Missions IMPACT! – Outreach Port Arthur: Port Arthur, TX tagged: , ,

Missions IMPACT! – Outreach Port Arthur: Port Arthur, TX

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Brent and Savannah Sorrells lead one one of the most unique and challenging ministries in North America. They are missionaries commissioned by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention to lead Outreach Port Arthur, a multi-cultural church planting ministry in the coastal Texas city of Port Arthur.

Port Arthur once was best known for its oil business, vast expanses of petroleum refineries, and Cajun food. More recently, it became known as the place where massive Hurricane Rita came ashore only a month after Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi/Louisiana coastline. Port Arthur formerly enjoyed the status of a “boom town” because of the flow of oil that came into and out of its port. However, much of the wealth has moved out of the city itself. “White flight” ensued, and the city gradually transitioned into a multi-cultural “melting pot” of various people groups and nationalities from around the globe. Port Arthur is now home to significant populations of African Americans, Hispanics, Pakistanis, Asian Indians, and Vietnamese. Indeed, it is estimated that the Vietnamese population numbers somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 people.

Large numbers of churches have been abandoned throughout the community as their congregations relocated to other nearby areas. The church closings and abandonment of church buildings accelerated in wake of Hurricane Rita. One of the saddest and, at the same time, most interesting examples of the community and church transition can be seen in the building that formerly housed the Procter Baptist Church, which was once of the largest churches in the community located on it’s main thoroughfare. That building now houses the Buu Mon Buddhist Temple.

The Sorrells, who formerly served as International Mission Board missionaries in Central America, have been on the field in Port Arthur for approximately two years. Brent describes the work as “very slow and deliberate.” But he reports that God has begun to move in incredible ways among several different people groups over the summer. Positive steps include:

  • Over 160 participants in a PowerPlant project through the North American Mission Board made hundreds of contacts and Gospel touches during a week-long event in July. This included twenty professions of faith in the Vietnamese Community.
  • PowerPlant participants met an 18-year-old Vietnamese young woman who is a Baptist. She quickly committed herself to the ministry of Outreach Port Arthur. In particular, she desires to see an evangelical church planted among her people. She has assumed leadership in that effort. Just recently her mother, who had been very antagonistic toward the Gospel, accepted Christ as her Savior.
  • A native Vietnamese seminary student from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, whose parents are church planting missionaries in Vietnam, is graduating in December and relocating to Port Arthur to lead in the effort to plant a Vietnamese Baptist church. He is already visiting and ministering in the area one weekend each month.
  • Trinity Baptist Church, an OPA partner church in Port Arthur, has recently called a Salvadorian gentleman as its pastor to the Hispanic community. Since the PowerPlant project, he has been involved in home Bible studies every night of the week. Just this past Sunday five Hispanic people were saved and joined Trinity Church … the nucleus of a brand new church for Hispanics.
  • Another pastor of an OPA partner church is involved in a weekly lunch-hour Bible study with a Pakistani store worker … the first inroad into that people group in Port Arthur.

If you are interested in an inexpensive, high-impact, cross cultural missions experience right here in North America, Port Arthur is a wonderful opportunity for you or your church group. Outreach Port Arthur is always on the lookout for volunteers and groups to come and assist in the ministry there. They have an incredible web site, which even includes what they call a “Virtual Prayer Walk,” with photos of various important locations throughout the city. One of their partner churches, Trinity Baptist, has ample housing and showers for volunteer groups, as well as kitchen or meal services.

Please pray for the ongoing and challenging work in this very unusual southern city. And if you are interested in joining God’s work there as a volunteer, send Brent an e-mail. He will be more than happy to speak with you and make arrangements for a great missions experience for your group. And for a fantastic account about Outreach Port Arthur and this summer’s PowerPlant project, visit this story on the Southern Baptist Texan news site.