Men's Breakfast Report, March 11, 2017

 

Men's Breakfast, March 11, 2017

The Men’s Breakfast Group met Saturday, March 11th with Jesse Rivet, pastor of the Rock Church in Freeport.  Jesse was raised in Louisiana, a true Cajun and received a GED instead of a high school diploma.  By profession he is a crane operator.  In Louisiana he became involved in the church as a Bible study leader.  A few years ago he moved to Brazosport where he became involved with the Rock Church in Clute.

He could not initially get a job as a crane operator in Brazosport and took a job of selling automobiles.  His come-on as a car salesman is that I am really a crane operator, but I can put you in a car that fits your needs.  He was moderately successful at this.  One day a customer asked him “If you are a crane operator, why are you selling cars?”  The customer recommended that he apply at a certain place for job.  At the interview he showed pictures on his cell phone of lifts he had made and was hired on the spot and is now a crane operator.  He lives in Brazoria with his wife and children since this is where he can afford country living. 

A couple of years ago the pastor of the Clute church persuaded Jesse to start and pastor a Rock Church in Freeport.  He and his wife are ordained Pentecostal ministers so they can perform funerals and weddings.  However, they have not yet done so.  The Rock Church is an offshoot denomination from the Pentecostals.  There are four Rock Churches in the United States, one each in Clute, Freeport, Lake Jackson and Oregon.  Jesse’s church has about twenty-five members with ages from children to senior citizens.  The church is on Skinner Street, but the congregation is primarily white and Hispanic with a couple of blacks.  They do outreach to the neighborhood to try to get more members.  They have about three acres of land so the church could grow significantly.  It was suggested that they have a community garden, but Jesse says that he does not garden successfully and someone else would have to handle the project. 

A concern that the church has and would like to do something about is a shelter for women.  The women’s shelter for Brazoria County is restricted to women who are fleeing abusive relationships.  The Salvation Army provides only very short term shelter.  Jesse says that there is a need for homeless women with long term problems such as drug addiction or mental problems.  Providing such a shelter would be a major operation.

The members of the group had an interesting discussion and a good breakfast.  The next meeting will be Saturday, April 8th.