Asian youth cross cultures and border_90803

Posted: 9/5/03

Asian youth cross cultures and border

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

The gospel broke through cultural and language barriers during a recent mission trip along the Texas-Mexico border.

Fourteen people from Asian-American Baptist Church of Houston traveled to McAllen to serve about 70 youth in nearby Alton and in Reynosa, Mexico. The Houston church members provided Vacation Bible Schools at Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel in Alton and an orphanage in Mexico.

The church sought a way to make a lasting impact in a different culture, according to Pastor Long Le. Although some church members had worked on building projects in the past, most had not shared the gospel during a mission trip, he said.

“I wanted them to do more actual ministry,” Le explained. “I wanted to do something where we felt we left something behind.”

Despite language and cultural differences, volunteers communicated the gospel well with the help of members from a partnering church, Christ the Good Shepherd Baptist Church in McAllen, said Vincent Sadikin, youth shepherd of the Houston church.

The churches partnered through a connection in the Baptist General Convention of Texas intercultural initiatives office.

Several Alton and Reynosa youth made professions of faith in Christ during the church's weeklong effort that included crafts and recreational activities, Sadikin said.

“For most of these kids, it was their first experience to share the gospel,” Sadikin said. “It excited them. It renewed them spiritually.”

The opportunity to work with Asian-American Baptist Church taught leaders at Christ the Good Shepherd Baptist Church, a largely Filipino congregation, new ways to relate to the Hispanic culture around them.

Sergio Bautista, pastor of the McAllen church, said he believes the experience will help his church become more involved in his community.

The trip also gave the Houston church a vision to be a multicultural church, Le added.