The immigrant Hispanic members of Iglesia Hispana Vida Nueva (New Life Hispanic Church), a predominantly Baptist-supported church in Auburn, have likely never seen the grisly 1979 film "The Amityville Horror."
They, therefore, appreciate for different reasons than most the Dutch Colonial house directly adjacent to their property, which many locals have nicknamed the Amityville House for its resemblance to the infamous movie set. They appreciate it not for its cinematic novelty but for Alicia and Jim Storbeck, the people who call it home.
They have good reason to.
Members of First Baptist Church, Auburn, in Tuskegee Lee Baptist Association, the Storbecks sit on the Vida Nueva board of directors, serve on the church’s praise and worship team and have taken the commandment to love thy neighbor to rare and literal heights.
The couple has used the resources and connections of HeartStrings Enterprises, the Auburn-based personalized products company it started in 1997, to redefine corporate benevolence not only within the growing Hispanic community of Auburn but also internationally.
HeartStrings imports the majority of the customized jewelry it sells from Mexico, a fact that the Storbecks have used as a platform for missions abroad. In 2004, a banner year in sales inspired Alicia Storbeck to host — in Mexico — an evangelically geared breakfast banquet honoring the artisans and silversmiths responsible for the bulk of HeartString’s inventory.
The event, hosted in collaboration with Mexican churches and many of HeartStrings’ vendors, was attended by 350 people. Of those, 270 accepted Christ.
"It’s amazing. It’s really, really amazing the things that He’s done and the things that He’s given me to make it possible," Storbeck said.
Her desire to minister to the Hispanic population of Auburn first manifested itself in 2001 in the English language classes she taught at First, Auburn. It was an endeavor that, along with Storbeck’s eventual immersion into the culture via Vida Nueva, soon produced a proficiency in Spanish.
"I spoke very broken, present-tense Spanish and now I’m completely fluent," she said. "I tell people that God just opened my brain and poured it in." Storbeck said her preternatural empathy for Hispanics is hard to explain. "I just started to see and love these people — they’re wonderful people. And about five years ago, God really put it on my heart to work with them."
So when Abi Arenas, a Venezuelan-born minister attempting to answer God’s call to start a Hispanic ministry in the Auburn area, showed up at the vacant church building next door to her house, Storbeck instantly filed the coincidence as ordained.
"It was interesting because the first day that I came here and walked through the facilities with my two sons … Alicia was outside her house and she heard them speaking Spanish, and she came by to say hello," Arenas said.
The rest, as they say, is historia.
"We started to talk and when she asked what our purpose was here in the building, we told her that we came to plant a church," said Arenas, pastor of Vida Nueva. "She started to jump and scream and laugh very excitedly because that was what she was praying for."
Since that day in 2001, the Storbecks have invested their personal time and energy in the efforts of Vida Nueva, and it "is something that HeartStrings very much supports" financially, she said.
In addition to her administrative capacities at Vida Nueva, Storbeck helps coordinate the acquisition of daily necessities and the achievement of common tasks many English speakers often take for granted.
"I help people with everyday issues such as doctor’s visits, car titles, finding jobs and filling out applications," she said. "It has become part of my lifestyle and something that I thank God for."
Storbeck, her husband and their HeartStrings employees also help with an annual holiday outreach through Vida Nueva that includes giving gifts to children.
"I always tell people you don’t have to leave home to be on the missions field. God brought my missions field to me," she said.
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