By Uyen Phan
Special to the Message
The Vietnamese Baptist Church, the only Vietnamese Baptist church in
the metropolitan New Orleans area, was also one of the first churches
to reopen and one of the only churches to begin holding spiritual
services in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
For two years before Katrina, the Vietnamese Baptist Church operated
without a pastor. So when the storm hit, Rev. Thuong Le was eager
to reach out to parishioners who had been without a spiritual leader
for so long.
On Sept. 14, just two weeks after the storm, Le flew from his home in
Orange County, Ca. to Baton Rouge to visit with parishioners.
“Everyone went to Baton Rouge,” Le said of his decision to stop by
Baton Rouge first.
He stayed for three days before heading down to New Orleans on Sept. 18
to “check on the church,” which received some roof damage in the
back. Luckily the front of the church remained
intact.
The damaged roof allowed water to seep into the building. “Water
came in so termite damage went faster,” Le said. A few
parishioners are volunteering their time on the weekends to fix two of
the termite-damaged rooms.
With the church bearing just minor physical damage, Le, in an effort to
encourage community members to “return and renew,” began holding church
services just one week later.
Le estimates that approximately 80 to 90 parishioners attended the
area’s first worship services after the storm, and “at least 10 people
gave testimony for giving thanks to the Lord.”
In the weeks that followed, Le worked with the surrounding community,
“making sure people’s houses were still here,” and helping to make
whatever repairs were necessary. “When I first came,” Le said, “I
fixed houses around here.”
The area on the West Bank of the Mississippi River was mostly spared
from the storm’s wrath. Most houses only suffered roof damage,
while others received minor flooding. Most of the parishioners of
the Vietnamese Baptist Mission were lucky. “Some lost ships,” Le
said. “About 50 percent had some sort of damage to their
homes. Still others had about 2 to 3 feet of water in their
homes,” Le explained in Vietnamese.
In September, Le invited 100 non-Christians to a 1-year hurricane
commemoration dinner and Evangelism held at Panda King. “We met
our goal of engaging 20 new people to join our faith and congregation,”
Le said.
With its new members, Le estimates that his church family has grown to
about 130 to 150 people consisting of roughly 20 younger children, 30
youth and adults.
Main worship services are held on Sundays at 10 a.m., immediately
following Sunday school at 9 a.m. and morning prayer service at 8
a.m. Le would also like to hold prayer services in English for
the youth ministry and is seeking a young pastor to help implement such
a program.
Bible study classes are held Thursday nights at 7 p.m. for cell groups
and Friday nights at 7 p.m. for adults. Youth ministry worship
services and activities are held Saturday nights from 7:30 to 9 p.m.,
while Vietnamese language classes for Vietnamese youth are held
Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Prayer services are
also held on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m.
Le also has plans to set up long-term after-school care for young
children and plans to open it for members but also to the surrounding
community, as well. “I also want to build a gym that can be used
for classes, physical education activities (karate lessons are
currently being held from 7 to 9 a.m. every Saturday) and a dining
hall.” But before he’s able to start on any of his grand ideas,
he wants to make sure everything in the church is fixed: “The earlier,
the better,” he said about his projected timeline for completion.
Plans to open a mission in New Orleans East, which received flooding
from the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet after portions of the Industrial
Canal levee breached during Katrina, are currently on hold. “They’re
just plans right now,” Le explained. “It’s just in the back of my
mind. I need to fix everything here first. And then we need
to find a suitable place over there.”
Next year, Le said, he hopes to organize a youth mission trip to
Vietnam to help meet the people’s medical needs and teach them
English. He hopes to start fundraising for that soon.
For more information about the Vietnamese Baptist Church, contact Pastor Le at 504-362-0056.