A Brief History of Springdale, Arkansas
The Work Begins

Interest in the Seventh-day Adventist church teachings was first started among the Spanish residents of Springdale when Dr. Leo Garbutt and Carlos Pardeiro held a series of family and health seminars in 1988. Hilberto and Carmen Garcia worked hard to keep the interest going. Soon a small group of between ten to twenty began to meet regularly at the Gentry church. Then other laymen from the Springdale church helped the Spanish group set up a church board and organize leadership responsibilities. Robert and Adriana Conde, Jorge and Graciela Alcon, Juan Alvarez, and Carlos Pardeiro gave Bible studies to other Spanish people in the area and by 1994, there were thirty-six baptized members and approximately forty additional friends preparing to join (Pardeiro, 1994).
Springdale Spanish Church Organized in 1994

On June 18, 1994, a Spanish church was organized in Springdale, with fifty-four charter members, becoming the first Adventist Spanish church to be organized in Arkansas (Orian, 2004). In the summer of 1997, the Springdale Spanish members purchased their own church home. They bought a residential house which was then adapted, and a sanctuary added (Record, 1997). Their old church property was sold in 2002 (Minutes, 2002).


The Springdale First Spanish church on Westwood Lane in Springdale, Arkansas.
Citations
(1997, Aug. 1). Southwestern Union Record, p. 14.
(2002, May 16). Executive Committee Minutes. Shreveport, LA: Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of SDA.
Orian, Stephen. (2004, Mar. 1). Southwestern Union Record, p. 8.
Pardeiro, Carlos. (1994, Mar. 1). Ibid., p. 13.