His wife works weekdays for a Falmouth dentist, and he stays home with the kids.

It’s the kind of job he wishes more men were ready to take on.

Especially in the Hispanic community, there’s a feeling that caring for children, along with the other duties of creating a home, is a wife’s work, he said.

“You know: ‘I’ve been working all day, so I’ve done my job,” he said.

It’s one of the issues he’s been tackling with those who attend the mission in men-only Monday meetings, along with such topics as writing a resume and interviewing for a job.

Building confidence, faith

Getting a job isn’t only for men, though. Some of the donated clothes Solis has collected are women’s suits, intended for making good impressions on prospective bosses.

“These women don’t have to live in poverty,” Solis insisted. “They can make something of themselves. They can get off assistance.”

But before he can build the women’s faith in themselves, he tries first to build their faith in God, preaching every sermon and singing every song in a mixture of English and Spanish.

Though most of the people who attend are Hispanic, no one is excluded, Solis said.

“All are welcome,” he said. “We want people to really feel loved when they come in.”

It’s working, said Natalie Pivet, a Hispanic woman who moved here last year from Providence, R.I.

A 24-year-old mother of three – ages 8, 5 and 3 – Pivet attends every church event she can.

“It just makes me feel good,” she said. “This church makes me sleep at night with a smile.”