Hola and Hello: Casa de Victorias church moves to Eden Prairie site

A church building at the intersection of Valley View and Baker roads in Eden Prairie has seen new life in the past year. The bilingual Casa de Victorias congregation purchased the structure in May 2024 and is filling it with a variety of ministries.

Marisol McKay is the lead pastor of the eight-year-old congregation. Before purchasing the building at 14100 Valley View Road, Casa de Victorias had met for five years at a rented location in Eden Prairie’s Golden Triangle.

McKay, however, had long admired the Valley View Road location. She first noticed it 16 years ago, when she and her husband, Scott McKay, were living in the St. John’s Woods neighborhood near Highway 62 and Baker Road in Eden Prairie.

First built in 1979 to house the St. Andrew Lutheran congregation, the building was the home of Life Church of Eden Prairie until late 2020.

“When I knew that it was for sale, we tried, and we tried, and we tried – until we got it. I love the location,” McKay said. 

Part of the location’s attraction is its visibility, and part is its placement within a neighborhood. When talking with people in the community, “Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, I know that building,” McKay said, while congregation members, excited about the new building, bring more people. A late-summer 2024 event with bouncy houses and outdoor grilling attracted neighborhood residents who heard the accompanying music. 

Church services in Spanish, English

“When you go to a Latin place, you’re always going to find music. You’re always going to find stories,” McKay said. Recognition of this cultural element is important for some people in the approximately 200-member congregation, which includes people from South America, the Caribbean, and Africa, as well as Caucasian people, McKay said.

Casa de Victorias’s regular schedule includes an 11 a.m. Sunday service in Spanish, and a 9 a.m. service in English, although they are combining the two into one service for Easter on April 20. McKay’s son, Samuel Fondeur, who serves as the congregation’s young adult leader, translates her Spanish preaching into English. 

Ministries aimed toward teenagers and young adults are conducted in English, Fondeur said. While this age group may speak Spanish at home, “They’re very comfortable with English,” he said. Men’s and women’s groups, however, are conducted in Spanish, as older members of the congregation often prefer to speak Spanish, McKay said. 

Incorporating Latino heritage into the church’s life can be important, Fondeur said. “You can find yourself feeling a little isolated, so coming to a place where you have your culture and you get to share that with other people that understand you, have felt like you, is important.”

He said, however, that connecting to the broader community is also important. “The broader community isn’t just Latinos; it’s people of all kinds of backgrounds, colors, and creeds. So I think that’s kind of the idea: you know, we should be able to connect with everybody.” 

Ministries; helping members navigate U.S. culture

McKay had already trained as a pastor and worked at churches when she was living in the Dominican Republic. When she came to the U.S., she said, “God talked to me about opening a Spanish-speaking church. But honestly, I didn’t want to do it.” 

After many delays, McKay said, she finally decided to start the Casa de Victorias congregation after receiving what she called “a really serious word from the Lord.” While McKay said Pastor Sharon Predovich of Resurrection Life helped her start the new congregation, Casa de Victorias is an independent, self-governing congregation.

Its belief is Pentecostal, McKay said. “We believe in the Holy Spirit, and we believe in prophecy. We believe in health – that you can be healed by God,” she said. Fondeur added, “This church’s focus is on the spirituality of being a Christian, and producing that lifestyle.” 

“We do a lot of fasting, a lot of prayer,” McKay said.

Currently, the church’s ministries include groups for children, teenagers, young adults, men and women. The men’s group is called Primogenitos (“firstborn”) and the women’s group Herederas (“heiresses”). They are also opening a Spanish immersion daycare within the building. 

The church also helps its members with things like budgeting, opening bank accounts, or navigating through the school system. The pastors have accompanied Spanish-speaking parents to meetings with high school counselors regarding graduation requirements, and McKay says she often goes along on college tours. Societal expectations, such as attending post-secondary education, may be ingrained in U.S. culture, Fondeur said, but they may not be familiar to those from other countries.

“We are here to be a blessing, and to open our doors to anyone who really wants to see God doing something different in their life,” McKay said. “I have seen so many people who feel defeated by the church. This is the work of the enemy, because if you stop believing, nothing is possible. The Bible says, ‘To those who believe, everything is possible.’ So we are here for that: to love, to be a blessing, to help, and to open our arms; to be a tool or be a channel, to be a people who restore others.”