CONGREGATION'S LABOR OF LOVE REPLACES SANCTUARY.

Byline: Carolyn R. Saraspi Daily News Staff Writer

The newly rebuilt Iglesia La Trinidad at 1150 O'Melveny St. in San Fernando will be re-opened July 20, thanks primarily to more than 500 hours of construction work by church members.

``There's more love (in the project) because our sweat and our money is all there as opposed to an outside outfit doing everything,'' said the Rev. David Espinoza Sr., the church's senior pastor.

The Northridge Earthquake in 1994 left the original church building with more than $1 million worth of damage, said Espinoza, whose father founded the church in 1926. The leaded stained-glass windows, baptistry, balcony, roof, beams and foundation were the only parts left intact.

Church volunteers, led by a seven-member construction committee, are completing the restoration of the church in the next two weeks, adding such modern touches as television monitors and a 10-speaker sound system.

The new church, which is about 15 feet wider than the original, has a capacity of about 1,000, Espinoza said. There are about 800 members in the church, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, a Protestant Pentecostal denomination.

Iglesia La Trinidad did not qualify for federal relief after the earthquake because it did not offer nonreligious services on a daily basis as a nonprofit organization, Espinoza said.

Corporate and private donations of about $100,000 were still not enough to rebuild, so ``we sold everything from tamales to cans to car washes to bottles. Anything (to raise money) that was legal we did it,'' Espinoza said. Much of the building materials were donated during the year and a half project.

An independent contractor performed most of the larger tasks, such as putting in the walls and electrical system, said committee foreman Peter Regalado, a carpenter from San Fernando.

``They went as far as they could - as far as the finances could take us - and we did the rest,'' Regalado said.

At least 20 people have come to work on the church every day in the past eight months.

``I've been doing this after work. Now I'm putting everything on hold for the past eight weeks to do this for the opening. Some of us stay after work around 6 p.m. until sometimes 5 o'clock in the morning. Call it a labor of love,'' said Daniel Orrante, a builder from Granada Hills.

Many of the volunteers have construction, engineering or electrical experience and use their own tools to help cut costs, Orrante said.

``I helped with the construction of the original church and every single other building on this property when I was 12 years old. Now my boys are working here,'' Regalado said.

Children can be seen in the church parking lot painting watery cement onto strips of plastic foam, which are later treated with a hardening chemical and painted. The strips are used as inexpensive decorative moldings and accents on the interior and exterior of the church.

Volunteers also made the columns that line the altar platform.

The original pews, hand-carved pulpit and doors, piano and organ, also will be used in an effort to ``save as much as possible from my father's generation,'' Espinoza said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Iglesia La Trinidad in San Fernando, which wa s heavily damaged in the Northridge Earthquake, has undergone major renovation.

(2) Pastor David Espinoza, left, and his son David Espinoza Jr. check over a stained glass window that came through the quake intact. The church has been rebuilt and is due to reopen July 20.

David Crane/Daily News