Coastal Bend Texas: Booming and in need of reforemed churches

[Santos]

Greetings,

While I was reading another post discussing possible reformed church plants in Monroe but there being a lack of work I thought that some here or folks you know might be interested in knowing that the Coastal Bend of South Texas is one of the fastest growing industrial complexes in Texas. With recently completed projects in Ingleside or Gregory by Cheniere LNG (15 billion dollar natural gas cracker), Voestalpine (1 billion dollar iron production plant) And IELLC (2 billion dollar Oxychem Ethylene plant where I work) In addition to that Exxon Mobil just broke ground last year on the worlds largest Ethylene cracker down the street from our plant that will be an incredible addition to our already booming economy. These are just the most recent additions in the last 5 years due to the Eagle Ford Shale geological formation in West Texas. All of these plants are within 10 miles of each other and they do not include the many refineries and chemical plants that have been here for decades such as Valero, Citgo, Flint Hills, Lyondell, Furmosa, Dupont (now Chemours which also just built a new refrigerant unit at around 2 billion dollars) and Oxychem.

There are a total of zero Reformed churches in Gregory/Portland/Ingleside/Aransas Pass/Rockport area. And these are the communities that provide the majority of work force for these new facilities. There are two Reformed churches in Corpus Christi, one PCA and one independent Presbyterian-ish church.

Something to pray about.

Grace and Peace,
Santos

 

[Miller]

Indeed something to pray about Santos. If anyone knows someone in the area interested in an OPC the man to contact is our Regional Home Missionary Mark Sumpter who lives in SW Houston, not terribly far from this area. His email is [email protected]

 

[Jack K]

How stable is the growth? Out where I live, oil and gas is a big industry, but jobs come and go based on price/demand fluctuations for the various energy resources.

 

[Santos]

Very stable. This work isn't like old school oil drilling which depends on the global price for a barrel of oil. Most of these refineries and chemical plants have been here for decades. Some of the new investments are from existing plants. Such as the Oxy plant where I work. It has been here since the 60's.

 

[Santos]

Let me correct that a little. The refineries do sometimes have small work force reductions due to a dramatic price drop in a barrel of oil. However, it is very rare because they have learned to operate a little leaner to anticipate just such events. As far as the chemical plants such as mine, Oxy hasn't had a lay off since 1980 something. I have been at my facility for 8-1/2 years. I don't know how familiar you are with plants but I started here as an outage contractor for a 2 week shut down as a sheet metal and insulation fabricator and I have been here ever since. I now work for the plant directly as a mechanical planner. God has been gracious. But there are many opportunities like I have had here.

 

[Santos]

Not to mention it is never difficult to find a job as a craftsman in the area if you do experience a lay-off.

 

[Edward]

The area might be a better fit for Houston Metro than for South Texas Presbytery of the PCA.

 

[Pergamum]

Exciting prospects for church planting........ now Calling all baptists! We'll swoop in and go plant a bunch of churches and convert all dem baby sprinklers!

 

[TheOldCourse]

Texas in general is, perhaps surprisingly, pretty sparse as far as confessional churches go outside of the big 3 cities. I was thinking of relocating there a few years back but didn't want to live in one of the major metro areas and found very few options with solid Reformed churches in the area.

 

[earl40]

Exciting prospects for church planting........ now Calling all baptists! We'll swoop in and go plant a bunch of churches and convert all dem baby sprinklers!

And we baby washers will study the OP's suggestion till the oil dries up, or a Devilcrate is elected.