By SCARLET O’ROURKE
Staff Writer
JOURNEY
The need to serve can be a powerful driving force, and, for a group of Valley young men and women, that need was fed during a service project for a Port Isabel church.
From May 19 to 20, Journey, a college and career age ministry group out of Harlingen, came to Port Isabel to help relocate and fix-up Bethel Baptist Church.
Journey was started in September of 2010 and has seven churches represented in their group. Their main focus is reaching out to and training the college population of the Rio Grande Valley to be like Christ. One of the ways they find to grow in their mission is through service projects.
The opportunity was given to 21 of the young people to go to Port Isabel and help a growing church move into their new home.
Bethel Baptist Church is a bilingual establishment pastored by Jorge Moreno. The church has been running for 13 years in the service of Christ to the community of Port Isabel with roughly 45 members attending on a regular bases.
On Thursday, the group showed up at Shell Harbor Shopping Center where the church was located. The old location was on the east end of the strip while the new home was on the west end.
The young people were met by the pastor’s daughter, Ellie Kloak. She teaches Sunday school and works with the youth along with her husband, Steve.
The first task was to empty the old building, taking everything but the kitchen sink, literally.
“It was a great opportunity for Journey College ministry to edify the body and share God’s love and grace to those around us and strengthen each other as well,” said Tim Outlaw, one of the directors of Journey.
Working together, the Journey group moved, wheeled and carried all the contents from the two-room building. There were more than a few stares from people in the other establishments between the two locations as the young men and women carried stacks of chairs on their shoulders or tops of their heads, toted a piano across the way and even rolled a refrigerator.
They finished up at the old building by dismantling the stage and cleaning both rooms.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of the May 26 edition of the Port Isabel South Padre Press or check out our E-edition by clicking here.
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